Samsung HL-R6178W DLP TV half of screen goes black

[nviles1]

Samsung HL-R6178W DLP HDTV

I just bought this tv used as is. Every once in a while, the right side of the screen goes black on all inputs. I have read from other locations that this is the DMD but suggests to replace the light engine.

I found the light engine for about $1000.

I would love to see if anyone has any experience replacing a light engine, or perhaps just the DMD.

Anyone had this experience?

 

[irj]

Interesting tip thanks.
I would also urge everyone to ensure they register the problem with Sammy Support. The more people with problems registered the better ones chances of either getting them to step up or if a Class Action suit follows one will be on the list.

I bought my TV in 2005 an approx one year later I had to have it serviced under warranty. The LE mirrors were apparently glued with the WRONG GLUE back at the Mexico factory. The techie repaired the tiny mirrors.

So I am guess that this isn't a pure LE issue rather the DMD board.

When and if supplies become availble let us all know.

 

[f6487]

I also bought my tv in 2005 but had three years with no problems at all. My first problem was what you are referring to with the faulty glue on the mirrors. That problem was known as the left side shadow. The adhesive broke loose which caused the tiny mirror to fall forward and create a side shadow. This problem became a class action suit and Samsung lost. I was reimbursed for my out of pocket expenses for parts & labor. None the less it was still a typical Samsung run a round and it took two years or more to be re imbursed.

The light engine assemble is just a fancy name where the color wheel, bulb, dmd board all live. You can buy an entire light engine or try to just buy seperate parts. Some of the parts & chips aren't made anymore. I'm holding out for a re furbished DMD board but until I get one I'm going with the fan method. I hate giving up on this tv because the picture is great and I don't want to part with $2500 to buy the new Panasonic that I want. I'll try to strectch a little more life out of my Sammy.

 

[Vipriel]

I also bought my tv in 2005 but had three years with no problems at all. My first problem was what you are referring to with the faulty glue on the mirrors. That problem was known as the left side shadow. The adhesive broke loose which caused the tiny mirror to fall forward and create a side shadow. This problem became a class action suit and Samsung lost. I was reimbursed for my out of pocket expenses for parts & labor. None the less it was still a typical Samsung run a round and it took two years or more to be re imbursed.

The light engine assemble is just a fancy name where the color wheel, bulb, dmd board all live. You can buy an entire light engine or try to just buy seperate parts. Some of the parts & chips aren't made anymore. I'm holding out for a re furbished DMD board but until I get one I'm going with the fan method. I hate giving up on this tv because the picture is great and I don't want to part with $2500 to buy the new Panasonic that I want. I'll try to strectch a little more life out of my Sammy.

Sadly, I have only just found out about the class action lawsuit regarding the Light Tunnel issue but Samsung is telling me that the lawsuit settled on October 22nd and that they will not pay a penny towards repairing my TV.

I have had so many problems with this TV starting with the color wheel some months after I purchased it. The company that came in to service the TV (Video Pro) replaced the whole Light Engine assembly at the time and TV was OK until my lamp blew last year. I changed the lamp but after a little while, I started noticing a tiny shadow bar on the left side of the screen. I did not know about the problem at the time and chalked it up to some dirt inside the TV but the shadow started growing slowly but surely over time. During this time, the TV also started shutting down intermittently and I found the cause to be a defective lamp ballast (I don't know if it's possible that the original lamp that blew up damaged the ballast) so I had to replace the ballast too. The TV was doing OK until recently but my lamp blew again (it hasn't even been a year since the lamp I replaced blew) and during the course of ordering another lamp, I decided to investigate the shadow issue on the left side of the screen further since the black band now covers about 5-6' inches of the screen and it also appears to have gotten darker. During the course of this investigation, I first came across the issue on the ecoustics forum and then I was able to find other threads in more popular sites like the AVS forums, etc. I then finally found out about the Class Action Lawsuit.

I have purchased a lot of expensive Samsung devices over the years (including a top of the line washer and dryer set) and paid $3200 for this TV back in May 2006 but I will never buy another Samsung product after how rude the customer service has been to me over this issue. They pretty much flat out told me that they will not stand by their products no matter what and won't pay a single penny to repair a defect unless you sue the hell out of them.

