CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[danOO00]

I have a 9PG Xtra I bought from Curt about a year ago which has a problem locking onto signals at times. About once a month or so it will be unable to lock onto a previously good signal entry. I use 1080i 60Hz from a PS3 90% of the time, and 720P 10%. The failure usually happens after a signal input switch occurs. Simple copy of the old entry to a new slot will get me 95% back in business- its just a PITA as it usually happens at a bad time.

I am thinking that the problem lies with the deflection board oscillator circuit capacitors being old and out of spec. When it won't lock onto a previously good entry I see that the h-frequency value in the info menu is always changed +/- .1 Hz

I really don't want to test/re-cap the board myself, as I don't have the tools (cap tester) or PCB repair skills needed.

Would it be a better idea for me to have this board sent out and tested/re-capped, or just find and purchase a replacement that has is tested good, or possibly rebuilt to specs? I would prefer not to have the downtime with the send out-repair option, and a spare board would be nice to have.

Other than this issue, the PJ is in great condition.

Anyone with spare parts, PCB repair skills or ideas interested?

Thanks,
Dan

[macgyver655]

So if I understand you correctly, when the projector wont lock onto an entry, if you then go and make a new entry, it will then lock onto that entry. You then copy the data from the original entry to the new entry and every thing is fine again with the projector locking onto the new entry. Is that correct?

[danOO00]

Exactly Macgyver.

I could have said it better myself.

[Tom.W]

If you bought it from Curt I would suggest you send him a PM. When it comes to customer service he's one of the best !

[macgyver655]

[danOO00]

Thanks Tom, and I agree- Curt is first class with customer service and support from my perspective.

When I first got the set I had the bright idea to increase my raster width using the h-size pot on the deflection board. I blew the output transistor, and he replaced the transistor at no charge. His email support was also outstanding, but since the NEC has been on my ceiling for well over a year now, its my problem to resolve. I am using this forum to get some options and ideas on how to proceed.

I will definitely PM Curt to see what he has in stock as a replacement solution though.

Thanks,
Dan

[dbaisey]

On the PGs its a fine line on where the problem may be. I have seen some be the oscillator circuits and some be the system boards. Usually the system board will give scrambled menus along with no lock up but there is always that one or two that are not the norm.

I have had a few that were the oscillators and F/V only but many system boards with scrambled menus. Doug

[macgyver655]

Hey Doug. If you want to send me some of those system boards to verify with I'm sure Curt wont mind.

[Brooklyn]

I had the same problem, and a new deflection board cured the issue. However, I have heard the system board can cause this too.

[macgyver655]

[Brooklyn]

Yes I believe so. The images and menus would becomes "scrambled". Like the horizontal frequency setting was messed up.

[danOO00]

I have the same issues with certain input scan rates. 1080i 60 seems to lock on easily every time, 1080i 72 has to warm up for a few minutes - during that time the scrambled horizontal waves in the video image and menus disappear slowly from the bottom up.. really weird. After 5 minutes it looks fine. 480i will never lock on, but I don't care...

[macgyver655]

If your losing sync then yes it could be either the deflection board or the system board. But if your not losing sync, just the ability to lock onto an entry, then its more likely the system board. dan0000, you didn't mention anything in your original posts about losing sync. Just losing the ability to lock onto an entry and then was able to lock to a new entry. When the projector would act up, and not lock to an entry, was there a pic that was in sync?

[danOO00]

When I have issues with the standard 1080i signal, the image is in sync, but not recognized by the existing saved memory, so I need to create a new signal entry and copy over the old data.

Some signals like 480i out of a cable STB will not sync at all, and the PJ will try to sync, get sync momentarily and lose it- this repeats itself forever. There are a few standard signals with this issue I have noticed.

[rickycleung]

I got the same problem of my XG1350. Sometime it will syn and lock to the new create input signal after several attemp in the entry list. Sometime it syn and lock with the old memory input signals whether it is 960P72hz or 1080P/i60hz. It depends on this beast's mood to work or not

The weird thing is when it syn on the new create entry,there is a vertical blanking of about 6~8" on the right side of the internal test patterns though the phase is correctly set. This vertical blanking does not appear on the actual image from external sources

Doug is so helpful to isolate the problem that this may be the OSC or system boards are bad.

[danOO00]

It would be nice to have my system board checked out before I start screwing with the deflection caps, etc..

Will Curt or MacG be able to check mine out and repair if needed? Is it a costly fix if it turns out to be the system board?

[macgyver655]