I was given a free Harman/Kardon AVR 40 receiver, with a caveat: only the center channel works. Also, the unit puts itself into standby after a short time. (The first time you turn it on, it'll last for maybe two minutes; after that, it generally goes into standby after less than a second. Cycling the power repeats this cycle.)
It's not under warranty, so I cracked the thing open. Didn't see any obvious blown fuses or leaking caps, but that's all I know how to look for. What other components might be the culprit? I'm interested to learn how to check the various components and figure out where something's gone wrong.
Is there an easy way to determine whether this is, for example, a toasted power transistor vs. some other component? (As a physics student, I have access to all sorts of equipment--I just don't know what to look for.)
Thanks,
Scott Morrison snipped-for-privacy@mit.edu