Most people who own a DLP Television that has become noisy think that it is a noisy fan. It makes perfect sense. Clearly the noise is being made by something spinning.

More often than not, however, the noise is caused by the television's color wheel -- the OTHER thing in a DLP TV that spins. The color wheel, pictured above, is a small motor that spins a wheel of three colors (two of each) in front of the lamp. It spins VERY fast, much faster than a fan, several thousand RPM. By what can be nothing less than a miracle, the television can somehow flash the appropriate image for the color through the wheel at the time that color passes by.

But this screaming sound. How do I know if it's the color wheel or the fan?

1. Turn the television on for a while, long enough for the lamp to get hot (not very long).
2. Turn the television off and listen.
3. The offensive sound will probably spin down and stop in a second or two. You'll notice that the fan will keep operating until the television cools down a bit.

If the sound did stop very quickly, then that's your color wheel.

If you have a Samsung DLP, see here for instructions on changing your own Samsung DLP colorwheel