Hello all,

I have run into a problem with my 1014, and it appears that I am not alone, as evidenced by this thread, (click here) (http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=234301&perpage=30&display=&pagenumber=2)

What happens is, if the unit is on, and the power is interupppted, (and were not talking about a surge or anything, just a power loss), the unit locks up, all you get is a flashing MCACC light on the front panel. The normal reset procedure won't help it. The reciever is now dead.

There is rumor (isn't there always) that there is a deeper service menu possibly, that can reset it, but so far, nobody has come up with anything.

I called Pioneer, they looked at their T/S tree, and told me to take it to an authorized service center.

Has anybody here run across this problem as of yet? It does seem to be systemic in regards to this reciever.

I've had repeated power outages while my 1014 was on and it's fine, no problems whatsoever.

Hopefully it'll be an easy fix. Good luck.

Ouch, I just bought the VSX-9100 (1014 clone) and had a power outage this afternoon. Same results.... flashing MACC light. I have it unplugged for now hoping that I can plug it back in later and all will be ok ... but having read that previous thread I don't think that will be the case. Anyone else have this happen? If so any additional info to add? Seems from the previous thread that a part had to be replaced? Any idea what part? This is a pretty major problem in my book.

Ouch, I just bought the VSX-9100 (1014 clone) and had a power outage this afternoon. Same results.... flashing MACC light. I have it unplugged for now hoping that I can plug it back in later and all will be ok ... but having read that previous thread I don't think that will be the case. Anyone else have this happen? If so any additional info to add? Seems from the previous thread that a part had to be replaced? Any idea what part? This is a pretty major problem in my book.

Yeah, I tried that, it didn't work for me. Let us know if it does anything.

This is a serious design flaw, Pioneer needs to be made aware of it, and do something about it, but I don't know what they can do.

Good luck with it.

I just had my 1014's MCACC light start flashing after a power flicker - this is the second time this has happened - the first time, I sent it in for service and they said they had to resolder a component onto a PC board - I'd be willing to bet that there is a master reset method that would fix this - I'd sure like for someone to let me know what it is before I have to send this in again.

And yes, my receiver is protected behind a high quality surge suppressor - so that's no help either.

If you have the magic key presses to reset this thing, please respond!!!!!!

OK I contacted Pioneer and they have told me to take it in for service at the Sound Doctor in Loveland CO which is not too far away. I will update this thread after I have taken it up there. Hopefully there is some code like the previous thread on the other board mentioned. No way can this be something that would require a solder IMHO. Seems more like some chip has lost it's mind to me.

BTW curious... date of manufacture is June 2004. Any others having this problem have a similar date of manufacture?

I can't get to the back of my unit right now for the mfg date, but my s/n is DFMP0063##UC. I purchased this receiver in September of 2004.

My guess is that when they "fixed" this unit the first time, it had very little to do with a bad solder connection, during the process, they probably reset the unit and that is what solved the problem. Now, all we have to do is figure out how to reset the receiver.

Has anyone heard of this happening on the 1015's? In other words,has this problem been fixed?

My guess is that it has been fixed. I have a VSX-1014 that is in the bedroom and it did not lock up while the VSX-9100 did. I have not checked the date of manufacture as it is mounted in a rack hung from the ceiling. My guess is that it is some firmware code/flash RAM/?? that was used during a certain date range. Nobody so far seems to have indicated any similar problems with the VSX-1015 yet either.

Mine was manufactured in October 2004. The power went out the other night, but no problems with the receiver.

I've noticed that with other Pioneer products the deep reset is usually some button plus the standby button. On one of their DVD players it is 'with the player OFF, hold the STOP button and then press the STANDBY button'. Since your receiver is currently dead, start pushing button combinations.

I've noticed that with other Pioneer products the deep reset is usually some button plus the standby button.

I was in BB today trying to recreate the lockup mode with a 1015. I was not able to get it to lockup even with multiple fast disconnects and reconnects to the power. When attempting a reset hold the combinations for at least 5s as I discovered that some special modes don't come up right away.

Man I tried every combo of standby/on and another button or another 2 buttons with no luck. Taking it on Thurs....

Man I tried every combo of standby/on and another button or another 2 buttons with no luck. Taking it on Thurs....


Same here - I also talked with Pioneer Customer Service who said there is no reset code and no history of problems reported. The local service center also said that there is no code and that I needed to bring it in.

I saw a place on Pioneer's website that you can order service manuals - I'm tempted to order one - I'm also looking real hard at putting this receiver behind a UPS to eliminate the chance of it happening after it's out of warranty.

