Symptoms: In case you’re wondering if the problem you’re having is the color wheel, I can tell you what symptoms I was having. While watching TV, I heard a knock or pop followed by a very loud humming noise that seemed to surge and subside, surge and subside. At the same time, the colors on the picture started flickering. I still had a picture, but the colors were all wonky. The humming noise as well was far too loud to be able to watch even if the picture was decent.I’ve read from other posts, that some had the picture go out and some had the TV turn itself off. The one constant across posts is the humming although for some it started quiet and grew.Anyway, because of the color flicker, I was fairly confident I had a color wheel problem.
Tools:
1. A couple of different medium sized Phillips head screwdrivers.
2. A jewelers flat head screwdriver (the kind you might fix eye glasses with).
3. Flashlight
4. Vacuum (I used this rather than compressed air because I didn’t want to just blow the dust around.
5. Zip loc bags.
6. Digital camera. I took several pics along the way so I’d know what it looked like before I did something. I wish I’d taken twice as many so take plenty.
Orientation:You’ll be sitting behind the TV, so when I say something is ‘Forward’, it’s closer to the screen. ‘Right’ vs. ‘Left’ is your right or left facing where the screen is pointing.
*Unplug the Power* If you’re not sure how, stop reading this and call a repair shop. This job isn’t for you.
Steps.
1. The first thing I did was make sure I could find the replacement wheel I needed. I did a search by model number on Partstore.com and found one quickly for $94.95. Not bad since the local repairman wanted to charge 120 just to come to my house to diagnose the problem. Here’s the link as of this posting http://www.partstore.com/Part/Samsung/Samsung/HLR5067W/Samsung/Samsung/BP9600674A/New.aspx Once finding that it was available, I decided not to buy it until I could see the old one to make sure it looked like the right one. So I started.
2. Time to start in. There are two panels on the back. The small one is for replacing the lamp and does not need to be removed. The large one will take the small one with it when you remove it. This larger panel spans the entire width of the back of the TV. Remove the screws and save. I put all screws that came from the same part of the TV in their own zip loc bag and labeled it like, “Back Panel”. Don’t remove the panel with all the component connectors.
3. Next remove the lamp cage. There are instructions with pictures on Samsung’s support website for this, but basically it’s just one screw on the left side of the cage. Remove the screw and the lamp cage slides out by pulling the handles on the left side.
4. Now, looking at the open area of the TV case (everything to the right of the component panel). Almost everything you see will be sliding out together. The floor of this space will eventually slide with everything on it coming with. When I did this, I removed or disconnected a bunch of things that didn’t need to be and the pictures I include will show that. Some things do need to be disconnected though. On this picture, the two connectors I’m pointing to, need to be disconnected and moved out of the way. The plastic rectangular guide that the ribbon cable goes through needs to be removed. Just pull it and it should come out. There is also a DVI cable with white connectors, one pointing forward and one poking through the metal divider wall on the left. You only need to disconnect the one going through the left wall. The other connectors marked ‘A’ and ‘B’ didn’t need to be disconnected.
5. In the next picture, I’m pointing to a power connector. Unclip this connector and slide the wires out of their plastic guide to the right. In this picture, you can also see how the floor of this area is a metal plate which goes bends vertically downward at the back of the TV. In a later step, you will be removing screws from this vertical area to allow the whole thing to slide.
6. There are two connectors which I don’t have a picture of, but are very obvious when you look to the right of this picture below. The wires from one of these connectors are contained in a black sleeve. Disconnect both of these connectors. The wires from both go through guides above the top of the opening all the way over to the left of the TV. Take them out of their guides until you can swing them out of this open space. The idea it there are parts of this unit which will get hung up on those wires when you slide it out if they aren’t moved out of the way.
**Note: This picture is a bit misleading because I removed several things on the left side of the picture which you don’t need to remove. Also, one of the things I removed from the left side(the circuit board) is sitting just above where I’m pointing. That’s obviously not what you’ll see. I didn’t know the whole thing was going to slide out.
7. This should be ready to slide. There are two screws on the vertical part of the metal floor. Remove them now. One of them (the rightmost of the two), also holds a thin shiny piece of metal. Swing that shiny metal out of the way once the screw is removed. Find places to get a grip on the metal floor and carefully slide it out. It has to be pulled out pretty evenly because there are guides which keep it in place. This is a very good thing for later when you put it back.
While you’re pulling keep an eye on the higher parts of the assembly to make sure they are clearing the opening and anything else I might have forgotten.
8. Once this has slid all the way out, if you rotate the entire unit clockwise ¼ turn you can see this next picture. The color wheel unit is the part with the metal fins in the center of the picture(vertically). Below it is a triangular metal shroud that covers the lamp cage you removed earlier. Above the color wheel unit is the projector lens assembly. The lens is surrounded by a flat piece of black plastic with black foam on one side. The plastic is horizontal and then toward the back of the TV it angles upward sort of like a ski tip. Once I got this out, I covered the projector lens with a clean cloth to protect it from dust and children since I was going to be waiting a few days for deliver of the new wheel.
