Onkyo TX-NR709 no sound and cheap fix

[AndyPrice44]

Hello,

Well, I got home from work today and my receiver was screwed up. We had some thunderstorms in Kentucky this morning and I assume I had a power surge of some type. When I powered the unit up it would pass a video signal and I was getting a picture but, I couldn't get sound on any source. I tried power cycling all my equipment and still no good. I tried switching inputs and still didn't work.

I did a quick google search and it appears that this is a known bug with these onkyo receivers. There was page after page about this problem. This is my fourth onkyo unit and for the most part they have been good units. I did have my display screen go out on my last unit and now my current unit has developed a problem with the sound dropping out today. This is the first time it has happened and I wasn't getting sound out of any of the seven channels or subwoofer.

After reading many threads, one common theme presented itself. There is a problem with the HDMI board. More specifically a problem with the DTS chip loacated on the HDMI board. I don't know why onkyo designed the unit this way but, the power for the amp section is passed through this DTS chip. If the chip is malfuntioning, you don't get power to the amps and thus no sound. If you have this problem, you will notice that the speaker icons that you usually see in the top left corner of the display are gone. Another sign when powering up is that you don't hear that second click of the power relay feeding the amp section. Whenever you power on an onkyo unit, you usually hear two distinct clicks. I was only hearing one.

I was reading and trying to figure out a way to solve this problem and came across a few threads about applying heat to the DTS chip. Some people said to use a halogen bulb. Another said to use a hair dryer. One thread even went as far as to recommend putting the whole unit in the oven on low heat. (seriously...) This seemed counter productive to me as we all know that heat is the enemy of all electronics. Manufacturers go to great lengths to dissipate and remove heat from the inside of these units with heat sinks and fans. Why would adding more heat to the unit manage to solve anything?

I also watched a few youtube videos claiming to fix onkyo units with the methods described above. Only two of them worked. One guy put a halogen bulb directly over the DTS chip for about 40 seconds and power was restored to the amps.

Another guy used a hair dryer aimlessly on the whole HDMI board and after three long and boring attempts, it started working again.

I decided that the hair dryer was the method that had the least amount of risk involved and I decided to give it a try but, instead of blowing hot air all over the place I would just concentrate on the DTS chip.

I located the DTS chip on the right rear of the HDMI board and concentrated the heat in this area. I used high heat and low fan speed. I kept using the hair dryer on the chip for about 90 seconds total.

HOLY SHIT IT WORKED!! I couldn't believe it. I am now getting sound back on all channels again. It has been working for about three hours now. I know this isn't a permanent fix but, at least I can watch TV tonight. Other owners of this unit mentioned that onkyo will replace the whole HDMI board if you send your unit in. I am going to have to check to see if they will still do this on out of warranty units because mine is past it's prime. I am also going to see if I can purchase just the HDMI board and replace it myself. I will update this thread at a later date with my findings. I just wanted to document this on the forum for others to see because I'm sure someone will have this problem in the future.

Andy

 

[SoCal Sam]

Onkyo AV receivers seem to be troublesome based on the numerous internet and youtube postings. I've seen the halogen bulb trick. I will have to try a hair dryer on my totally dead TX-SR805. Their is a YT vid of one where the owner stuck his hand inside the unit, pressed on a component to restore standby power and then powered on the amp. No such stupid luck for me. My power supply board is good. The transformer is getting voltage and there are no open windings. What is left is the main processor which is preventing the standby power relay from engaging. What a pretty door stop.

 

[savatage1973]

Glad you got it working again, but as kind of mentioned above, it is never a good sign when you can immediately find a wealth of information for a specific problem involving specific brands/models with a simple google search. Helpful yes, but in making my next purchase, I would have to take that into consideration--kind of like recall issues on cars.

 

[DRecovery]

Ultimately the DSP has to be replaced or reballed. Onkyo will do it for free, go here to sign up

https://repair.onkyousa.com/na/

 

[lyramax]

Ultimately the DSP has to be replaced or reballed. Onkyo will do it for free, go here to sign up

https://repair.onkyousa.com/na/

Thanks for the tip & the link.

I tried the 90-sec hot-air treatment (using a hair dryer) on my TX-NR717 -- the sound & network connection came back, but then went dead again after the receiver's next cold startup. So I submitted a request for return & repair.

Any idea how long this "Loss of Audio/Network Connection Customer Care Program" will be around?

 

[ummagumma89]

Rolling back to an older firmware by forcing usb update

May or may not help, but I am convinced all of these weird problems people had with certain onkyo amps were firmware related.

This isn't long term proven yet, different amp, but just sharing something interesting I figured out last night. Tested the amp the next morning before work, still working fine. When I got home checked again, sure enough it works fine.

Amp is a TX-8050 model supposedly with this dsp chip everyone talks about and it had no sound, usb would initialize forever and missing setup options for internet and firmware update.



I've brought back a TX-8050 from the dead last night. I was convinced it was the firmware updates.

Ill share my first post from last night. literally joined just to offer help, because the amp is still working.

