[raunso]

Hello


I have a problem with my DILA and would like some ideas as how to proceed.


I've searched the forum for simliar descriptions and found that Mark Rejhon had a similar problem with a cyan bar at the right edge of the image.


My problem is this:

After some minutes of operation (usually around 10) my DILA G10 suddenly displays the right third of the screen in purple. I take it, that this means that the green pixels aren't working.

After a short while (seconds) the whole picture startes flashing in a way that the HTPC feed "jumps" wildly on the screen. An interesting thing is, thatr the DILA menu, doesn't jump around as the HTPC feed.

Usually, after about 1 minute the picture then turns "inverted" or negative. This lasts about half a minute and suddenly the picture gets normal again.


I have a home-made hushbox with lots of ventilation, but when the problems began about half a year ago I thought it was because of overheating inside the box. For a long while I was right, because the problems went away as long as I removed the box. But now my DILA does it all the time.


I've connected the DILA to a GeForce 2 MX card in a HTPC. I'm using Power Strip and PowerDVD. The DILA has run about 600 hours on the first bulb.


What do I do now?


Regards,

Jakob Jensen, Denmark.

 

[Mark Hunter]

Jakob,


That is about the strangest thing I've ever heard of. I don't have a direct answer for you, unfortunately, but my own story and a suggestion.


I was getting the most bizarre output on my G11 about 6 months ago. It started suddenly, and wasn't the result of any changes in my system that I could tell. I would sometimes get an inverted image, sometimes would lose an entire color (usually Blue for me) and sometimes get really odd eight-bar-like vertical lines in the image.


...but it wasn't the projector at all. It was an overheated GeForce video card!


I think that the D-ILA may be extra sensitive to a bad output from overheated GeForce cards. I replaced the card with an ATI Radeon and move the HTPC for better cooling, and ALL of the picture problems cleared right up!

Quote:

You wrote: "An interesting thing is, thatr the DILA menu, doesn't jump around as the HTPC feed."

Aha! That makes it seem like it's the GeForce card even more, since the projector ads the menu after receiving the video feed. If that's not jumping around, it's almost certainly the source.


Try turning the computer completely off for 2 hours and set your A/C to about 67 degrees and try again. Better yet, cool the machine *and* swap your video card with a new one and see if that helps.


I agree that the problem is probably partially the projector being sensitive to the quality of the input, but think that the main source of the issue is the video card itself.


Do you have an old DVD player or other non-computer video source sitting around? That might help confirm it, too?

 

[wm]

Jakob,


When the failure occurs, disconect all inputs, and set your background color to cyan or green. Tell me what you see. If one section of the image is still defective, it's got to be internal to the projector, probably the green panel. If you get a full field of cyan or green with no problems, look to the HTPC.


Also, be very sure that your projector runs cool inside the hush box. Get a computer cpu thermometer with a remote sensor and attach it to the fan exhaust. Check the temperature with the projector outside of the hush box for an hour, then with it in. If it runs hotter inside, the hush box design is not good - air is recirculating and this needs to be fixed. Heat will kill your D-ILA.


William

 

[jhill32]

Heat can affect things in very weird ways. We always used to shoot "cold power" at specific circuits whenever we suspected heat problems. It could be a heat problem localized to the input section on thge projector. That could easily have the same symptoms as a bad (overheated) video card. Check the aiflow path in your hushbox to make sure you're not actually overheating another section of the projector.

 

[Frank J Manrique]

My Dukane 9015 D-ILA is also acting kind of weird: it seems the red channel operates intermittently, only leaving the green and blue channels visible. This can occur upon first firing up the unit...or happen later on...but it does recur and is doing it more often...though once the display "settles" down after the red channel returns to operating status it stays that way, working well enough to allow me watching a movie.


The Dukane people told me to send the unit back in for repairs, but thus far haven't done for two reasons: hate losing the great calibration work performed by Rich Martin (I assume this will happen when Dukane's techs mess around with it)...as well as waiting to see how many more D-ILA machines are also experiencing similar problems.


So now I see that there is a distinct possibility the GeForce video cards might be a potential source of such problems; since my HT-PC is equipped with one of 'em GeForce critters, I can't help but to wonder if that is indeed what is taking place. Argh!


Anyway, I'll try another HT-PC (with Radeon 7500 card) and see what transpires then...but in the meantime it would be really cool if WP, Mark Foster, and Millori could offer a few words of advice. Thanks!...


-THTS

 

[wm]

Frank,


If it were me I'd open it up and re-seat the connectors on the top circuit board first. After confirming that it's not the HTPC, per procedure above.


If you are going to send it to Dukane, back it up first. Do you have Dilard? Or you could get it fixed, then send it to me for an even better calibration than you have now (and a new lamp while you're at it). Up to you...


William

 

[Frank J Manrique]

Originally posted by wm:


"If it were me I'd open it up and re-seat the connectors on the top circuit board first. After confirming that it's not the HTPC, per procedure above."

_______________________________________


Ummmm...excuse my denseness...but you mean the circuit board on the PC, correct?

_________


"If you are going to send it to Dukane, back it up first. Do you have Dilard? Or you could get it fixed, then send it to me for an even better calibration than you have now (and a new lamp while you're at it)."

_____________________________________________


If I have to, I have to; the 9015 is still under warranty. How do I go about backing it up?


Unfortunately, I don't have Dilard...


Since Mark Foster mentioned a while back that his Dukane 9015 had to be re-calibrated after sending it in for repairs...I am almost sure it will be the case with mine too.

Being that I don't care to live with a non-calibrated D-ILA for any length of time......and given the reputation you've garnered with your calibration work...that is exactly what I had in mind! I'll be in contact with 'ya soon...


-THTS