Any updates on this? I bought a 1014 back in January (if I remember correctly) and it went dead shortly thereafter, with MCACC blinking. Took it to the repair center and they had it working a week later (did it under warranty because it was so new). Well this afternoon the power went out briefly and it's doing it AGAIN!!. I've got a fairly expensive surge suppressor and it is fine, and all the other equipment connected to it is fine.

Anybody figure out the reset yet?

David Giles

I have no update yet. Mine is still in the shop. It has been a little over a week now. Once I get it back I will report what I find.

I sure hope the 1015 doesn't have the same problem. Mine arrives tomorrow and my power blinks off for 1 or 2 seconds everytime my air conditioner kicks on. I live in Ky, so it kicks on alot.

Actually not all 1014s (and their clones) do this either. It may be specific to some particular build dates. My 1014 did not have the problem but the 9100 did. I doubt the 1015 has this problem.

According to the Service Technician that reset my receiver the reset procedure for a blinking MCACC light is as follows:

ENTER + VIDEO2 keys for 2 seconds.


I did not actually do this, or see it done, but it is worth a shot. He told me that he had never worked on another 1014 with the same problem, but had worked on 52's. He also said that if the reset procedure doesn't work, then there is actual damage.

Use this at your own risk.

Just an observation but it would appear that all the positive reviews that the 1014 has had is tarnished by (in some builds at least) a significant issue that may be due to a sub-standard power supply in the unit. If so, could the affected units have suffered a degredation in audio performance as a result?

According to the Service Technician that reset my receiver the reset procedure for a blinking MCACC light is as follows:

ENTER + VIDEO2 keys for 2 seconds.

BUY THAT MAN A DRINK!!!! IT WORKS!!!!

I'll post this over at HTF for all the other poor souls that have experienced this problem.

Thanks so much for posting this mmay256!

David Giles

I guess the cat is out of the bag.

Though I must warn people as someone mentioned in the other forum, pioneer has this protection there for a reason. It's possible that your receiver may have been damaged and the protection is there so you don't cause it anymore damage. The protection is there so that the technician can check the parts and make sure nothing has gone bad, else you would kill more parts on the receiver, it's even possible to have the receiver catch on fire.

It seems much of the time, people having this problem had to wait a few weeks to have this problem fixed. Surely this reset procedure does not take weeks to do, and I'm guessing more things had to be done to get it fixed.

I guess the cat is out of the bag.

Though I must warn people as someone mentioned in the other forum, pioneer has this protection there for a reason. It's possible that your receiver may have been damaged and the protection is there so you don't cause it anymore damage. The protection is there so that the technician can check the parts and make sure nothing has gone bad, else you would kill more parts on the receiver, it's even possible to have the receiver catch on fire.

It seems much of the time, people having this problem had to wait a few weeks to have this problem fixed. Surely this reset procedure does not take weeks to do, and I'm guessing more things had to be done to get it fixed.

Agreed. I think users should consider doing this reset with caution as it may require more than this to get the AVR in a sustainable/stable state.

This is just great. I have had my 1014 for about six months with no problems at all. Something else to be paranoid about.

The RESET is there for a purpose..
All electronic devices controlled by a chip may become inoperative because of some memory corruption due to static charge or unstable AC..

Hitting the RESET merely reboots the CPU chip and starts over.. However note that it dumps... Surround settings, levels, X-overs, station presets so these must be re-entered..
No biggee..
Kudos to Pioneer for providing this but they need to tell their users about how to activate this and when required..

M Code,
There is 2 different things here it seems. Pioneer states a factory reset in the Pioneer manual. The reset posted in this thread is the service code need to get the receiver out of the protection mode that can happen in the event of a bad power surge or other occurence, which shouldn't be given to users as it has been done here.

Glad to see someone was finally able to come up with the code. I'm 'Bryan X' from the HTF thread that had the 1014 problem.

Just wanted to post here to let you know that my 1014 that developed the 'flashing MCACC' had a manufacture date of July 2004. Maybe there's some correlation with the manufacture date.

The new 1014 that Pioneer sent me has a manufacture date of December 2004. Hopefully it's not affected by this glitch, but if it is you can be sure I'll be using the code.