P.S.
It seems strange that a lot of us on this forum have developed this light tunnel issue after out lamps blew for the first time.

 

[audiophilefreak]

hello,

I am yet another with this issue. I was even still under warranty and got the run around after they sent a repairman out 3 times to try and fix the half black screen issue. needless to say he was unable and said the TV should be replaced. Samsung emailed me saying they will refund the full purchase price. a few weeks went by so I called over there again and was told it will come soon. after yet more time I was told they will now offer me $300 for my TV. I refused this as I paid well over 3000 for it. So it seem even when they put it in writing Samsung will not honer their agreements. if anyone hears of a class action suite please contact me.

Kevin
k.t.keene@gmail.com

 

[sabrina_leitner]

I'm right there with Kevin! and Samsung Customer Service has been so rude! I was told by their rep I had a "papereight". Amazing! Please add me to the list for the settlement that hopefully can be extended from the one that ended Oct 22. I will be sending a complete package of documents to Samsung "office of the president" and a copy to Lax LLP the old attorneys for the original case.
Sabrina
sabrina_leitner@yahoo.com

 

[cpwright]

What is the "fan method" you refer to? I actually came across a post (somewhere???) from a guy who installed three small fans (from what I could tell) and said his ran for 72 hours with no trouble. If you have any install advice I'd appreciate it.

Chris

 

[cpwright]

I was able to locate the "fan fix" I referred to a little while ago (don't know why it didn't pop up all night until now . . ). There were two actually. A brut force approach that attached a large fan to the back of the set right over the heat exhaust vent fins: http/ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Y52PBvzzL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

and another, detailed description from a guy who used three small fans inside the enclosure. This is an excerpt of a post from "stonkulture" over at www.fixyourdlp.com . . .



Allow me to explain:
The DMD board is located on the top section of the internal workings and integrated with the LIGHT ENGINE. Let's think about that and discuss it for a minute, shall we?

The lamp that is used with this unit,...and without getting all technical for those of us who are "technically challenged" and couldn't read their way out of a set of electrical prints/diagrams if their lives depended on it (not their fault AT ALL).....the lamp gets REALLY HOT!

What does HEAT DO?,...IT RISES, right? Where is the Texas Instruments DLP chip located?...ABOVE AND JUST IN FRONT OF THE LAMP!! Now,...granted,...there's a black "shield" that vents out to the back of the unit to exhaust the heat,...but not NEARLY as much it SHOULD!! Let's do the math,.....let's see,... HEAT + COMPUTER CHIP OF ANY KIND = BAD,...or rather A BURNT-ASS CHIP!
So,...last Friday,...I changed my name to MacGuyver, and proceeded to see if my engineering skills were worth a damn. First,...let me say that IT IS NOT A FAULTY TEXAS INSTRUMENTS DLP CHIP!!!......RATHER THE DESIGN OF THE INTERIOR LAYOUT FROM SAMSUNG!! They DEFINITELY screwed the pooch on this one!

If ANYONE wants pics of what I did,...just send me your e-mail, and I'll send you an about 11.5 mb file (ten pics). I will ALSO send a PDF of that portion of the repair manual.

FIRST, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE THE LIGHT ENGINE OUT OF THE UNIT.

Second,...I basically installed a small, but some what thick fan at the upper LEFT hand corner of the back of the DMD board housing (approx. 2"x2"x5/8"), using the EXISTING screw hole (I TOOK OUT THE ORIGINAL GOLD COLORED SCREW, then tapped it out to a 6/32 and used a 1" long screw to secure the fan).....NO ADDITIONAL HOLES WERE TAPPED OUT, EITHER,...JUST THE EXISTING ONE FROM THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER OF THE DMD BOARD AS LOOKING AT IT FROM BEHIND,...AND YOU'LL HAVE TO UNSCREW TWO PHILLIPS HEAD SCREWS THAT HOLD THE BLACK HEAT EXHAUST PORT ONTO THE LIGHT ENGINE (that are located just beneath the square opening) in order to install the second fan. You have to kind of slide it (the exhaust port) to the left and up to take it off. The fan direction was blowing ONTO the back of the DMD board.

