MX150 rebooting itself regularly
 

I've had an MX150 with the 151 upgrade for many years. It hasn't given me any trouble until the last few weeks. Nothing has changed in how I use it or how anything in the system is hooked up. Suddenly and without warning the unit shuts down (just like if you turned it off) but then comes back on with the regular initialization process. Since my amps are controlled by the MX150 they also shut down and restart. Cycling off/on this type of gear is obviously bad.

I can not determine any sort of pattern to the shutdowns. I have reliably steady and clean power, but not absolutely perfect. I thought maybe a power dip was happening in the dedicated 20 amp house circuit that feeds my rack so I plugged the MX150 into a separate circuit but the problem continued.

One odd thing is that the reboot doesn't seem to happen if I'm only playing music (usually from a Sonos connect or a tuner.) I can do that all day. When I start watching TV in the evening after a couple hours the unit does it's off routine - but not every night! When the TV is on and busy the cable box/DVR is also working. In fact the whole system is working harder since all speaker channels/amps are more involved. I don't know if any of this matters. I'll also mention that once the first spontaneous reboot happens the following ones seem to happen at an increasing frequency.

It hurts me physically every time the system reboots itself. I just hear all my components groan...

Help! Any ideas?

Thanks,

JR

I once had a similar problem a number of years ago. It was corrosion in my circuit breaker box from water seeping in. Not a good thing. :tears: I upgraded my electrical service and breaker box and never had a problem again. :yes:

The unit can shut off when there is a power issue like a power dip, bad connections somewhere, bad breakers, corrosion in circuit breaker box, etc. More power needed with multiple components on including your subwoofers, can exacerbate the problem.

Double check all electrical connections including your electrical box.

Ron

JR,
One way to isolate if it is a power quality problem is to put it on a UPS and see if it still acts up. Doubt that is the issue based on your description- but worth a shot.

Another thing to try is to save all your settings on a USB stick and then do a full factory reset.

Tom

I've tried multiple power sources and a system reset. It worked for a day after the reset but then started to reboot itself again. I spoke to support at McIntosh this morning and my only next step is to get it in for service. They say it might be its power supply, or could be anything else. My local authorized service center isn't quite up to par to fix this, so I'll be sending it back to Binghamton.

Did they give you any idea on the repair time/wait?

My MX135 started doing that. One of the DSP boards was failing and overheating. The unit would shut down to protect the rest of the component.

A little tech time and it was good as new.

Ivan, I didn't ask about service time specifically because I just had my MX151 (not this MX150) there for repairs. They had warned me that that one (long out of warranty) would take at least 6 months to just take a look at, then diagnose and repair time. The entire process was just under nine months. Luckily I had my old MX135 in storage that could fill the gap in my rack for that time. I'll be using it again for this repair cycle on the MX150.

The cost wasn't cheap, but also wasn't crazy. I would think the 6 - 9 month cycle would mean there is a lot of demand, they get good money, and should hire another tech or two. It's not perfectly clear on the invoice but it looks like labor time was only 2 hours in my 9 month process.

They told me warranty repairs take two weeks to look at.

Wow..........9 months for a 2 hour repair is a long time. McIntosh brand is not cheap and brand loyalty deserves better. :yes:

Maybe I should look for another brand. :scratch2:

Ron

There should be some MX 160’s coming up for sale - may be time for a trade-in.

Still around $6-$7K. They are getting close to being somewhat reasonable. :D

Ron