Although the service center said they needed to replace parts, I had suspicions that it was really just a matter of them not being sure what was wrong and just replacing a couple parts that 'were likely' to be causing the problem. Now I have no proof of this other than a hunch, but I get the impression that this code isn't well known and this glitch is also relatively unknown. After dealing with a couple of the people at the service center I took my 1014 to, I didn't have the highest confidence in them. Again, just my opinion as the parts were never replaced because Pioneer had them backordered until September.

M Code,
There is 2 different things here it seems. Pioneer states a factory reset in the Pioneer manual. The reset posted in this thread is the service code need to get the receiver out of the protection mode that can happen in the event of a bad power surge or other occurence, which shouldn't be given to users as it has been done here.

Well OK..
But I disagree with you..
If an AVR under certain field operating conditions can go into a freeze or lockup position and a RESET restores it back to normal operation why should this info be kept from the user...
If there is a repetitive trouble condition such as a shorted speaker wire than the AVR should then just go back into its PROTECT mode..

But no biggee thats why we can agree to disagree.. ;) :cool:

Well OK..
But I disagree with you..
If an AVR under certain field operating conditions can go into a freeze or lockup position and a RESET restores it back to normal operation why should this info be kept from the user...
If there is a repetitive trouble condition such as a shorted speaker wire than the AVR should then just go back into its PROTECT mode..

But no biggee thats why we can agree to disagree.. ;) :cool:

With all due respect :)
I believe the condition here is different. The protection mode seems to be coming from an instance of an inadvertent power loss. Powering the receiver back on will show that the receiver has gone into protection mode as it seems something internal may have been compromised in the loss. Though this may be because of faulty parts used by Pioneer, but it is there for a reason and that reason is valid to me. Which is why I wouldn't recommend anyone using it.

I haven't seen an instance of this coming from something like a short. I've had many when I was still a newb a year ago (I certainly feel like one sometimes reading your posts).

What appears to have happened to me is that some threshold was set very low on receivers built in the summer of 2004. Mine was also fixed using the above solution. All tested and no problems. I would say if you have multiple other components on the same surge protector that do not have any problems I would go ahead and reset the receiver. If there are additional problems it should shut down again.

BTW curious... date of manufacture is June 2004. Any others having this problem have a similar date of manufacture?

yep. June 2004 for mine.

lost power one night while the receiver was on. MCCAC light came on flashing when the power was restored. took it to the reapir center, had it back in 3 days. more details on my repair in this post... http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?postid=2733755#post2733755

Boys and Girls,

My 1014 locked up for the 3rd time - it gave me a chance to check whether the reset code that the Pioneer service technician gave me the last time (posted earlier in this thread) works. IT DID!!!!!!!!!! Saved me 2 hours of reconstructing my system, 2 hours of driving to and from the service center and a couple of weeks of waiting - Oh yeah, now this receiver is out of warranty, so it probably saved me $100 as well.

Once again, the reset code for this otherwise great receiver is ENTER plus VIDEO 2 for 2 seconds.

My receiver has a manufacture date of June 2004. The failure scenario is that we get a brief (less than one second) power fluctuation and then the MCACC light starts flashing and the receiver won't take any commands.

Oh, yes, this receiver is protected by a high quality surge suppressor - I was going to put a UPS on it, but then I got the access code. The receiver does not always react this way to a power glitch - I have the worst power of anyone I know, so we get a fair amount of experience in this matter.

Other than this problem, this receiver has been great.

Mike

mmm....i have a pioneer elite vsx-50 that went down after power fluctuated...its been in the shop for 2 months now...and the shop said it needed a part that was backordered in Pioneer....wonder if the same thing applies to this model....although i did not see the MCACC light flash...ill check if it even has a mcacc light at all....


mmmm..should i call pioneer?

I would definately give them a call. After my 1014 was in the shop for months and the availability of the part being pushed back and back I finally gave Pioneer a call and received a brand new 1014 out of it. They tried to give me a refurb, but with a little persistence (since my 1014 was only 6 mos old) they caved and sent me a 1014 directly to my house. They first balked at sending it to my house saying it was policy to send it to the repair shop where I'd have to pick it up. But since the repair shop was a 2 hour round trip for me I convinced them to send it directly to me.

I have a Pioneer 1014 made in July of 2004 and just a couple of minutes ago my power flicked on and off for a split second and yes the famous MACC blinking light.I was pissed cause I just started watching Motley Crue concert DVD.....so after cursing for about a minute or two well okay it was 5 minutes. I clicked over here cause I remember reading about the problems.I did a search and tried the Enter + Video 2 buttons.....It worked so I am very happy.I hope it doesn't happen again.....for the record this receiver had ecountered many many power interuptions and never had a problem....Well thanks to you guys and the forum again....Now back to the Crue.

