I'm looking for a little advice. This evening while watching TV via my Scientific Atlantic DVR the cable box began randomly and rapidly changing channels. The box is several years old and I feed the 990 with component video and coax audio. The audio dropped out at some point before I could quickly shut my system down. When I fired everything up again I had no audio while watching TV. I unplugged the cable box to reboot it but that didn't fix the problem. I unplugged the 990 for 5+ minutes per page 48 of the manual but that didn't fix it either. Also, when I change TV channels I get an odd relay click inside the 990. I tried playing a CD using my oppo via analog connections after unplugging the 990 for 5 minutes but still no sound. My ATI amp doesn't show a fault on the front panel either.

EDIT: My amp and 990 run through a Panamax 5100 and it does not show a fault either.

I guess my next step is to do a hard reset on 990 but before I do that (and then have to re-enter all my input info) I'm curious if anyone has any other ideas on how to troubleshoot the loss of audio.

Thanks for the help!

Try verifying all your audio settings are intact and then check out your cables.

Have you tried using the tuner in the 990? If it works, you can eliminate the downsteam components and focus on 990 and upstream cables. If it doesn't you can try driving the ATI from some other source (e.g. a laptop or Ipod) to verify that the downstream components from the 990 are working properly. You could also try connecting self powered speakers to the 990 (Gonk's recommendation) to test that the 990 is outputting a valid signal.

Don't forget to check for the small red speaker icon on the 990's front panel display, which indicates that the pre-outs are active. If you don't see it, press and hold the mute button for three-five seconds until it reappears-just be sure to turn your master volume down first!

Well, sometimes it is just something simple. Apparently in my haste to shut the system down when my cable box freaked out I pressed the mute button too long and shut down the speakers and turned on the headphone jack.

Thanks to those who suggested how to diagnose the problem but Scott's recommendation did the trick. The little red speaker light is back on and so are my speakers. Whew! My next call will be to my cable provider to exchange DVR cable boxes.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program....Thankfully!