A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need help!!

[elangoas]

A very rough patch in my 10 -12 yrs of hi-fi journey is what i can say ..

Let me summarize the events in chronological order..

I got this Onkyo AVR back in 2013 from Kuwait.. All was working fine until an unfortunate thing happened last year in Oct'15.

Oct'15 - I wasn't at home that day, it was raining heavily with lightning... Even before my wife could turn off the plug point that houses the TV, AVR and other hi-fi stuff, in a blink of a moment, a lightning struck on my roof top (Live in a flat 2nd floor) completely shutting down all my equipments... There were some cracks on the roof toop walls.. Not too deep, but yes there was a crack.. (Grounding wasn't done..)

The lightning struck on a telephone cable that was tied to wooden pole at 6 - 7 feet high.. The pole was approx 10 - 11 feet high used to dry clothes.. about 3 - 4 feet of wooden pole went into pieces on the rooftop... and the telephone cable caught fire.. My wife wasn't aware that the telephone cable caught fire... The broadband splitter box burst into pieces.. Since the telephone cable caught fire and went unnoticed for a long time, the heat got transferred thru the copper cables to the modem+ router and everything that was connected to it was affected..

Don't know if grounding would have saved me such a lightning attack, but AVR refused to start...It went dead.. TV was switching on, but there was no output.. PC also went dead.. Modem went dead.. Lost my STB too :sad:

Never seen anything like this happen..I was devasted :sad: I had to look at reinstating components one by one.. Don't know how much would that drain me..

It took me sometime to gather strength and focus on reinstating components..

First Sony TV : Called up customer care, the TV was within extended warranty period.. the technician visited and was confused himself because the power supply in the TV was working, but the motherboard failed.. (this was because i had connected the TV to router via Ethernet cable, the heat transfer between devices did all this).. Anyways TV was reinstated back in sometime and luckily escaped the hefty bill form Sony (18K).

Second was PC : The wires in ethernet port on the motherboard melted and the SMPS went dead.. Identified this and restored with a good quality Corsair VS550 SMPS and added a LAN PCI card..

STB :Had to replace the unit with a new one...

Onkyo AVR : Having got this from Kuwait, i know Onkyo India would refuse to service it..AVR going dead, i wanted to know what happened to it and how much of estimate it is to reinstate it..

Spoke to Onkyo chennai.. As expected, straight away they turned me down.. After consistent follow-up on phone and speaking to territory sales manager, who i have acquaintance with for the last 10 yrs as an Onkyo customer, they agreed to service it only when i produce the original bill.. Luckily had it.. I had got that from Kuwait Onkyo's authorised dealer..So they accepted..Paid 3K upfront as advance for service..

Mid Oct'15 : Onkyo service called me up & said 25K to reinstate it.. I asked them for the list of components.. They were not specific, and gave generic answers... I was not convinced with them... spending 25K for a AVR that i got for 43K was not worth it in my opinion.. Spending some more to 25K would get me a new AVR...

So got the AVR back home..

Nov'15 : Had access to a local technician who service professional audio equipments, install car audio, repair stereo components and some AVR too.. He very quickly checked and updated me that the MCU (Microprocessor controller Unit) needs to be replaced and assured me all other components were fine and said that it would cost Approx 7K.. (grey market route - replacing working components from other dead units that they have access to)

Compared to 25K what Onkyo service quoted me, i was willing to spend 7K and try my luck.. He did it the next day and the AVR was powering on, all inputs worked.. But there was no output to speakers :sad:

Some more investigation by the technician, revealed that HDMI board was burnt out..There were many complaints on other forums of the infamous Onkyo HDMI board issue and i was a victim of it

So the technician confirmed that it would cost an other 10K to replace the HDMI board, but told me it would take sometime as they need to find an other dead unit where they can replace this part from.. Mostly thru singapore contacts.. So i waited patiently for an other 2 - 3 months to see my luck..

In the meantime, i spoke to Onkyo and enquired abt the price for new HDMI board for 818.. they said 25K +, but they were not specific in quoting the price.. Damn it.. That moment it was evident that Onkyo also overlooked my HDMI burn out issue.. Without that issue, they quoted me 25K.. If they had noticed it they should have told me more than 50K to reinstate in total :sad: ..

Waiting for 2 - 3 months didn't seem to pay off..Finally i decided to get HDMI board..