THIRD,....the SECOND FAN was installed kinda on the middle-bottom-left of the heat sink for the DMD board, which is located DIRECTLY BEHIND that heat exhaust port. I un-screwed two small Phillips Head screws located at the MIDDLE of the heat sink so as to take off the heat sink. I tapped out yet ANOTHER SINGLE 6/32 hole about 1/4" ABOVE where the two screws that hold the heat sink to the DMD board are located, and used a 2 and a 1/2" squared by 3/8"-1/2" raised fan. By the way,...ALL of the fans used were regular-run-of-the-mill 12 volt DC computer fans. The Heat Sink was re-installed, and the fan was fastened with a 1" screw to the newly tapped out 6/32 screw hole. Use the fans' upper left hand hole and IT TOO WILL BLOW ONTO THE HEAT SINK TOWARD THE DMD BOARD (or toward the front of the tv).

FOURTH.....I installed ONE LAST FAN, but located it JUST INSIDE of the BLACK HEAT EXHAUST PORT (It actually fit rather perfectly) I didn't really use anything to secure it to the unit, but it's own input power wires. I drilled a small hole,..about 1/8"- 1/4", at the bottom left side of the exhaust port, in order to feed the fan's wires through from inside of the squared opening to the outside.

FIFTH....I tied all of the wires together,...soldered them (you could probably get away with using small blue or orange wire-nuts) and attached them all to an EXTERNAL 12VDC PLUG IN POWER SUPPLY that is plugged in before the TV is turned on, and unplugged after the TV is turned off.....Now,...eventually,..I'll figure out a relay set-up so it'll turn on when the tv is turned on via the remote,...BUT DO NOT,...I REPEAT,..DO NOT ATTACH THE ADDED FANS TO ANY OF THE EXISTING FANS WITHIN THE SAMSUNG UNIT AS THERE MORE THAN LIKELY IS NOT ENOUGH CURRENT AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT THEM!!
Well,...after approximately 72 HOURS,....YES,...I WILL REPEAT THAT,....72 HOURS of CONTINUOUS use WITH THE NEWLY INSTALLED MACGUYVERED FAN SET UP,.......NO HALF SCREEN!!!!! YES, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!!! I HAVE SOLVED AND FIXED THE ISSUE!!!

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE AMOUNT OF HEAT THAT COMES FROM THE NEWLEY INSTALLED EXHAUST FAN!!! THAT ALONE probably solved the problem,...but I don't think the other two that are attached to the DMD board are doing any damage or for nothing either.

ANYWAY,....again,...if ANYONE else would like to attempt this,...send me your e-mail,...I'll send you a PDF and some pics.
Oh,...and if anyone is into hard rock/ metal music like Metallica, Godsmack, Sevendust, Creed,...check out prevail rocks dot com and if you like it,..spread the word. THAT would be thanks enough for me,...and yes,...I'm in the band. If you read the band bios,..you'll figure out which one I am.
Cheers, Salute, and Skol!

 

[dh3909]

Is it worth it to pay $550 to have a new DMD board installed? I know it's cheaper than buying a new TV, but am wondering how much life i should get out of the tv with a new board.

 

[cpwright]

Update (4/1/12). Applied the brute force approach alluded to in my earlier post. My Sammy has been running without failure over many hours for many days now. Suggest everyone give this a shot. Cost me $25.00. Over and out. C

 

[jake555_1999]

Thanks for the engineering work. I am interested in the pdf that describes your fan modification since I am experiencing the same problem with my tv.

Can you email this to me at jake555_1999@yahoo.com?

I was able to locate the "fan fix" I referred to a little while ago (don't know why it didn't pop up all night until now . . ). There were two actually. A brut force approach that attached a large fan to the back of the set right over the heat exhaust vent fins: http/ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Y52PBvzzL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

and another, detailed description from a guy who used three small fans inside the enclosure. This is an excerpt of a post from "stonkulture" over at www.fixyourdlp.com . . .