9. Next, see if the color wheel unit can be removed now. I removed the large triangular piece, it’s fan and air duct first, but possibly not necessary. So try this first. To the upper left of the wheel unit (the part with the metal fins) there is a screw as well as another diagonally down and to the right across the unit. Remove them both and you should be able to lift the color wheel unit directly upward. If that worked, you can skip step 10 and go to 11.
10. This step is only if the wheel unit can’t be accessed because of the triangular lamp shroud. To the right of this picture is a black plastic air duct funneling air to (or from) a fan which is just below this picture. Remove the screws holding the top half of this air duct. Before pulling out the fan, note which way the fan is blowing so you’ll know which way to put it back in. I didn’t do this so I had to make an educated guess based on the shape of the fan’s power wire. Anyway, if anyone does this and would post what they see, that would help everyone else out. Once the fan is pulled, there are three screws directly opposite the fan through the space where the lamp goes. Remove these. You can also see some foil tape going from the brass screw in the picture. You’ll want to unhook that by removing the brass screw and pulling the tape off. This will allow you to put it back the way you found it whereas pulling the tape off the metal wall at the other end of the tape will probably lose any adhesive it had. With the shroud removed, you should be able to access the wheel unit described in step 9.
11. Before the wheel can be completely removed, there are two wires which must be disconnected. One is a connector with two grey wires and one blue. The other is a strange copper colored ribbon. The grey/grey/blue connector will need to be removed gently by prying is with your jewelers screwdriver. I wouldn’t pull on the wires. The copper one pulls right out. It doesn’t have a plastic connector. There’s also a piece of foil tape holding these wires in place. Peel it off. You may want to buy some to replace this with, but I didn’t. I couldn’t reuse that piece, so I just went without.
12. Once the wheel unit is removed, you should be able to see this looking down into the wheel well. You may not have the proof that the wheel was the problem as I did with shards of glass in the bottom. I vacuumed them out.
13. Now it’s time to put the new wheel in(once you’ve ordered and received it). For the most part, you’ll just reverse what you did before, but I’ll point a couple of things out. The wheel unit has a gasket to seal it to the wheel well. Thread the two wire groups out the way the old one did(it will probably come this way in the box although I had to play with the gasket a little because it kept falling off when I’d go to set it in the well. Carefully slide it in being careful not to touch the wheel on anything. Both to avoid smudges and to keep from breaking it. They’re probably tougher than I think, but those shards in the picture make me wary. Make sure the wires can reach their connectors and replace the two screws.
14. Plug the two wires from the wheel unit in. The grey/grey/blue one required me to use the flat side of a flat screwdriver to push it into place because it didn’t slide in nicely. Look at the picture(2 pictures up from here) to see the orientation of the wires(blue is closest in the picture). The copper one is a bit strange, the side of the connecting end with the exposed contacts will face toward the back of the TV(in the picture, they face left). It takes a bit of finger gymnastics to slide it in. If it flips back out, you didn’t put it in far enough. Once it’s in far enough, it’s held pretty firmly.
15. If you had to remove the fan, air duct and triangular shroud, replace them now including the foil tape to the brass screw. I don’t know what this does, but it looks intentional.
16. Rotate the unit ¼ turn counter clockwise. Find where the floor of the unit fits(almost like on rails) and start sliding it in. Keep an eye on the foam on the “ski tip” by the projector lens as you slide this. It may require you to lift the back of the unit a little as you slide it to keep from getting the foam hung up. The floor should slid in evenly and you’ll see the plastic and foam “ski” match up to the hole in the roof(separating this compartment from the large one above where the screen is. Don’t force it. You don’t want to cause the projector unit to be misaligned. Once the floor is in place, the two screw holes should line up with the holes they’ll be connected to. If they didn’t, you somehow got off line. It’s not as hard as it sounds. The screw holes lined up the first time when I did it.
17. Reconnect all wires and cables removed earlier and those with plastic guides should be rethreaded through the guides.
18. Slide the lamp cage back in place. It plugs itself in as you slide it on it’s rails so it should feel like it’s plugged in as you slide it. Replace it’s brass screw.
19. Check your zip loc bags to verify there are no extra parts or screws except for the back panel screws and replace the back panel.
20. Plug it back in, cross your fingers and hit the power button to test it out.
I hope this is at least helpful. It took me a couple of hours to pull apart and an hour and a half to put back together, but that was using a post for guidance with pictures that didn’t look much like my TV and removing or disconnecting several things that didn’t need to be. Please post if you have additional suggestions or if you noticed something I forgot to mention.