Jan'16 : Alternatively e-mailed Onkyo Singapore for HDMI board and enquired cost of HDMI board.. They said 17K, but they didn't have stock of it..They also confirmed that they will not do a counter sales of any spares..:sad:

I had consecutive family events between Jan'16 - Mar'16 at home and couldn't spend time in sourcing the HDMI board..

Apr'16 : Got to know that my friend was on a vacation to Singapore & Malaysia in May'16.. So i had one month's time to look for HDMI board.. Malayasia being the land to manufacture Onkyo AVR, i had a hunch that i can somehow find a board.. So E-mailed Onkyo Malaysia in detail, but looks like Onkyo Malaysia & Singapore are being handled by the same distributor and the e-mail landed to the same person in Onkyo singapore who i e-mailed few months back...

I knew this would be my last chance to reinstate the AVR.. So partially convinced him on e-mail exchange and he fully agreed when i spoke to him on phone..So it was set, and i was very eagerly looking forward to get the HDMI board..

Mid May'16 : My friend returned with HDMI board.. I immediately took it on the same day to local technician.. He said he will have it fixed and update me..

2 - 3 days gone.. There was no call from him. So started getting suspicious.. When i called him up, he said software issue, it was not updating and he also said he didn't have access to internet..

So i got the AVR back home and tried to update software.. it failed with an error message..

Actually the AVR should work even without a software update.. So i hookedup the AVR and connected only the left & right..There was no sound output.. This was so disheartening There were a total of 7 software updates issued by Onkyo for the 818.. Onkyo had the latest on their website.. But that failed to update when i tried...

After giving a thought for sometime, i decided to download all the 7 seven updates induvidually and tried to update one after another and observe where it failed.. To my surprise, it failed in the very first update..

The local technician was not very assertive in his explanations, lacked confidence in explaining some issues..So that was his limitation..

Called up Onkyo Singapore and explained the issue, sent them some pictures of error message... He said it could be because of faulty board and agreed to replace the board.. But how i do send the defective board & get the new one? very challenging one..

Within 2 - 3 weeks time since i received the first HDMI board, my friend's relative was returning to chennai from Singapore..

So spoke to Onkyo service again, requested them to re-issue a new board to my friend's relative.. He said he can't re-issue the board until & unless he receives the defective board... (Genuine ask i must say).. Anybody would say that... But i was able to convince after few e-mail exchnages and some calls to him that i will return the defective board thru my friend's relative when he returns to singapore..

June'16 - July'16 : He finally agreed to issue the board..Some ray of hope.. Got the new one.. Same issues again...

Video output to TV works, but there is no audio output at all.. The USB port on Onkyo AVR is able to read files on pendrive, But there is no output to speaker..This was even more disheartening than the first one...

Spoke to Onkyo Singapore again, sent them some videos and pictures on e-mail.. They were ready to re-issue a new board board again, but i had to take call here... So i told him that i will return both boards, and asked for a refund and can't risk anymore.. Sent him the board's thru my friends relative too..

Not once, but twice i took the effort to get the HDMI board, but i was unlucky... Really unlucky.. But I get a feel that i am somewhere close to fixing it, but i don't know how & where..

Onkyo Singapore confirmed that iff after they checking the boards were defective, they would return the money... Looks like they checked and have confirmed that the board's are fine..

It is only during this time, you need to lift yourselves up and look for solutions than leave it there..

So the issue is somewhere within my AVR.. I guess somewhere between pre-amp to power-amp.. But not very sure.. Just going logically..

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Onkyo Singapore (Ramli - Head of service) from the bottom of my heart for all his efforts to help a person outside his country... Such a TRUE Gentleman he is and good at heart.. I don't know if you can get such a kind of hospitality in midst of so much issues, he was always kind enough and accomodating... You can only DREAM of such service in India...

I know i have been really lengthy in elaborating in detail.. But didn't want to miss any point..

So far so good, but yet close..very close...Any help with skilled Chennai contacts is very much appreciated..

If you can help me with lil guidance, am fine to do that too..

 

[efernand1]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Hi

Indeed a long journey to get the matter resolved. Appreciate your efforts and persistence in trying to get the same resolved leaving no stone unturned.

 

[elangoas]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Hi

Indeed a long journey to get the matter resolved. Appreciate your efforts and persistence in trying to get the same resolved leaving no stone unturned.

Thanks efernand1...I have squeezed every ounce of it when it was rocking my room until it went dead and know it's capabilities..

