Dell Projector 1800MP Lamp light/Power bottom Blinks orange and wont turn on at all!!

I have the same issue as of last night.  Someone please help us as I spent all day trying to get to the tech support line and it said they are experiencing technical problems!  :emotion-9:

Same problem here. Mine is out of warranty as well. I called tech support and described the problem. They said the projector would have to be replaced. When they found it was out of warranty, I was basically told it was the end of the road and that I would just have to toss it and buy a new  projector. I find this totally ridicillous. This is a relatively expensive (at least in my mind) product which is only just over two years old. It also appears to me that the "technicians" at support are no more technicians than my grandma. They go thru a list of troubleshooting items, and if no solution is found, that's it. I wrote them a complaint e-mail, but they havn't even replied.

So I guess I have to get a new projector. I haven't decided on what I'm getting yet, the only thing I know for sure is which brand not to buy.......

Do not buy another lamp, it is an issue that Dell was not able to help us with either after an hour and a half wait time, tech that answered the phone, had no idea said it was out of warranty, which we knew about and thought the number we were given to call was for out of warranty questions, but........not sure what our options are, since we paid $1200 for a projector that only lasted 2 years. disappointing.

Hello all,

I wish I had some insight as well, but I am as frustrated as the rest of you. I bought this projector in December of 2007 for my hospital. It started doing the same thing you all describe last week. I purchased a new bulb ($300) and it is still doing the same thing. I am very disappointed. Dell has told me that we can send it in for repair which will cost at least $300 plus parts. I see a pattern here...

Unfortunately we have 3 of these projectors and two went down in one week …. I can honestly say that calling support was a “useless” waste of time, 90 minutes and 7 different employees plus one disconnection. :emotion-8: Listened to the previous posts. Even if you can get support help if you don’t have an extended warranty forget.

Dell support is very bad :emotion-45: :emotion-45:

Unfortunately, this (flashing orange LAMP light) is a hardware issue with the 1800MP.  We had the same issue after about 3 years with ours.  If your projector is out of warranty, you can have it repaired for $235 plus parts.  While this seems like a lot, it is substantially cheaper than purchasing a new projector with the same capabilities ($800-$1000). 

In case anyone is interested in having this done, the contact number for the vendor who provides the out of warranty projector repairs is (800) 941-4478.  This number may be only good for eastern time zone only, because that's where we are, but if that is you too, it will save you 30+ minutes on the phone with Dell support to get the number.

Hope this helps!

My experience with these has been far from pleasant as well.  Out of the 7 I have bought, 5 of them have had these same issues.  Each time I have to talk to Dell their response is, "We'll send a replacement."  It's nice to know that they are replacing them but I am tired of replacing every one of these.  What happens when the current replacements go bad also?  When I search through the internet and even the Dell community, I find that this issue seems to be rather reoccuring.  I wonder if Dell plans to fix this current issue?

My 1800MP is less than two years old with less than 200 hours on it, is out of warranty, and now will not turn on - same as everybodyelse - amber quick flashing bulb led and it won't turn on.  You are fortunate to still have all of your units under warranty (but 5 out of 7 failed? remarkable).  Based on the 12 pages of posts on this Dell Community site, there are at least 12 users with single or multiple MP1800's that have failed - will not turn on - and nearly all appear to be between one and less than two years old.  10 of the 12 posts are all this year, 2009.  I have received today a "final" notification that Dell refuses to exchange or replace my defective/dead 1800MP.

Any idea if this company has web contact info (website, email)?

Thanks

Not a company, just me.

I posted the following earlier but it was removed I assume because I included my website as a contact.  I have the same model with a very similar problem. Mine started as you describe yours but after being unplugged for a day it would no longer turn on at all and the lamp led would breifly flash at a regular interval. I am a field engineer and work on MRI and X-ray equipment so I dove into the unit. I found a bad capacitor on the main power supply. It is a 3300mfd 10volt capacitor on the output end of the board. It was swollen but not ruptured. I replaced it with a 3300mfd 16volt capacitor and the unit is working fine. Hope this helps.

I do have this problem; I'm still looking for a solution (short of buying a new projector, which was the suggestion of one of the Dell Technicians); however,

I would caution anyone against buying a new lamp, as its very unlikely to be the problem. True, you can return the new lamp, but why go through the hassle.

Thus far, I've also failed to find a repair centre in Canada; in hindsight I should have made that part of my decision, as well as buying

an extended warranty. Even still, I would have expected the projector to outlive its first lamp.

I may have a doorstop on my hands.

Same thing here, MP1800 projector working fine yesterday, today, semi flashing amber light. We had a spare lamp from Dell we purchased so I swapped it out and the same thing, no power and flashing orange. I use to be a laptop repair tech so I know my way around the insides of electronics so I open the unit and stripped it down to the power supply board and behold I have the same bad cap, 3300u 10v that is all budged out, you could spot it a mile away, it screams BAD. I will be replacing this $2.50 bs part afterwhile in hopes of a once again working unit. Everything else looks just fine, nothing blown, do not think it is so bad as to pull the logic probe out.

I was on the phone with Dell support for 45mins, got transfered 5 times. No one has a clue. The last girl I talked to said they do not even have those kinds of replacment parts. Why do you sell units you brand with your name but do not follow through with a parts supply? That says alot about Dell. Quick sell, get the money, go go go!

I do not buy Dell, never have and never will, maybe my company finally has had enough of the SSDD syndrome with Dell. InFocus baby! Expensive but I have never had an issue with parts! Everything breaks, that is a given, you need a follow thru plan, not a toss in the garbage plan.

DO NOT BUY A BULB for this issue! Have someone competent open the unit (take VGA hexscrews out to finish removing the top cover ;P) and check for this faulty capacitor!

Well I tore the unit down and replaced that bad cap with an exact match 3300u 10v and got it all put back together and all is good. Unit powers back up and displays video like nothing ever happened. Hope the rest of you guys have people near you that can check and replace this part if needed. It would be a crime to toss a unit just because this one faulty component. Hope these postings help save you some money!