Allow me to explain:
The DMD board is located on the top section of the internal workings and integrated with the LIGHT ENGINE. Let's think about that and discuss it for a minute, shall we?

The lamp that is used with this unit,...and without getting all technical for those of us who are "technically challenged" and couldn't read their way out of a set of electrical prints/diagrams if their lives depended on it (not their fault AT ALL).....the lamp gets REALLY HOT!

What does HEAT DO?,...IT RISES, right? Where is the Texas Instruments DLP chip located?...ABOVE AND JUST IN FRONT OF THE LAMP!! Now,...granted,...there's a black "shield" that vents out to the back of the unit to exhaust the heat,...but not NEARLY as much it SHOULD!! Let's do the math,.....let's see,... HEAT + COMPUTER CHIP OF ANY KIND = BAD,...or rather A BURNT-ASS CHIP!
So,...last Friday,...I changed my name to MacGuyver, and proceeded to see if my engineering skills were worth a damn. First,...let me say that IT IS NOT A FAULTY TEXAS INSTRUMENTS DLP CHIP!!!......RATHER THE DESIGN OF THE INTERIOR LAYOUT FROM SAMSUNG!! They DEFINITELY screwed the pooch on this one!

If ANYONE wants pics of what I did,...just send me your e-mail, and I'll send you an about 11.5 mb file (ten pics). I will ALSO send a PDF of that portion of the repair manual.

FIRST, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE THE LIGHT ENGINE OUT OF THE UNIT.

Second,...I basically installed a small, but some what thick fan at the upper LEFT hand corner of the back of the DMD board housing (approx. 2"x2"x5/8"), using the EXISTING screw hole (I TOOK OUT THE ORIGINAL GOLD COLORED SCREW, then tapped it out to a 6/32 and used a 1" long screw to secure the fan).....NO ADDITIONAL HOLES WERE TAPPED OUT, EITHER,...JUST THE EXISTING ONE FROM THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER OF THE DMD BOARD AS LOOKING AT IT FROM BEHIND,...AND YOU'LL HAVE TO UNSCREW TWO PHILLIPS HEAD SCREWS THAT HOLD THE BLACK HEAT EXHAUST PORT ONTO THE LIGHT ENGINE (that are located just beneath the square opening) in order to install the second fan. You have to kind of slide it (the exhaust port) to the left and up to take it off. The fan direction was blowing ONTO the back of the DMD board.

THIRD,....the SECOND FAN was installed kinda on the middle-bottom-left of the heat sink for the DMD board, which is located DIRECTLY BEHIND that heat exhaust port. I un-screwed two small Phillips Head screws located at the MIDDLE of the heat sink so as to take off the heat sink. I tapped out yet ANOTHER SINGLE 6/32 hole about 1/4" ABOVE where the two screws that hold the heat sink to the DMD board are located, and used a 2 and a 1/2" squared by 3/8"-1/2" raised fan. By the way,...ALL of the fans used were regular-run-of-the-mill 12 volt DC computer fans. The Heat Sink was re-installed, and the fan was fastened with a 1" screw to the newly tapped out 6/32 screw hole. Use the fans' upper left hand hole and IT TOO WILL BLOW ONTO THE HEAT SINK TOWARD THE DMD BOARD (or toward the front of the tv).

FOURTH.....I installed ONE LAST FAN, but located it JUST INSIDE of the BLACK HEAT EXHAUST PORT (It actually fit rather perfectly) I didn't really use anything to secure it to the unit, but it's own input power wires. I drilled a small hole,..about 1/8"- 1/4", at the bottom left side of the exhaust port, in order to feed the fan's wires through from inside of the squared opening to the outside.