Hence i tried to reinstate it with all my efforts and still willing to go even more, before i see that it is of no more value to me..

 

[MaSh]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Wow, hats off to you for your effort and the support provided by Onkyo Singapore.

Did you confirm the microprocessor to be a compatible part for your model? If not, you could confirm that with onkyo Singapore. Does the receiver recognize the audio input format? Any kind of feedback when volume is increased or when unit is switched on? Finally, when you run Audyssey or similar process in your receiver, does it go ahead with sending out test tones, or does it error out?

Is it possible to send to your unit to Singapore so that they can take a look at it?

MaSh

 

[elangoas]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Wow, hats off to you for your effort and the support provided by Onkyo Singapore.

Thanks MaSh. Service offered by head of Onkyo Singapore was one of it is kind in a century i must say.. Am not exaggerating at all.. If he was willing to do so much for a person outside his country, imagine waht would he do his country men.. That is a supreme asset.:thumbsup:

Did you confirm the microprocessor to be a compatible part for your model? If not, you could confirm that with onkyo Singapore.

Am not very sure.. The local technician changed it here.. But he said, MCU is only to store few commands of AVR and any model of it should work fine..

Does the receiver recognize the audio input format? Any kind of feedback when volume is increased or when unit is switched on?

I think it does.. It shows signal received as PCM... But the speaker position boxes on the AVR doesn't light up on the display.. That was weird...

Finally, when you run Audyssey or similar process in your receiver, does it go ahead with sending out test tones, or does it error out?

Didn't go that far.. When you don't get speaker output or when you don't get sound when you are in level calibration levels, there is something wrong somewhere.. Not sure what it is..

Is it possible to send to your unit to Singapore so that they can take a look at it? MaSh

Onkyo Singapore requested me to get the AVR to Singapore, so that they can look in it & fix it for me...

But the AVR is a good 19 Kgs.. I have the original packing with me.. With packing content it should be approx 22 Kgs..

Don't think any of the friends would be ready to carry a 23Kgs box back & forth.. Can't expect them too..

Anyways am still thinking to have a last go with some skilled local technician... Onkyo Chennai is also there, but really don't know if they would be as accomodating as Onkyo singapore..

The last option would be to send it Singapore as Cargo, get it fixed.Don't know how much it would cost..

 

[MaSh]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Thanks MaSh. Service offered by head of Onkyo Singapore was one of it is kind in a century i must say.. Am not exaggerating at all.. If he was willing to do so much for a person outside his country, imagine waht would he do his country men.. That is a supreme asset.:thumbsup:



Am not very sure.. The local technician changed it here.. But he said, MCU is only to store few commands of AVR and any model of it should work fine..



I think it does.. It shows signal received as PCM... But the speaker position boxes on the AVR doesn't light up on the display.. That was weird...



Didn't go that far.. When you don't get speaker output or when you don't get sound when you are in level calibration levels, there is something wrong somewhere.. Not sure what it is..



Onkyo Singapore requested me to get the AVR to Singapore, so that they can look in it & fix it for me...

But the AVR is a good 19 Kgs.. I have the original packing with me.. With packing content it should be approx 22 Kgs..

Don't think any of the friends would be ready to carry a 23Kgs box back & forth.. Can't expect them too..

Anyways am still thinking to have a last go with some skilled local technician... Onkyo Chennai is also there, but really don't know if they would be as accomodating as Onkyo singapore..

The last option would be to send it Singapore as Cargo, get it fixed.Don't know how much it would cost..

Hmmm tricky situation. Take snaps of your receiver's board and as a first step get the microprocessor confirmed. If your unit is showing pcm and not putting out any sound, even when you are feeding it with non pcm format, it means, it is not able to decode the format and defaulting to pcm. I am assuming this path and could be wrong. Tty the test tones, see is that is sending out sound, as that does not rely on regular processors. Should give you more information to put in a mail and and send to Singapore. Maybe then they can send specific instructions for onkyo India or other technician to work on.

MaSh

 

[Vivek Rao]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Elangoas...really sorry for your situation. Really appreciate yout tenacity to solve this issue.. While most of us would have given up long ago you have persisted with finding the root case of your issue. I will keep my fingers crossed that you are able to get your AVR up and running again..

 

[vbhoj74]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

@elangoas : I've been in a similar situation last year, lightning strike which burnt everything on my LAN, fortunately my AVR and TV did not had LAN ports.

