all of a sudden the remote will not power up the 990.. it will, however, power it down... i have unplugged it... i have reset it twice.. what gives??????? this thing has more quirks than i feel i should have to deal with for $2000 dollars! i am becoming disenchanted.. any ideas???

I think I know what your problem is. The 990 has discrete on and off power commands - something that has been done because it is a huge help for macros. The "POWER" button on the remote is a discrete power "OFF" command. To turn it on, just pick whichever input you want to use (press "TNR" and then any input command -DVD, or VIDEO1 through VIDEO5, AM/FM, CD, AUX, TAPE, or 7.1 Direct). All of those serve as both input selection and discrete "ON".

i will try that gonk.. thanks

I've had this same problem, I'll try gonk's solution, though to have to hit two buttons on the remote just to power on the unit seems like a real oversite if that is really what is required. Anyone else have any input?

It's not two buttons. Assuming the remote is on TNR, which it will be unless you've been controlling something else with it, hitting the selected input, e.g. AM-FM, turns the 990 on with FM selected. That's one button as I count them. If you have been controlling something else, e.g. playing a DVD using the 990 remote, and you want to, say, play a record (as some of us do from time to time), then TNR + PHONO is two buttons, yes - but the more "traditional" way would be TNR + POWER + PHONO: three buttons.

HitchHiker,

Like Gonk said, once you press the "TNR" button, you can do exactly as he said with the various inputs you select to turn on the 990. Once you press the "TNR" button, the remote will remember this setting and you only need to press the input you want to turn on the 990 so that you won't need to press two buttons every time to turn on the 990. When I received my 990 a month ago, I had to get used to remembering that the Power button is used to turn off the 990, unlike my Parasound preamp where the Power button was an on/off button combined. Normally I use a Harmony 659 remote to control my 990 and various components connected to it. Hope this helps.

I would contend that pressing these two buttons is one less button push than would otherwise be the case - you've got to hit "TNR" anyway to set the remote to control the 990 in order to turn it on (the nature of the beast for a universal remote), and you've also often got to pick an input once it is turned on, which would require you to hit one of those device buttons after pressing "POWER" for a remote with a non-discrete power command.

It's a bit funny reading this thread but very relevant. Last night I went to use the 990 remote to perform a function I didn't program into my universal remote. It had been awhile since I used it and it wouldn't work. I changed batteries, tried everything I could (including the old "whack" solution, hitting it against my hand) and nothing would get it to work. I pulled out the manual and then realized I hadn't hit the TNR button, somehow another component had been pushed without my realizing it. Glad no one was around to witness my situation.