FIFTH....I tied all of the wires together,...soldered them (you could probably get away with using small blue or orange wire-nuts) and attached them all to an EXTERNAL 12VDC PLUG IN POWER SUPPLY that is plugged in before the TV is turned on, and unplugged after the TV is turned off.....Now,...eventually,..I'll figure out a relay set-up so it'll turn on when the tv is turned on via the remote,...BUT DO NOT,...I REPEAT,..DO NOT ATTACH THE ADDED FANS TO ANY OF THE EXISTING FANS WITHIN THE SAMSUNG UNIT AS THERE MORE THAN LIKELY IS NOT ENOUGH CURRENT AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT THEM!!
Well,...after approximately 72 HOURS,....YES,...I WILL REPEAT THAT,....72 HOURS of CONTINUOUS use WITH THE NEWLY INSTALLED MACGUYVERED FAN SET UP,.......NO HALF SCREEN!!!!! YES, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!!! I HAVE SOLVED AND FIXED THE ISSUE!!!

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE AMOUNT OF HEAT THAT COMES FROM THE NEWLEY INSTALLED EXHAUST FAN!!! THAT ALONE probably solved the problem,...but I don't think the other two that are attached to the DMD board are doing any damage or for nothing either.

ANYWAY,....again,...if ANYONE else would like to attempt this,...send me your e-mail,...I'll send you a PDF and some pics.
Oh,...and if anyone is into hard rock/ metal music like Metallica, Godsmack, Sevendust, Creed,...check out prevail rocks dot com and if you like it,..spread the word. THAT would be thanks enough for me,...and yes,...I'm in the band. If you read the band bios,..you'll figure out which one I am.
Cheers, Salute, and Skol!

 

[Anonymous_55]

Our experience with Samsung tv is not the greatest. We bought the HD 50" flat tv some years ago and experienced over the last 12 months the on and off disappearance of half on the picture (the lower half). Sometimes for just a few seconds and sometimes for the rest of the day. Did someone help us? No. We are just in the middle of replacing it with a new Phillips 50". By the way we are enjoying in our entertainment room, a big screen Sony which has been working well for over 10 years.

 

[Prience2]

Samsung HL-R6178W DLP HDTV

I just bought this tv used as is. Every once in a while, the right side of the screen goes black on all inputs. I have read from other locations that this is the DMD but suggests to replace the light engine.

I found the light engine for about $1000.

I would love to see if anyone has any experience replacing a light engine, or perhaps just the DMD.

Anyone had this experience?

 

[Prience2]

Ok I have Samsung 61 inch dlp. After 10 to 20 min I'm getting half black screen and after hour or so get full black screen. I know the tv getting hot so I did a few test with venting the tv and this what's works for me.My tv been working for two weeks now.
I use duel fans (small house fans on low speed). I located them on back of tv. Just brace them in back. Located from dmd board area and other left side of that by component connection area.
Now the fan by dmd board area have that fan blow into tv. Now the other fan use to exhaust air out. This supply good air inside tv and tv works.
Now it's a pain but you can watch tv. Always turn fans on first before turn on tv his way inside of tv never gets hot. Reminder turn fans off when you turn tv off.
Enjoy watching tv again. I know lots of people having his issue. Let me know if his help you.

 

[Herb McGrath]

it is a heat problem ,
put a fan on right side or the side with the most dust coming out,


it fixed mine and is lot oldre that most of yous ....... it is a flaw in, heat put a fan on the air vents...

 

[Herb McGrath]

put a fan on it,


myu tv i brought,

in 2007 or so... ,

the heat cracked my screen, but , i changed it place,,, i put fan on it.. moved it ... get it try it out sed donation to me plase for saving you thouseand of dollars..


herb mcgrath 3428 red oak ln crete IL.. oh tell samsung ... you owe me

 

[beachinmoney]

put a fan on it,


myu tv i brought,

in 2007 or so... ,

Anyone doing anything. My TV was part if the settlement but I was not notified. My first problem was Feb 2010. Since then it's been serviced 8 times, over 2000 in parts put in. Just last week new capacitor and ballist board, 18 hours later dead again. We all need to take this to Robert I Lax. Samsung is skirting the issue. email me, lkmbeachinmoney@gmail.com, Linnea

the heat cracked my screen, but , i changed it place,,, i put fan on it.. moved it ... get it try it out sed donation to me plase for saving you thouseand of dollars..


herb mcgrath 3428 red oak ln crete IL.. oh tell samsung ... you owe me