How to troubleshoot a DLP TV.

When you turn your DLP television on and get nothing but a clicking sound you could have almost anything wrong with it.

First you should check the lamp. as this is the weak link in this technology. If your unit is 6 or more years old I would replace the lamp whether the light says to or not. Your manual should tell you how to find the lamp and replace it. Typically the lamp replacement is the least difficult problem to solve.

If you lost your manual you can get a new one for free from http://www.retrevo.com . They do not have all manuals but the ones they have are free.

For this repair I would recommend a service manual. You can purchase one from http://www.servicemanuals.net for about $16.00 USD and you can usually download it immediately.

If the lamp is blackened or smokey inside it probably needs replaced. If the lamp is not bad the next likely area would be the low voltage power supply section.

First, is the standby light blinking in some sort of pattern? If so, count the number of times it blinks between long pauses. If it is blinking in a patten, this is an error code, and can be helpful in diagnosing the problem. Depending on the manufacturer the blinking pattern will mean different things. Error code lists are available by googling "(manufacturer) tv error codes". Proceed from here based on the information provided by the error code list. There should also be an error code list in the service manual.

If your set has no blinking lights proceed by unplugging and looking at the mainboard for burned resistors or bulging electrolytic capacitors. Electrolytics look like little cans, with shiny ends and are generally black, grey or blue. They have a positive and negative lead so be careful when replacing to get the polarity correct. If they are bulging replace them. Also replace any bad resistors found. Of course looking for blown fuses goes without saying but these days you rarely find a blown glass protection fuse. At this point it would be a good idea to inspect all solder joints on all boards, but especially the Low Voltage section, and resolder anything which looks suspicious.

Finding no charred resistors or bulging caps, no bad fuses and after resoldering all suspicious connections, your unit still does not work, check all semis in the LV power supply (diodes and transistors). Replace any bad units found and check all associated resistors and replace as necessary.

If after all the above procedures are tried, and your unit still isn't working, you may have to replace an entire board. These days most boards are relatively inexpensive. The most likely board would be the LV power supply.

Any parts or boards needed can be ordered at http://www.encompass.com or http://www.shopjimmy.com .

Good luck with your troubleshooting and be careful while inside the set especially near the High Voltage second anode where it connects to the CRT.

Thanks for using FixYa.

hardrocko