This thread may just save me a whole bunch of money. Mine is out of warranty, and I was damned if I was going to pay to have a problematic and recurring problem get temporarily fixed. I'll be trying it tonight.

Ja Phule, I'm curious - are you in some way associated with Pioneer, or do you have technical experience with this sort of electronics? Not a flame - I just want to frame your warnings in their proper context.

Regards,
Martin.

A severe thunderstorm here is south MS caused my mother's 1014TX to go into protection with the MCACC light flashing. Thanks to this thread, I performed the reset and it is working perfectly again.

Thanks for the info!

Same problem with my 1014. I was going to take into a service shop tomorrow, but I'll have to see if the reset code works when I get home. Spent lunch hour today looking at Pioneer Elite and Denon 2706, glad didn't purchase on impulse.

Reset still works if anyone runs into this problem.

According to the Service Technician that reset my receiver the reset procedure for a blinking MCACC light is as follows:

ENTER + VIDEO2 keys for 2 seconds.

THIS WORKED PERFECTLY!!!!!

THANK YOU for posting this!

Saved me hours of work on my Dad's HT setup.

As others have also noted, my Dad had his Receiver plugged into a high end Belkin Surge Protector, and no other electrical products got damaged, so I think it was not an electrical surge that caused the problem.

GAWDD, I LOVE the internet!

I've got a 1017 out in the garage that went into flashing MCACC mode and today, and 'DVR2/VCR2' pressed at the same time also resets it.

1017 !?!?!?!?!

Ok....Where is the video button on the remote?

I also have the 1014, Mine started having issue for the past 6-7 months with it shutting off at high volumes. I double checked the speaker wires and they were fine. Mine would shut off after about 30min of use and if I then tried to put it a volume -11 or louder when listening to 2 channel music. I took it back to best buy about 2 weeks ago and they said they did this same reset and it fixed the problem.....I will know for sure when I pick it up this tuesday but does this sound like something a hard reset would fix??

Thx,
Claude

Well I got the receiver back from Best buy and all they did was do a hard reset and it seems to be working fine. I had them hook it up to thier speakers and let it play for about 30 minutes at volume -10. Then for the last 5 minutes I turned it up to 0 (It was real LOUD)...Never clipped off. Maybe the Hard Reset fixed it because before I brought it to them it would clip off in about 30 minutes at volume -11 let alone anything louder than that....They even stuck the receiver in on of there racks where the sides only had about 2 inches and the top only had about 1/2 inch so it should have gotten hot and over heated but it did not....

I am wondering if the Hard reset fixed it or if something is wrong with my speakers....I have not hooked it back up yet but I do have the Onkyo 805 hooked up to my speakers and it does not clip off...I mean it clipped off once but that was at volume +12 (Extremely Loud)...but that was with the ps3 directly on top of the on the Onkyo (Both were scolding azz hot)......I then removed the Ps3 and turned the Onkyo on the following day to -5 and let it play for 25 minutes (it was very loud) but never clipped....At this point I am not sure what the problem was but glad it seemed to be fixed.

Bunga99, please keep us posted as to what happens when you hook the Pioneer back up to your speakers. Thanks

Sorry, but I will not be hooking it back up....My best friend wants to buy it so I am going to sell it to him for cheap......I have the 805 hooked up now and its kind of a pain to unhook it and retest.....If it fails him then I will take it back to bestbuy and get him something else (under warranty). From what I saw/heard today, I dont think it will clip off because it was clipping off for like the past 6 months for me at high volumes but did not clip at all after the reset....

Like I said my Onkyo only clipped once but that was when I had it turned up all the way up and the PS3 was sitting right on top of the Onkyo....Eversince I moved the Ps3, the Onkyo never clipped....

If for some odd reason, it ends up being my speakers, they are covered under a different warranty too (wierd, I know but true)....

Thx,
Claude

The fact that you have shut down two different brands of receivers points to one thing, that you have reached a point with both of them of trying to play them both louder than they really are safely capable of playing at. The only thing you have proven, is that the Onkyo can take a bit more abuse than the Pioneer can before it clips. If you are clipping both the Pioneer and a Onkyo receiver to where they shut down only at loud volumes, it is not the speakers fault. You are trying to play the receiver louder than their amps are capable of playing with those speakers. And that there is nothing to be "fixed" in your speakers unless, you damaged them from driving the amplifier in the receiver clipping when trying to play it loud. So you either need to buy a more powerful receiver or easier to drive speakers if you constantly want to play at loud levels. Although it sounds like the Onkyo may provide enough volume for you compared to the Pioneer, if you keep it somewhat sane as it only happened that one time, to the Pioneers many. The reason why the Pioneer played OK at a high volume in the store after they reset it, is probably because they used different speakers than what you have and that they are also easier to drive than yours, which probably will also allow them to play at somewhat louder levels before the receiver will shut down.

