If all your speakers are disconnected and the protect still comes on you probably have cold solder joints in the unit or blown parts. Try resoldering all the connections in the power amp and regulated power supply with a 50w pencil tip soldering iron. Be sure to allow the large capacitors to discharge first.

mine says protect no matter what i do. it started when i plugged my ipod in and it overloaded it. i have read online at the Sony website that turning the volume down, checking your wires, turning surround off, and selecting proper speakers...blah blah blah...but it wont do anything except flash that blasted PROTECT message. i'm sure it's protecting something, but it is absolutely worthless if i can't reset it or something. help! how do i get this thing back to "normal"? any suggestions are welcome. S

I am having the same problem and would like to know what I can do? I can play the radio/FM and DVD movies through it but can't be turned up past volume level 2 or 3. If I go past that volume the receiver goes into shut down and flashes PROTECT! Is there a internal problem? Is it a fuse issue if there is one? Is it a short or a lose speaker connection? Somebody help, please! I love this system. Thanks for any help you can offer Hell, I didn't even look to see how long this boards been up. Oh well thanks if someone replies

Check your speaker wires where they connect to th eback of your receiver. Ensure that NONE of the +/- pairings are "touching" each other. The PROTECT message is a safety mechanism built into the receiver to prevent shorting out the motherboard when you accidentally cross the frequencies that bounce between the + and - side of your speaker cable. Look top to bottom or left to right (however your speaker wire connects to your receiver). Make sure the Black/Red, pos/neg pairings are NOT touching.