Replacing is a painful affair, I too went through it so I understand. But before replacing, I'm sure you must have taken steps so that you would not land up in a similar situation again. For me, the lightning strike came as a surge from the aerial Ethernet cable that I got from alliance, so I've got it surge protected before it connects to my router. We can also have everything on UPS to take care of power surges, I've had a ups before for the AV components but now I've discarded it because it increases my electricity consumption. Have only the router on UPS.

Lightning strike will not give us time to switch off, we need to surge protect every cable that comes into our home. A good option is to errect a ground rod on the roof connected to a earth pit, but with shared accommodation like mine and yours it may not be possible unless everyone makes sense out of it.

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[RajithKumar]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

It was a tragedy ..It should not happen to anyone. But really appreciate your efforts for fixing. Hope luck favour next time.

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[elangoas]

Hmmm tricky situation. Take snaps of your receiver's board and as a first step get the microprocessor confirmed. If your unit is showing pcm and not putting out any sound, even when you are feeding it with non pcm format, it means, it is not able to decode the format and defaulting to pcm. I am assuming this path and could be wrong. Tty the test tones, see is that is sending out sound, as that does not rely on regular processors. Should give you more information to put in a mail and and send to Singapore. Maybe then they can send specific instructions for onkyo India or other technician to work on. MaSh

Thx for the pointers MaSh..Appreciate it..Right now waiting for the HDMI board from Onkyo Singapore.. Sure will check when i get them..

Elangoas...really sorry for your situation. Really appreciate yout tenacity to solve this issue.. While most of us would have given up long ago you have persisted with finding the root case of your issue. I will keep my fingers crossed that you are able to get your AVR up and running again..

Thx Vivek Rao..I just hope so..

@elangoas : I've been in a similar situation last year, lightning strike which burnt everything on my LAN, fortunately my AVR and TV did not had LAN ports.

Replacing is a painful affair, I too went through it so I understand. But before replacing, I'm sure you must have taken steps so that you would not land up in a similar situation again. For me, the lightning strike came as a surge from the aerial Ethernet cable that I got from alliance, so I've got it surge protected before it connects to my router. We can also have everything on UPS to take care of power surges, I've had a ups before for the AV components but now I've discarded it because it increases my electricity consumption. Have only the router on UPS.

Lightning strike will not give us time to switch off, we need to surge protect every cable that comes into our home. A good option is to errect a ground rod on the roof connected to a earth pit, but with shared accommodation like mine and yours it may not be possible unless everyone makes sense out of it.

Thx for the pointers vbhoj74.. So you mean Lightning conductor kind of thing.. I was never heard/seen lightning hit on the 3rd Floor... I just did the grounding for our Flat complex (5 door's) and it cost me Rs 1,600/-...

What height should be the lightning pole on the roof top?

It was a tragedy ..It should not happen to anyone. But really appreciate your efforts for fixing. Hope luck favour next time.

Thx RajithKumar.. Yes..Waiting for one more last try...

Here are some pics..

The broadband splitter box that went in to fumes & pieces inside home..

The telephone cable that caught fire on the roof top..

Lastly the wooden pole that was smashed..

 

[sunilkm]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Sorry to hear what had happened to your A/V. But it is a great effort and follow up from your end. Hoping that the AVR would be functional and running soon..

Onkyo India proves again their service is pathetic

 

[elangoas]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Sorry to hear what had happened to your A/V. But it is a great effort and follow up from your end. Hoping that the AVR would be functional and running soon..

Onkyo India proves again their service is pathetic

Thanks Sunilkm.. Yes..They accommodating my request was good..But had Onkyo India thoroughly checked my AVR, and provided me the list of components that needs replacement, it would have helped me a lot to take a firm decision in reinstating the AVR..

 

[kaptan]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

This is reallly sad to hear. Such kind of situation should not happen to anyone. Why dont you try buying a used onkyo avr that is not working which can be only used for parts. If ypu can source it from ebay you can mix the parts and try make it work. I saw some receivers in ebay under 70 - 100 usd.

 

[elangoas]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

This is reallly sad to hear. Such kind of situation should not happen to anyone. Why dont you try buying a used onkyo avr that is not working which can be only used for parts. If ypu can source it from ebay you can mix the parts and try make it work. I saw some receivers in ebay under 70 - 100 usd.

