Well, stay calm. Worst case scenario, you know Outlaw will repair or fix the unit for you at no charge. And it's a good unit in general, so if yours happens to have a flaw in it, don't let it spoil your opinion of the receiver. My brand-new Lexicon MC-12 had a serious hardware problem, too. These things happen from time-to-time. As long as you have a good manufacturer (Lexicon in my case, Outlaw in yours), you're covered.

One more thing you might want to try is to verify that you're connecting the right wires to the right terminals. If speakers are being run in parallel off the same input, that would increase the power draw and therefore the heat generated. Also, make sure your surround speakers are hooked up to the correct input, since if you incorrectly hooked them up, that would explain why you're getting surround noise in 2-channel mode.

Jeff