The fans on my Toshiba DLP frequently make a loud humming noise, as if something is vibrating that should not be. I am not sure if it is the bulb fan, or the ballast fan, but the noise continues after I turn the TV off until it cools down. So, I am assuming it is the bulb fan. The noise does not happen all the time. There are times when I turn the TV on and hear the normal sound of the fan instead of the loud buzzing. There will be times when I do not hear the loud fan noise initially but then will it hear it later after the TV has been on a while. And there are times when I hear the loud buzzing sound of the fan right away. I did have the buld and ballast fans replaced recently for this reason and now the new fan(s) are making the sound. What could be the probable cause of this (loose mounting screw, crappy fan, etc.) and is there an easy solution to this? Is there an upgrade that can be done with the fans?
Nope, no fan upgrade. Actually the Toshiba's are much more known for noisy color wheels.
A noisy fan, most of the time, is an idication of a pending preakdown. When that happens, most sets will not let the bulb light up or they will light up and then shut down when the bulb heats up. To prevent any future damage, I would replace or have the fans swapped out. Good Luck, and please let us know how you made out with this set.
Thanks guys! The bulb fan and ballast fan I have in now are replacement fans that I have only had in for about a month. The noise did go away for about two weeks and then started back up.
What if it is the color wheel? Will the color wheel continue to spin while the lamp is cooling down when the the TV is turned off? The noise continues while the bulb cools down after I turn the power button off. I assumed it might be the cooling fan. I pulled the back panel off to try to identify the noise. It did not seem to be the bulb fan, but did seem further in, like maybe the ballast fan, But, if the color wheel is going bad would it make a buzzing sound, (like a wire hitting the fan blades sound)? Is there a way to diagnose the color wheel for issues? Are color wheels a pain-in-the-butt to replace on this Toshiba?
If it sounds like a wire hitting a fan blade are you sure that isn't the cause. If the engine was out to replace those fans it's quite possible that a wire may be making contact with one of the fan blades.
Color wheels normally shutdown after the lamp has shutdown. They don't turn during the cool down phase. You'll know if it's a color wheel. They get extremely loud and with the back off it will seem like the entire engine is vibrating.