Having already spent 27K so far for the AVR for service & spares am little skeptical in doing that..

 

[frend2001]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Hi Mate

I can feel you pain.

I wish that noone be subjected to such happenings but alas what we can do.

Now coming back to the task at hand, I have a very straight answers for you.

Stop spending money on the AVR right now. It is fat chance that you'd be able to pinpoint the faults and get replacement parts.

It could be surge also with heated connections. So you simply can't understand what and how many parts have actually gone kaput in the unit. I believe that you will keep spending on the AVR and when you find it to be working or may be still not working the damage to your wallet would be more then a brand new AVR cost.

These things are fragile and complicated, very high current flows in their circuits, unless it is somebody with a full blown repair shop and enough experience it's futile to spend money, time and hope over gone kaput stuff.

I know my words are harsh but I want to save you from troubles of unforeseeable future.

Get a new AVR and write this off as an bad experience.

 

[elangoas]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

Hi Mate

I can feel you pain.

I wish that noone be subjected to such happenings but alas what we can do.

Now coming back to the task at hand, I have a very straight answers for you.

Stop spending money on the AVR right now. It is fat chance that you'd be able to pinpoint the faults and get replacement parts.

It could be surge also with heated connections. So you simply can't understand what and how many parts have actually gone kaput in the unit. I believe that you will keep spending on the AVR and when you find it to be working or may be still not working the damage to your wallet would be more then a brand new AVR cost.

These things are fragile and complicated, very high current flows in their circuits, unless it is somebody with a full blown repair shop and enough experience it's futile to spend money, time and hope over gone kaput stuff.

I know my words are harsh but I want to save you from troubles of unforeseeable future.

Get a new AVR and write this off as an bad experience.

Thanks buddy.. I get your point.. Am not spending anymore to procure spares... If nothing works, i can sell the HDMI board to the grey market & the scrap AVR for reasonable amount...

 

[kaptan]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

I used to have power fluctuations in my area, so in order to avoid any damage when not using the system I used to remove all the plugs from the power socket. I do them every time when I complete using the system starting from htpc, Subwoofer, projector and avr. We might not when it will happen so just to be on a safer side removing them and plug them again when I use them.

Hope fellow members will also follow to avoid such damage.

 

[Amitkg]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

I used to have power fluctuations in my area, so in order to avoid any damage when not using the system I used to remove all the plugs from the power socket. I do them every time when I complete using the system starting from htpc, Subwoofer, projector and avr. We might not when it will happen so just to be on a safer side removing them and plug them again when I use them.

Hope fellow members will also follow to avoid such damage.

I use this kind of connector(see pic) between my HTPC and Router. As soon as I see the faintest sign of impending thunderstorm, I disconnect the CAT5 cable that goes into HTPC's RJ45 port and then disconnect all other power connectors/plugs from wall socket, I also disconnect the DTH cable, that is connected to the set-top box. I know, this is not a foolproof measure; yet it reduces the possibility of such unfortunate event. During monsoon and pre-monsoon period (KAAL BAISHAKHI or NOR'WESTER), before leaving home, I follow this regimen religiously for the sake of my AV gears' health. Some of you may not agree to my point as you may don't want any interruption in your music-listening session but little bit of sacrifice from your end would help your AV gears live to tell the tale very next day (or very next hour).
@elangoas> Friend, I salute your indomitable spirit. Wish you all the best.:thumbsup:

 

[filmguy]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

sympathies to OP.

looks like last year was bad for lightning strikes knocking off electronics. happened to me too where the hdmi ports on my tv got knocked out even though i'd unplugged everything. seems it came through the dth cable. reading this thread now i learnt you have to also unplug router. i doubt everyone sits down to do this everytime there's some lightning, wonder how this isnt a bigger, more known issue?

 

[Amitkg]

Re: A very rough patch in hi-fi journey, reinstating my Onkyo AVR TX-NR 818 - Need he

sympathies to OP.

looks like last year was bad for lightning strikes knocking off electronics. happened to me too where the hdmi ports on my tv got knocked out even though i'd unplugged everything. seems it came through the dth cable. reading this thread now i learnt you have to also unplug router. i doubt everyone sits down to do this everytime there's some lightning, wonder how this isnt a bigger, more known issue?

This link might help.
http://blog.tdstelecom.com/tech-tip...-and-your-electronics-when-lightning-strikes/


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