Projector repair. $49 diagnosis, then a quote you approve.
Home theater and conference projectors: lamp and LED driver boards, fans and thermal faults, dust-clogged light paths, input boards. The lamp is the suspect everyone blames; the bench proves which part actually failed before you spend anything.
How projector pricing works
$49 to find out exactly what your projector needs. The fix is then one flat quote, approved before anything starts.
Diagnosis
$49The $49 diagnostic answers the real question: what is actually wrong, whether it is worth fixing, and what the whole job costs. Free when you approve the repair.
Lamp & LED driver boards
Quoted after diagnosisThe driver is load-tested before any lamp is sold, so a good lamp never gets bought to cure a dead driver. Discontinued lamps: the reality is stated at the diagnosis.
Fans & thermal faults
Quoted after diagnosisMachines that shut down mid-movie. Dust-packed heatsinks, seized or noisy fans, drifted thermistors: cleaned or replaced, then proven under a full run.
Light path & dust
Quoted after diagnosisBlurry blobs and smudges in the image are dust settled on the optics. The path is opened, cleaned, and sealed back up.
Input boards & HDMI
Quoted after diagnosisNo-signal and dropouts get the source and cable ruled out first, then the input board is repaired, not swapped wholesale.
When the panel is the problem
$49, waived if the verdict is replaceCracked or failing DLP/LCD panels are often the not-worth-it line: the panel costs more than the projector is worth. The diagnosis says it straight and points you at the fix-or-replace decision guides.
The three failures that come in most
Projectors fail in patterns. These are the three we see weekly.
Shuts off after a few minutes
Heat. Dust-packed heatsinks and slowing fans trip the thermal protector long before the lamp is guilty. Cleaned and re-fed with airflow, most machines run all evening again.
White dots, or a grid of dead pixels
On DLP machines this class of fault lives in the panel chip itself. When a panel replacement costs more than the projector is worth, the diagnosis says so and you owe nothing. We do not quote into dead ends.
Blurry blobs in the picture
Dust settling on the optics, not the lamp dying. The light path is opened and cleaned, and the image comes back sharp.
Three ways in
However the job reaches the bench, the quote comes before the work.
Bring it in, or ship it
- 01Bring the projector. 2224 Sunrise Dr, Longmont · Mon–Fri 9–6, Sat–Sun 10–3. Bring the remote if you have it; it saves the bench a menu hunt.
- 02Ship it. Anywhere in the U.S.: get an RMA number online, pack it well, and we diagnose within 24 hours of arrival and email a flat quote. Projectors travel fine packed like what they are: lamps in a box.
- 03Start online. The repair wizard gives a first-pass assessment any hour, and the AI receptionist answers the phone around the clock. A human follows up.
What we don't do
Scope stated plainly, so you know before you book.
Honest verdicts included
- Repairs happen on the bench. Mounting and in-home setup is the AV-setup service, a different job with its own flat labor; ask and we will point you at it.
- Panel reality, stated plainly. When a DLP/LCD panel is damaged, replacement is often more than the projector is worth. That is the not-worth-it line, and the fix-or-replace decision guides walk you through the alternatives.
- No repair-avoiding part swaps. If a cleaned fan or a re-seated cable fixes it, we don't quote a new main board.
Projector questions
The things owners ask before movie night depends on the answer.
Straight answers
Diagnosis is $49 and free when you approve the repair. After that every fix is one flat quote that depends on the projector and its parts. You approve before any work starts.
Heat, almost always. Dust-packed heatsinks and slowing fans trip the thermal protector long before the lamp is guilty. Cleaned and re-fed with airflow, most machines run all evening again.
On DLP projectors that fault class lives in the panel chip itself. When a panel replacement costs more than the projector is worth, the diagnosis says so plainly and you owe nothing.
Sometimes. But the driver board is load-tested before any lamp is sold, so a good lamp never gets bought to cure a dead driver. If the lamp for your model is discontinued, the diagnosis says so before you spend anything.
Usually not. Blobs and smudges are dust settled on the optics. The light path is opened, cleaned, and sealed back up, and the image comes back sharp.
Often. The source and cable get ruled out first, then the input board is repaired, not swapped wholesale. Quoted flat after the $49 diagnosis.
Repair labor carries a 90-day warranty. Parts are covered by their manufacturer warranty where one exists, and the quote states which is which.
Tell us what the projector is doing.
Call the shop any time: our AI receptionist answers around the clock and a human follows up. Or run the repair wizard for a first-pass assessment before you commit to anything.