Plus the fact that the hard reset set all your settings back to default ie. EQ, channel trims. So you were not overdriving your amps due to settings, not just the volume knob.

The fact that you have shut down two different brands of receivers points to one thing, that you have reached a point with both of them of trying to play them both louder than they really are safely capable of playing at. The only thing you have proven, is that the Onkyo can take a bit more abuse than the Pioneer can before it clips. If you are clipping both the Pioneer and a Onkyo receiver to where they shut down only at loud volumes, it is not the speakers fault. You are trying to play the receiver louder than their amps are capable of playing with those speakers. And that there is nothing to be "fixed" in your speakers unless, you damaged them from driving the amplifier in the receiver clipping when trying to play it loud. So you either need to buy a more powerful receiver or easier to drive speakers if you constantly want to play at loud levels. Although it sounds like the Onkyo may provide enough volume for you compared to the Pioneer, if you keep it somewhat sane as it only happened that one time, to the Pioneers many. The reason why the Pioneer played OK at a high volume in the store after they reset it, is probably because they used different speakers than what you have and that they are also easier to drive than yours, which probably will also allow them to play at somewhat louder levels before the receiver will shut down.

You could be on to something here.....
But I have noticed is that when the Pioneer was new or the first 2 years, I could play it a lot louder and never had it clip off....Meaning I could bring it down to 0 or even to the plus side of the volume dial for about 1/2 or so and it would Never clip off (I would do about once or so every 2 months for about 1/2 hour to an hour)....My speakers are rated at 150 watts and 8 ohms. It was about About 6-7 months ago is when all of this started and I live in Florida where there are A LOT of lightning storms (we have had some brown outs, power failures and surges) so it could be something that the reset fixed...Or Not..

Also I think the Onkyo cut off because of excessive heat...I had the playstation 3 right on top of it when it shut off....After I moved the Ps3 off of it and tried it again the next day it never shut off. Both the Ps3 and the Onkyo generate a LOT of heat. So having one on top of the other was stupid (live and learn).

Also my setting should not matter because I left them at baseline when I had the 1014 hooked up...Never used any EQ, Loudness level or ran the MCACC and kept the cross over at 80hz. I only adjusted the pioneer for speaker distance and used a sound meter to adjust the volume when I had it hooked up....I had them try 2 different set of speakers in the store...One that was easy to drive and one that was harder to drive...The 1014 still freggin sounds awesome!

These are the speakers I am using:
http://www2.shopping.com/xPF-Sapphire-Technology-ST3B

You could be right....but I just found it odd that it worked fine for a long time at these levels and then crapped out.

It does work. My 1014 went out after a power flicker during the superbowl. I went to these forums and did the video 2 plus enter and it reset. Thanks guys for the help!

I had the same problem with my VSX-D912 where the power or stand-by light were blinking. I was able to reset the receiver by pressing

Enter + Advanced Surround key

It worked thanks to mmay256 who gave me an idea to play around with Enter + other keys. I thought my receiver was dead, so what the hek, I tried all the possible combination.

Thanks so much mmay256! My 1014 (from 2004) locked up for the first time after a power loss. Your code worked perfectly. There's no way that I would repair it. You saved me $500 from buying a new one :)

I have one of these (1014) that I don't use anymore. If anyone wants to buy it (cheap/mint condition), send me a PM.

Thanks so much mmay256! My 1014 (from 2004) locked up for the first time after a power loss. Your code worked perfectly. There's no way that I would repair it. You saved me $500 from buying a new one :)

I'm glad that the service technician gave me the code so long ago - I'll bet that I have to reset my receiver 3 or 4 times a year - on the other hand, maybe I should leave it flashing and use it as an excuse to buy a new one.

On the first hand, it works really well and I'm not sure that a newer model would be that much better.

Mike

I found my receiver unresponsive a while back. Since unplugging it, I can't even turn it back on. I have since replaced it with an Onkyo 805, but would love to get the 1014 working for the bedroom. Any ideas besides having it repaired?

Anybody? Or am i out of luck?