For the TX-8050,

The hardest part I think is getting that usb to stop forever initializing and getting "net" and update firmware options back in the setup menu. (NOT EVEN SURE IF IT MATTERS)



I started messing around with these "secret commands" that you push on the receiver itself. no remote needed.

There is information on temperature, dsp firmware versions and random numbers.

Certain button combinations do certain things.

I was able to Save my settings by pressing setup and enter twice. (this feature on my amp is designed to save your amp settings when you factory reset.

Then I load the settings by pressing setup and return button twice.

Amp automatically powers off and resets. It took a couple tries, even doing the factory reset every once and awhile. you might even have to be on a certain input to get this to work. It was usually loading the saved settings command, amp resets, all of a sudden I had my missing menu options in setup back and the USB would read again.



Not even sure if it matters or not to be honest, either way I found a strange button combination that brought up a hidden menu that allowed me to FORCE UPDATE from usb.

Keep in mind im convinced its firmware related and not this stupid dsp chip. (I never even opened the amp up)

Found a forum with a link to all previous firmware updates including the factory one, or first update period. hopefully your amps are in there if you want to try this

I downloaded the oldest firmware I could 1000 0000 0000 from 2011 for my amp. Extract files to empty usb. Might not be your best option in your situation as maybe some of your features that were added over the firmware updates may disapear, but I am confident I can with my particular model install any firmware I want that is FOR my TX-8050



https://www.intl.onkyo.com/support/firmware/index.html



Further reference to how I heard this was possible (keep in mind these instructions are not for my model amp, but guided me to figure out this hidden menu for the tx8050.



http://divideoverflow.com/2015/05/how-to-update-onkyo-firmware-to-older-version/



This is how I got to the menu



I put the input selector nob to usb (not the update firmware usb option in setup, the usb read to listen to music) , plugged in the usb with the old firmware. Everyone else may have it different, Maybe your selectors are all button, mine is a turn knob selector



Once again your amp may be different but see if you can find any info about secret menus for your amp. I can't find anything online about this in regards to my model.



Hold Display button and push standby button. push tuning mode/play button and return button within 2-3 seconds. if you dont hit the return button within the 2-3 seconds you end up in one of the hidden menus for temperature and other information. get back to the usb read and start over holding display button and push standby.

Once i pushed return button within 2-3 seconds, the force update menu came up. Maybe there is a name for it?



Update select menu shows up

Push the tuning knobs (big circle next to volume to configure what you want. I selected usb -> all.

Rolled back the firmware from the newest to the oldest. I just wanted to see if it would somehow fix the no sound problem

Once it completed I pushed standby, it reset.

Also keep in mind once I got to this menu I had to figure out which buttons controlled the values. push the wrong one, back to the beginning.



I'm pretty sure I still did not have sound immediately upon amp kicking back on, but I could finally hear the speakers being selected on or off when I pushed A or B)

Loaded my saved setup (to load - hold setup and enter twice. amp shuts off and either restarts itself or you have to turn it back on, can't remember.

From my experience with this amp, it seems certain things would work if the amp would reset itself instead of just powering it off with the button. For all i know it doesn't matter, this is what I did.

Turn the amp back on it back on, I had music.

I am currently on the factory firmware 1000 - 0000 0000 or whatever it is from 2011. I was on the newest one from 2015 1.5 I think. There were some other interesting options combinations in that menu, have no idea what they would do.

My point is I read everywhere i could about rolling back the firmware and everything I found suggested that it is not possible

Tested the next day before work, had sound.

Tested it when I got home from work today, Still works.

Not saying it is the answer for everyone sharing because it might help SOMEBODY.

No long term test yet, I just did this last night.

Interested if somebody knows the name of this menu and if it helped

 

[Richard P]

Old thread, but i thought I'd post my experience with an Onkyo TX-NR609 since I didn't find much out there besides the typical hair dryer/light bulb recommendations. I got this receiver for free, so it was a good candidate to try my hand at benchtop reflowing of the BGAs. I used a Presto electric griddle as a preheater with the HDMI board raised above the surface by about 5mm using aluminum foil 'cones'. The griddle was set at 350F and I preheated for about 20 minutes. I think one of the keys to doing this successfully is to use liquid flux that can get underneath the BGA chip and facilitate proper solder reflow - I used Kester 186. Once the board was preheated, I used a hot air station set on 400C with the airflow at about 40~50% of max. 400C would seem to be too hot, but I monitored the chip temperature with an IR thermometer and it took the higher temp to get the BGA up to my target temperature of 245C. Once i hit that temperature, I held it for about 45 seconds then slowly backed off the hot air and gradually decreased the griddle temp. I also replaced all the electrolytic caps on the board (6 total on this one) with some radial 105C parts I had on hand. It was interesting to note that 4 of the 6 100uF caps measured in the 100s of picofarads and the other 2 were around 6 uF. ESR ranged from 100s of k-ohms to a few ohms. The heat that constantly soaks the HDMI board/DTS chip/caps seems to come from the driver transistors based on my quick measurements. I installed a second fan that runs all the time so we'll see how long the fix lasts, but it's been a month with no issues and daily use. YMMV Another piece of gear saved from the dumpster for now. . . .

Rich