Trying to figure out what's wrong with my Samsung DLP (HL-S4266W) (1 Viewer)

[Chris Patricca]

I've had this Samsung DLP TV (model HL-S4266W) for a bit over four years without any issues. Recently the TV has been switching off and the front 3 LEDs on the on/off power button for Timer/Temp, Lamp, Power/Standby have been flashing after it turned itself off. According to the Samsung manual for this TV that indicates that the lamp may be defective. Since this was a showroom model before I purchased it and it has however many hours I've added to the bulb over 4 years I figured it made sense that the bulb might need to be replaced.I should note though that I have not seen any noticeable dimming of the picture over time and I have not touched the picture settings for the set since calibrating it and turning it down from the typical torch mode that showrooms have TV sets running at. I pulled the bulb housing from the unit and upon inspection I really don't see anything wrong with it, no scratches or dust or anything wrong with the bulb filament to indicate that it was getting ready to go. I took the bulb to a TV repair shop that sold the bulbs to get a second opinion & a replacement bulb in case I was wrong and the shop tech stated he didn't see anything wrong with the bulb either. So now I'm really not sure what's wrong with this set. I put the bulb back into the set, re-attached the securing screw, put in the cooling duct and put the back panel back on and it's still doing the same thing. I turn the set on, it displays picture for a minute maybe two and then it turns itself off with the 3 flashing LEDs.The other symptom I should note is that whenever the TV is on there's a low pitched hum that I'm guessing is coming from the color wheel assembly. It's had this hum for a good year or two now with no ill affect though so I'm not sure if that's an indicator of what the problem might be. If it's a potentially simple fix I'd rather do that than spend a few hundred on a new TV set since I've had no issues with this one. I've heard that it might be the DMD board, I really hope that's not the case as that part seems to cost as much as getting a whole new set. If anybody can give me hints as to what to look at I'm all for it.