Onkyo 807

mrbiron

I'm here with a problem and hopefully someone can shine some light on this.
When i am using my 360 to listen to Last FM or playing a game, my receiver will just stop sending signal to the speakers and the little Dolby Digital icon will turn off. The receiver itself stays on and continues to run. I then have to put the receiver into standby, only wait 5 seconds and then turn the receiver back on, the little dobly icon clicks back on, and it starts playing sounds through the speakers again. This has only been happening recently.
Firmware on the receiver has been updated and the 360 is as up to date as Microsoft allows it.
The sounds has also cut out while watching a dvd through my panasonic but has since rectified itself. How? I don't know. Magic!

Start with swapping out the HDMI cables? Kick it? Maybe some magic spit in the ports?

Anyone experience this? Anyone know how to solve this? Anyone.......Bueller......Bueller? :biggrin:

Thanks

dcmartinpc

Sounds like an issue with HDMI negotiation. What kind of HDMI cables do you have? I have sometimes seen them make a difference when weird things like that are happening. The other to check, and I am not sure if Onkyo allows this or has a method for doing it, but you might want to check for an updated firmware for the Onkyo. I had some similar problems with my HK AVR354, and a firmware update fixed it.

Don

mrbiron

The HDMI cables are your basic Monoprice jazz.
The cutting out happened before the firmware update. I figured i would update it in the hopes of the problem being resolved with that. Here's the big problem, the cut out doesn't happen every time i'm playing. Completely sporadic in nature.

dcmartinpc

mrbiron wrote: »

The HDMI cables are your basic Monoprice jazz.
The cutting out happened before the firmware update. I figured i would update it in the hopes of the problem being resolved with that. Here's the big problem, the cut out doesn't happen every time i'm playing. Completely sporadic in nature.

Sorry about that, missed that you updated the firmware on the Onkyo, thought it was only the XBOX. I would see if someone has an HDMI cable you could borrow to see if it fixes the issue. I have no experience with the Monoprice cables, so it very well may be the issue. I use Sonicwave HDMI cables from cablestogo.com and love them.

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=3603&sku=40279

They are a little pricey, but I have 2 10 meter HDMI to HDMI and 1 10 meter HDMI to DVI cable in the SonicWave flavor and none of them have ever batted an eye at 1080p content with HD Audio. Maybe worth a look. But again, I would see if someone has one you could borrow first to keep you from buying cables to troubleshoot an issue.

Don
Don

mrbiron

I think i'll start with the cables. I have about a dozen of various lengths and makes. The only problem is, the cutout happens at random so it's going to take some time to determine whether or not the cable swap worked.

Hmmmmmm.... intriguing

jon s

Onkyo has been having issues where the HDMI boards are failing... The symptoms you are describing matches one of the problems people are encountering. If you are still experiencing issues after troubleshooting, you might want to send the receiver in to service as the problems will progressively get worse until the HDMI board will not recognize any signal and the OSD will not display...

What is happening is that the HDMI generates a LOT of heat and the capacitors on the board dries out and fails. If the receiver is not adequately cooled, the board usually fails right around the two year mark. Unfortunately, the board is very expensive (I have the Onkyo TX-NR905 and TX-NR906, both have HDMI board failures and Onkyo wants $1000 to replace each board) so it is advisable to replace them while in warranty. This is a well known Onkyo problem and Onkyo will NOT repair them once they are out of warranty at their expense even though they are aware of the issue. Because of this endemic issue (and it is affecting all HDMI boards in all models), I cannot recommend that anyone buy an Onkyo receiver in the future.

cnh

Doesn't surprise me Jon s. I have an 805 with a similar construction, you can boil eggs on it in the summer. I have over a foot and a half of clearance over the unit. Don't drive it too hard or keep it on for more than a few hours at a time. So far, knock on wood.

Onkyo ALWAY claims that its AVRs are designed to run hot? Yet the hottest part of the AVR is right where the HDMI boards are and there are NO heat sinks near them nor fans. The two monster fans are on either side of the massive transformer in the front of the unit and only come on if you're experiencing a literal 'melt-down'! So they're not of much use for the HDMI heat problem.

In the earlier units like mine the HDMI board is on the top right backside. Put your hand on that and see if you can keep it there after you've watched a movie. And that HEAT has 'no effect'? RIGHT!!! Hence HDMI failures! Though not all units go down.

cnh

pdxfj

Know anyone handy with a soldering iron? If all that needs to be replaced are the caps, it shouldn't be too hard of a job. I'd have no problems working on my Onkyo should it have the failure and be out of warranty, or even a friends AVR with a similar issue.

Recently I bought a used amp and one of the larger caps on the power supply board had come lose in shipping and was in the amp. Simply pulled the board and discovered cold solder joints. Soldered the cap back into place and touched up other cold joints I found. Works great.

jon s

I strongly suggest you place a PC cooling fan over the HDMI board... This seems to benefit the boards a lot. Even with a lot of clearance, it does not guarantee that your board will not fail... I modded a 12V PC fan with an 12V AC adapter plugged into the AC outlet of the receiver so it turns on whenever the receiver is powered on... Get the largest fan you can get so you can run at a slower speed...