rbrophy52,
I have finally made my way around to this thread!
To me it seems like a defective Digital Board and I will explain why... But first of all, your ballast should not go bad. How are you measuring the voltage coming out? This is impossible using a standard multimeter! The startup voltage on the ballast is 15KV! It will damage your multimeter or send it way out of calibration if you try to measure Voltage output.
First I would test voltage coming into your ballast at time of booting up your TV... The voltage there should be around ~380VDC
Next, I would test the ballast by using the FORCE-ON method described here:
http://www.fixyourdlp.com/forum/viewtop ... 4005#p4005
Again, I'm not responsible for damages for misuse of this information!
Next.. I'm assuming your ballast is fine
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, I would see if the color wheel connections are good. Did you buy a color wheel with housing or without? In this case, I would recommend the full housing which includes the RPM sensor board.
Finally... Here is a breakdown of the BASIC boot sequence of your TV:
1 - Power Supply ON (by Switch or Remote - Controlled by Digital Board containing DNIe Chip)
- Send 380VDC to Ballast (Ballast on Standby until Receives 5VDC Ignition from DMD)
- Boot DMD Board
2 - DMD Board ON (Waiting for Information)
- Waiting on OK from ColorWheel
- Waiting on OK from Temp Sensor
3 - Check Color Wheel RPM (If wheel speed is 5400RPM, Send OK to DMD)
- Sensor on Color Wheel housing gives OK to DMD - If PASS go to the next step
- Sensor on Color Wheel housing gives FAIL to DMD - Shut down TV (Lamp Light Only - Very deceiving)
***Color wheel has 2 cables - MOTOR (Variable Speed via Voltage Regulator) & SENSOR (Live RPM Sensor)
4 - Check TV Temperature (If Temperature is Below Threshold, Send OK to DMD)
- Standard electronic Thermometer (Live TEMP Sensor) - If PASS go to the next step
- Standard electronic Thermometer (Live TEMP Sensor) - If FAIL shut down TV (Temp Light Only)
5 - If DMD Board Receives OK on TEMP and CWRPM send 5VDC to Ballast for ignition
- Waiting on OK from ColorWheel - PASS
- Waiting on OK from Temp Sensor - PASS
- Send 5VDC to Ballast - Then Waiting for response
6 - Ballast Fire Up (which then turns the lamp "on")
- Ballast sends electronic pulse to DMD
- If PASS - Go to Next Step
- If FAIL - Shut Down TV (3 Lights Blinking)
7 - DMD Receives OK from BALLAST - Send VIDEO to screen
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A few other things to keep in mind that aren't in my flow chart...
Digital Board controls the digital functions of the TV (On, Off, Menu, Etc)
- Blinking Menu - MOST LIKELY bad Digital Board
- TV Turns on by itself when plugged in - MOST LIKELY bad Digital Board
- TV Won't Turn off or is non-responsive to buttons or remote - MOST LIKELY bad Digital Board
Digital Board is responsible for processing and descrambling the OSV (On-Screen VIDEO, does NOT include Menu System)
- Menu is OK and Video is bad, DMD Board is MOST LIKELY GOOD and Digital Board has bad DNIe Chip
**Here is where some technicians make a mistake... The Digital Board produces the on-screen menu, but it does so using a separate memory chip! It does not use the DNIe chip for menu functions! This is why we test the OSM (on-screen menu) to diagnose... Even though the Digital Board produces this menu, it does not process it or pass it through DNIe Chip.. DNIe chip is what converts the ANALOG video to DIGITAL with some enhancing, upconverting, etc. When we press menu and the menu shows up fine but video is scrambled, this means the DNIe chip or one of its related components is failing. The MENU Function are on a separate path to the DMD board and are not decompressed, compressed, or decoded in any way (Direct to Display).
DMD Board is responsible for ultimate video output
- TV is scrambled (lines or blackouts) - MOST LIKELY BAD DMD Board
- TV won't turn on and Color Wheel is GOOD, Temp sensor is GOOD, Ballast is GOOD, and TV won't power - DMD is not sending 5VDC out to Ballast ---- DMD is MOST LIKELY bad
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Follow that sequence and tell me where you think the TV is failing.
DISCLAIMER:
I use the word MOST LIKELY because I take no responsibility for mis-diagnosis! This is just a basic outline of the boot sequence on Samsung DLP TV's, Mitsubishi DLP TV's, RCA DLP TV's.