I've got to make a decision.

My center channel has stopped working with "7.1 direct." The surrounds have stopped working in "DVD." The component video out is all of a sudden in 4:3, or some other distorted ratio. (Bypassed the video for now.) If anyone has any bright ideas about what to do, let me know. I could try to reprogram the whole dang thing, although you have to use a PC and I have a Mac. Suggestions?

I was really hoping to see what the 978 had to offer, but the Integra seems enticing.

A few years ago, I (stupidly) swapped in a borrowed blu-ray player just to see what it was like without turning off the power on the 990. After that it started behaving very strangely with some sources working, some not, some channels working, some not. I fixed the problem by unplugging the 990 so it's processor was forced to reboot when powered up again. That did the trick. Not that you did something like that, but the 990 is a processor and just like computer's operating system hangs-up or crashes on occasion and needs to be rebooted, sometimes pre/pros have the same problem. It's worth a try and doesn't cost anything.

BTW, now I always power it down when changing any connections.

Not powering the 990 or any gear down when changing the connections is asking for a load of problems. Like the man said, it is a computer and does not respond well to sudden large voltage transients. If down powering and unplugging fix your problems, thank the gods of chance that you did not harm something. Always unplug your gear or make sure it is really off before changing connections and maybe even wear a grounding strap at first to avoid static discharge.

It seems to be normal practice to swap a usb connection on a running computer. How/why is that different? -Bob

Agreed. With the exception of monkeying around with speaker outputs on receivers/amps, I don't see how mucking about with "live" line-level connections could do any harm.

Back to the original topic...I seem to recall there being a series of keypresses that could "reboot" the 990. I remember needing to do it after flashing my firmware. Perhaps this might unf00k the OP's 990?

Best,

Tried the reboot trick. Did not work. Will contact Outlaw.

On page 48 of the manual is the "secret" reboot method. Obviously not secret, but I did not find it on my initial skim through. Well, it worked. I did find out that my microphone no longer works, and I do not have a sound level meter. I redid all of the settings by ear. I also remeasured the distance to all of the speakers, reset all of the crossovers (have to do that anyway on a reboot), and went through the entire menu. It actually sounds better than I can ever remember it sounding in the past. Sparkling!

Glad it worked out, finally. I only had to do the unplug for 5 minutes reset that one time, which did not cause it to lose all the settings. I got in the habit of having the settings written down from doing firmware upgrades. But that has been quite some time.

Methinks the good doctor has coined a new audiophile term: "Sparkling!"
Next: "Bubbly!"

And for a system with tube amps no less!