How to tell if the Lamp in your Projector or Rear Projection TV has Failed or is About to Fail
Most problems on these TV’s are due to lamp problems. For brand-specific help, just click the appropriate link for your Hitachi, JVC, Mitsubishi, Sony, or Toshiba TV.
Projector lamps from Pureland Supply are only used in Projectors or TVs that use LCD, DLP, D-ILA and LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) display chips. These utilize patented Short Arc technology utilized by Philips, Ushio, Phoenix and Osram.
Projector lamps can easily be replaced by a customer commonly needing nothing more than a screwdriver. If a special tool is required, it comes packaged with the new lamp. We stock all popular projection lamps for sale for all brands with Original Bulbs Inside. There are no replaceable lamps in flat panel TV’s (plasma, LCD, and LED TV’s), traditional direct view TV’s, and the old floor-standing CRT rear projection TV’s.
An On Screen Menu is a pattern of text on the screen that the TV generates internally, like the TV menu you get by using the TV remote. This is the volume display, channel display, input display, etc. If you can see an ON SCREEN MENU, the lamp is not bad.
Usually, a dead lamp can be confirmed by looking at it. Each lamp contains a thin glass tube. If this tube is shattered or has a hole melted in it, then it is bad. Often, people watching the set when the lamp fails will hear a “pop.” A lamp with a crack, blister, or discoloration in the glass tube (down the center) may also indicate failure.
Occasionally, a lamp will go bad with no visible internal damage. This can only be confirmed by substituting a good lamp. Using an Ohm meter or multi-meter won’t work here as these lamps use Short Arc technology.
When a lamp fails to light, the lamp power supply may make a buzzing or sparking noise caused by the excess high voltage being bled off. On sets that restart several times, this buzzing may be heard on each restart. This noise is also an indication of a bad lamp.
Bad lamps usually fail to light when the set is powered on, but weak lamps can also blank out while the set is running. The set may detect this and attempt to restart the lamp. If the picture and On Screen Menu go out intermittently, the lamp is the likely culprit.
Here are some common Failure Modes by manufacturer. Your issue may not be listed here specifically but most of these can apply to multiple models/manufacturers.
Call our well-trained staff at 1-800-664-6671 or email us at Support@Purelandsupply.com or Sales@PurelandSupply.com if you are not sure if you need a lamp.
TV starts up with a dark screen, no picture, and no On Screen Menu . After a few minutes, the LAMP light on the front of the set stays on constantly.
JVC:
TV starts up with a dark screen, no picture, and no On Screen Menu . After a few minutes, the blue and orange lights on the front panel blink simultaneously and continuously twice per second.
Failure Mode 1: Projector starts up, attempts to light the lamp. Possibly hearing the ballast ‘tick’ as it tried to light. Then the Status and power light turn red and the unit shuts down.
Failure Mode 2: (Some models) TV works, but the LAMP lights lights a constant yellow/amber. This is a warning that the lamp has been used for a certain number of hours and may fail soon. When you replace the lamp, an on-screen message will ask you to reset the lamp timer, so this warning light turns off. This must be done using the original TV remote. Set top box remote may not work.
Failure Mode 3: (Some models) Picture flashes, flickers, and/or changes color. After a few minutes, the set may shutdown. This may be due to a copy lamp being used. Make sure the bulb in your lamp is made by Osram of Philips. No-name lamps may cause this issue.
Failure Mode 4: No fans start when power is pressed. Only the status and power LED flash back and forth. This indicates the lamp timer as run out and put the unit in protection mode. Refer the manual for proper reset, however most units are reset by holding down the Left and Right directional arrows and Power button on the projector simultaneously for a few seconds to force a timer reset.
NEC:
Failure Mode 1: Status Indicator will flash Six times before pausing and then continuing to flash until power is removed. The lamp indicator will also flash on and off until power is removed.
Failure Mode 2: Status light will be off and the lamp indicator will light solid red indicting the lamp has run past 2100 hours and is now in protection mode. This must be reset using the factory remote. by pressing Help and holding it for about 10 seconds until the Lamp indicator turns off.
Sony:
Failure Mode 1: The green POWER light flashes once per second (the normal start-up indication), but the screen is dark with no picture and no On Screen Menu . The set tries to restart 3 more times, and then the red LAMP light starts blinking.
Failure Mode 2: The set works OK, but the screen goes dark with no picture or On Screen Menu . After a few minutes, the picture comes back on by itself but continues to go on and off by itself. The green POWER light blinks continuously while the picture is out, and there may or may not be sound.
Failure Mode 3: The set works, but a lamp warning message appears on the screen each time it is turned on.
Failure Mode 1: Lamp will remain lit but display a message “Lamp Failure” before shutting down.
Failure Mode 2: No image at all, and the Red lamp indictor will be lit.
Some models will warn you of imminent failure as the lamp nears its 2000-hour life limit.
Failure Mode 1: Lamp Indicator will flash red with standby indicator steady red.
Failure Mode 2: Lamp indicator will be lit steadily as will the power indicator.
Failure Mode for TVs. The red light on the front panel comes on constant, and the green light blinks 3 times per second (the normal start-up indication), but the screen is dark with no picture and no On Screen Menu . The set shuts down and resets itself 8 times. Then, the green and red lights blink simultaneously and continuously once per second.
Upon start up the fans will run for a few minutes. You will hear the color wheel spin up and the ballast attempting to start. This will repeat three times until the unit confirms the lamp failure. At that point the indicator for the lamp(s) will flash red instead of green. Some models will flash six times before pausing and then flashing again until the power is removed.
