New Yamaha Receiver Shuts Off Randomly

I redid my listening set up this summer with the centerpiece being a new AV Receiver, the Yamaha RX-V85. Lately the receiver has been randomly shutting off and I can't find any consistency with why this happens. I've checked speaker wires and HDMI cables and all looks good (everything is pretty new, including the speaker wires and cables.) Sometimes it happens while listening to vinyl, sometimes while streaming music. And it seems to be happening more often.

It's under warranty since I only bought it a few months ago and Best Buy said I could bring it in and they'd coordinate with Yamaha, so I'll probably do that but thought I'd check to see if anyone had any similar experiences (and solutions.)

I even picked up a power conditioner off of Ebay, the APC H10, since I have an older house, but this random power shut off continues despite putting that in place.

 

Damn, sounds like a defective unit, hopefully they can exchange for another one without hassle. Certainly 99.9x of these are 'perfect' but crap happens.

 

Yeah, hopefully no hassle. I've been really happy with it and overall I like the whole MusicCast app to control, but I do wish there was some diagnostic feature on the app. But again, this stuff should work without having to troubleshoot right at the get go.

Because I'm so restless, I'll probably pack this up today and bring it over.

 

It's way too easy to accidentally hit the sleep timer button on the remote with my Yamaha RX-V781.

 

That's a good plan. If the protection circuit is activating and you've checked for loose speaker wire strands, there isn't much more a user can do. Hopefully, the replacement unit will be fine.

Be sure to leave some ventilation space around the unit. The owners manual should specify how much. This is particularly important if the AVR is in a cabinet or stacked with other components.

 

I correct my original post in terms of "everything" being new as I realize the HDMI cables are not new and I started wondering if there was something amiss either with the HDMI cables or a device connected via HDMI that might be causing the receiver to shut off. Furthermore, due to all the inputs getting filled, I had one input coming from a switcher to toggle between the bluray player and the DVD-A player. Due to my wonky closed back media cart, that cable *just* fit with no slack, so it might not have been a completely secure connection.

So, I've disconnected all HDMI inputs except the one from the cable box. I've kept the HDMI out to the TV connected, as well.

Since that time, I've not had the sudden shut off while listening to both streaming music and vinyl.

AND when I went to reconnect my Roku box to watch a movie with the kids last night, the audio was clipping so I replaced that HDMI cable with another. So that's two potential HDMI inputs that might have been less than ideal.

If everything seems good, I'm thinking I'll ditch the switcher and use the RGB outputs on the DVD-A direct to the TV if I need to access that player's menu selections. And then pick up a couple of high quality HDMI cables for the remaining inputs.

 

Hopefully it was just the cables. Yamaha receivers are super reliable and really good sounding.

I have had bad HDMI cables before....

 

Does the shut off happen at a similar time each day? I found (with a different receiver) that sunlight through a window was hitting the infrared on my remote at just the right angle, which would cause strange things to happen. Facing the remote away from the window did the trick.

 

I have 3 Yamaha receivers. One newer two channel one I got a couple years ago, one that is about 26 years old that was my Dad's and one that is 13 years old that I bought for $4 that was a mess and covered in saw dust. I thoroughly cleaned up and it works flawlessly. None of them have shut off on their own and have been very reliable. I think you may have found your issue (at least I hope so!). I would definitely keep doing what you are doing by troubleshooting the cables. Good luck!

 

Thanks all for sharing thoughts and questions. @cdash99 the sunlight on the remote is wild! To answer your question, there didn't seem to be consistency as to when it happened but it definitely started happening more often which is what got me kind of stressed out. And it was something that only started in the last month (granted I've only had the receiver for three months.) But it hasn't happened since I reduced the HDMI inputs and replaced that one bad HDMI cable.

It's been a lot of work getting all my components configured and positioned so just when everything seemed groovy, this shut off issue started happening. Beyond (hopefully) resolving the issue, I just want to get all my inputs set and then look to start establishing preset scenes and such to make switching easier for everyone in the family.

4 HDMI inputs fill up quickly and I think that as the main criticism of these level Yamaha units is valid (vs. say the comparable Denon unit.) Cable box, bluray player and Roku are a lock for three of them. I've moved my 12 year old's Nintendo Switch to a second HDMI input on the TV and she can just use TV audio for that. And as I mentioned, I think I'm going to switch the DVD-A to connect directly to TV via composite video as I use the digital coax for audio. The only reason I need to see any visuals is to navigate menus for surround sound settings and such. I was a little bummed that the receiver won't take an analog video input and enable output to the TV via HDMI – I have no idea if any receiver does that. But doing all that would still leave me with one spare HDMI input if I want to connect a family gaming console at some point.

So for now I'll keep the Roku connected but leave the HDMI from the blu-ray disconnected. I just want to see if it happens again with the current set up. If I was being really hardcore about testing, I'd start with no HDMI connections and just listen to vinyl and streaming audio for a week or two to see if it happens. But the family will want to watch TV so I'll leave as is and see if it holds up. And then if it does happen, I can maybe fine tune to see if it's either a specific component and/or a specific input. Best case scenario of course is that it doesn't happen again!

I had a good Sunday jazz vinyl session today without any issues: the new Coltrane Love Supreme pressing and Tony Allen's "The Source."

 

Funny. I have a Yamaha electric piano and it turns itself on randomly. Coincidence?

 

Almost a full week now and no random shut offs, so feeling more like it was something with one of my HDMI cables. I've maintained the same set up as before, with just the Roku and cable box connected via HDMI with no connection for the Blu-ray player or DVD-A player, since I've not used either in the last week. I've listened to plenty of vinyl and streamed music with no issues.

This led me down the latest rabbit hole of researching HDMI cables, which is of course as contentious as many equipment topics (I'm looking at you power convertors!) The cable I had on the Roku was definitely problematic so at the most basic level, it's clear some cables are better than others. So for now, I've ordered a couple of basic Audioquest cables from Best Buy. Yeah, $30-40 vs. $10 but I'm willing to pay that difference even if only for peace of mind.

 

Well, it happened again, twice today and due to my patient troubleshooting I've identified the problem: it's one of the HDMI inputs. I was fine with just the cable box and Roku in the two HDMI inputs. I listened to hours of vinyl and streamed hours of music; watched a full movie on Roku.

And then I got a new AudioQuest HDMI cable that I connected to the Blu-Ray player via a third HDMI input the other night. Tested it out and all looked and sounded great, but didn't watch anything in full.

This morning while doing my usual routine of physical therapy stretching while making coffee while listening to Breakfast with the Beatles, it shut off after about 15 minutes. I disconnected the blu-ray player and then for full scientific purposes, I connected the Roku to that third input. And after streaming music for 20 minutes or so it shut down again. Didn't bother to test if having inputs 1,2 and 4 works since that's a moot point. So I'll pack up this afternoon and take it back to Best Buy.

 

Best Buy is shipping it to the repair center to review. Estimate is 3-4 weeks.

Just when I got everything configured in my system so I'm bummed, but yeah "first world problems" I know. Wished I had taken it back earlier but at least I did it now and it's in process.