HDTV Forum

If you suspect lamp failure the first step is to check your owner's manual, which will tell you how to read/interpret the indicator lights on the front of your TV or on your front projector. If you do not have the owners manual, odds are very high you can find it on the internet and download it. Manufacturers often times provide these manuals on their web sites.

A lamp timer...

Read Article, HDTV TLC: Projection Lamp Failure and Replacement

Before replacing a TV lamp I would try unpluging the lamp and pluging it back in. I have done this on a Sony 70" of mine and also a Sony TV of a friend and it worked. On mine this happened more that once so I ended up coating the contacts with a contact grease from Radio Shack.

Dave,

That is so rare I have never heard of it. Can't agree with the contact grease either.

There is one thing though... sometimes shaking the lamp gets the mercury inside to move around so it makes contact with the electrodes and maybe that is what happened for you. This is also quite rare, limited to front projectors in my experience.

If you think there is something to this I will ask my peers...

With mine I could have shaken it because I pluged and unpluged many times. With the friend no, he had no picture, the green light was flashing and would not come on solid so I just unpluged and pluged the lamp back in immediately, it worked right away and has been running for at least 6 months. Both were the 70" XBR1. He and I now also have the 70"XBR2 no problems. I sold my XBR1, he kept his.