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New, Want help with Projector

post #1 of 9
1/6/08 at 10:47am
Thread Starter 
I'm new to this forum, but was wondering if anyone could help me figure something out with my projector.

I've had a dell 1100MP DLP projector for over two years now, and until now haven't had any problems. I went through one lamp already and am on my second one, but now I think I might be having a more complicated problem.

normally it stays mounted on the ceiling, but I recently took it down to use for a slide show at a memorial for a friend, and ever since then it hasn't had as bright of a picture. Then the other day I was changing some of the video settings via the on-screen menu and after I had changed a few things, all of a sudden half of the colors had a purple tint (like an old crt tv that's on its way out). No matter what I changed the settings back to, the tint wouldn't change. I turned it off, let it cool down, and turned it back on. It was okay for a few minutes and then the purple tint resumed. Turned it off again, and the next time I turned it, it did not project any light onto the wall at all. The LED lights are not lighting up to indicate a problem, either.

In addition, it would not turn off in the normal manner. Usually to turn it off you press the power button twice which turns off the bulb and leaves the fan running for a minute to cool everything down. Now when I do this nothing happens and I have to unplug it if I want it to shut down, which is not good.

My suspicion is that the lamp is burnt out. I removed it and the base of the bulb glass doesn't seem to look right (but i never looked at it before so I'm not sure what is right).

However, the purple tint and the failure to shut down correctly lead me to believe that something more might be wrong with it. It's out of warranty in which case Dell wont even talk to me unless I pay by the minute, and to even look at it would cost $300.

I'm broke and I'm mechanical, so I would much rather fix this myself, but if it's a problem with the DLP technology I'm obviously not equipped to fix that. I just want to know if there is something more wrong with it before I buy another expensive bulb. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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post #2 of 9
1/7/08 at 3:41pm

Re: New, Want help with Projector

As for "does the lamp look right," I'll take a stab at some things that should be visible, or perhaps should not be visible.

First, when you look at the lamp, the assumption #1 that I'm going to make is that the reflector is an integral part of the unit. Very often, this sort of lamp will have a largish electrode on the very back of the glass part (still inside the chasis or cradle) and a small wire that drops down in the front and connects to the end of the true "lamp" part - this is some sort of glass tube inside the reflector.

If there are cracks in the base of the reflector where it meets the glass tube, this may be normal - there's a lot of glass, and there can be stress fractures. If the cracks go to the lamp tube itself, it's a mild concern.

The lamp tube is generally a narrow tube, cylindrical. If there are any large bulges in it, that's sort of abnormal.

However, that there is light coming out of the lamp indicates that the lamp isn't all-dead.

All right, a re-reading: is there any light from the lamp any more? There should be some spill out the back, sides, or even through the lens when the lamp is operating.

The partial frame purple and the loss of some of the controls aren't good signs. You may have had a board or component failure - these projectors are getting to where there isn't much to the insides from an electronics standpoint: one or two boards, and that's pretty much it. If the lamp won't light at all, and you can't hear any attempt to start it, there may be a control issue, or a ballast issue.

The purple tint is an odd one; it sounds like it's more a control issue than anything else - we had a couple of 1-chip DLP projectors that on start-up would occassionally not address one half of the chip. That's pretty odd, too, but was a firmware issue in the projector. This, however, is... different.

As for servicing your own projector, perhaps the best way to try to ressurect it, assuming it's not a plain and simple lamp issue (which I'm kind of doubting,) might be my brother's take. He bought two or three of the same kind of projector off of E-Bay, all inexpensive because they didn't work, and swapped parts around until he had one working projector. All told, I think it cost him $350, but he was kind of lucky.

Leo
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post #3 of 9
1/7/08 at 4:11pm
Thread Starter 

Re: New, Want help with Projector

Thanks for the reply.

As for light, there is no longer any light coming out from anywhere. It makes a sound like it is trying to light up, kind of a quiet popping noise. As for appearance, the glass tube looks okay, the base is kind of egg shaped and has lines that may or may not be cracks.

I'm no stranger to buying junk units for parts, and that may be a good idea, but it seems almost like it wouldn't be worth it. A new dell projector that's a little better is only $530, and that comes with the new bulb of course...I might be better off selling mine for scrap and just buying the new one when I can afford it.

I just don't want to do that if it's something less complicated/disabling
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post #4 of 9
1/7/08 at 5:07pm
Thread Starter 

Re: New, Want help with Projector

after some disassembly and tinkering, it is now producing an image again. It's dim, and everything has a purple tint, but at least it's an image. So now I have to figure out what that is being caused by....hmm.....
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post #5 of 9
1/7/08 at 7:56pm

Re: New, Want help with Projector

That's quite strange.
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post #6 of 9
1/16/08 at 4:50pm
Thread Starter 

Re: New, Want help with Projector

Yep, sure is. anyone have any ideas what this may be? or if there is any place that buys these things broken so I can at least get some cash for it?
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post #7 of 9
1/17/08 at 9:10am

Re: New, Want help with Projector

Not sure if you can get any cash out of it - But if you want to replace it, I see atleast 2 NEC HT1000 used sell @ avsforum for like $400
This model is king of video PJ, it has 1024x768 (4x3) but the image is awesome (I have one, and would not sell it for $400)
Good luck
Thuan
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post #8 of 9
4/7/08 at 2:33pm
Thread Starter 

Re: New, Want help with Projector

well, after some more tinkering, I have eliminated the lamp as the source of the problem. I managed to turn it on while the lamp was removed, and the sam problem was still occuring. I wish I knew more about the inner workings of these things, because I want to take it apart but i don't know if there will be something that i might damage by doing that.

The part that is not working sounds like some type of small electric motor (not the fan). When the projector used to start up normally, it made a very quiet high pitched sound that sounded like a motor or something increasing in speed, then it would level out and you could barely hear it. Now, it revs, but cant seem to reach that peak speed so it just keeps revving up over and over again...please tell me someone has encountered this problem??

The color wheel is spinning, if that matters...
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post #9 of 9
4/21/09 at 8:19am

Re: New, Want help with Projector

Sounds like your color wheel. However, you cannot operate a dlp with the lamp removed. the lamp must be installed and working for the set to turn on and stay on. The cycling you hear is the set try to fire the lamp when it sees the color wheel turning.

BTW, if you don't wnat to fix it, I'd be interested in buying it from you as I have need of a lens for this model.

Hope this helps.

David
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