CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

So I've had my beautiful Sony G90 safely esconced in my basement since I got it from Nashou (a couple years ago? not sure anymore). I've done the same as him and had it plugged in and in standby since having it, and only fired it up once to make sure it still worked after moving it, which it worked perfectly.

Yesterday I walked past it and saw the code display on the rear say "88", I flipped the main power rocker off, let it sit for a few seconds, flipped it back on, and it went back into normal standby. Today, it has the same issue, only this time I just flipped it off, since I had an odd feeling this wasn't good. I looked around the forum for info regarding the error, and what I found indicated this is the infamous YA Board failure, which was the odd feeling I had! Sad

So I haven't used it since this has happened, I don't want to ruin the projector, I haven't even gotten a chance to enjoy it yet... Is this repairable at all, or do I have to replace the YA board? I'll admit I've never really paid any attention to any of the G90 stuff because I never owned one, and even after getting this one, didn't really worry about it too much... (yeah my bad I know)

So what's the scoop CRT master Guru's?

HaydnG90 · Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 1356

I believe red 88 is YA board related but luckily for you is not a bad IC421. Craig Rounds can fix this. Reach out to him and make arrangements to ship him the board. A word of warning. If you get the error when the tubes are active you can cause spot burn. DO NOT turn the G90 back on until the board is repaired. If the error occurs in standby no worries.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 3:51 pm Post subject:

Damn Jeremy, hope you can get this up and running.

CIR Engineering · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 5:55 pm Post subject:

tfuller · Joined: 17 Nov 2017 Posts: 23

I can vouch for Craig's repair services. He repaired my incredibly difficult YA board, and diagnosed the first power filter board failure he's ever seen in my unit Very Happy

Looking forward to getting everything set up in the new house over the next couple of weeks.

CIR Engineering · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 6:24 pm Post subject:

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Craig, Haydn. Jeremy, and tfuller,

Thanks for the advice and that is ***awesome!!*** to hear my YA board is repairable! Mr. Green

I'll definitely contact you about repairing the YA board in (probably) a couple weeks Craig. I'm super busy at the moment, but I didn't just want to let this go, since I've never even had it setup to enjoy yet. I'm just super thrilled its not toast! I was pretty bummed when I saw the 88 code on the back, having never used it Laughing

Since I now have 2 Sony flagship PJ's that are non functional, I think its time I get the G90 and the Qualia repaired. (My Sony's just don't like me I guess Razz

)

Thanks for the offer to repair the YA board Craig, like I said I'll definitely message you about it in a couple weeks!!

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Oh, I'll probably want the Dallas chip taken care of before it becomes a problem too Smile

ask4me2 · Joined: 07 Jul 2017 Posts: 4

If the red 88 shows up when the projector is running, is there a safe way to shut i down without the risk of spotburn.
Thinking something like killing the filament power or HV system first so there is not much energy left in the beam if the G2 grids etc do not function on a 88 error shutdown

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2018 1:12 pm Post subject:

The projector has already shut down if you get the red 88 error code. Hopefully it didn't spot burn the tubes.

HaydnG90 · Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 1356

As Curt says its instantaneous shutdown as well as possible spot burn. I imagine the only way to save the tubes is to run the set at ridiculously low brightness and contrast settings. But no one is going to do that for an improbable scenario.

Keep the Dallas chip fresh and don't ignore any odd out of norm behavior as it could be early signs of a failing component. I tend to cross my fingers when turning on the G90 these days. After all they are almost 20 years old now.

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Talk about bringing a thread back from the dead!

I am back! I've been quite busy over the last several years since I got this projector, and made this post, but I FINALLY have time to do something with my G90!

I wanted to update this thread and let anyone know who comes across it with the same error code, that I did manage to get rid of it.

My YA board needed to be re-seated, and the contacts for the YA board cleaned. The issue went away and has not come back since. So anyone with the same code, consider cleaning the contacts/reseating the board before replacing it (I was quite thrilled to see the error go away for good!)

Another thing with my YA board, I have the problem IC421 (the bad lot # I should say) - while mine still works, I suspect that it will eventually fail since its the bad lot number. For now though, I can at least play with the projector and then make a decision on replacing the board.

Sorry to bring this thread back from 12ft under Wink

but wanted to do a proper update!

HaydnG90 · Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 1356

How many hours have you got on the G90? When the bad IC421 fails it's usually fairly early. Mine died around 1500hrs. If you have a lot more than that you might be one of the lucky ones.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2024 10:02 pm Post subject:

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:01 pm Post subject:

CIR Engineering · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2026 12:14 am Post subject:

Yes. It is a hardware problem with the computer section of the YA board. The cause of that issue can be due to a large number of bits and bobs on the YA board. It is however isolated to the YA board and the only way to get error 88 is from a problem on the YA board.

If a G90 EVER throws an error 88 it will definitely, absolutely, without doubt, do it again at some point, unless the board is repaired. It is not unusual for error 88 to begin with only very occasional events and then become more frequent if it is not fixed properly. I remember a thread somewhere on this forum from years ago when Mike Hines had a YA board that was handed from one tech to another for a very long time; like 1-2 years. It had been declared fix by at least two people (including Mike Parker) when it again threw an 88. This was before anyone had solved 88 error causes. Finally, Mike sent me the board, and I decided I was simply not going to give up until I figured out how to actually fix error 88 and confirm that it was indeed fixed. It was easier when I got the board because at that point it would throw an 88 in a day or less. I spent well over 100 man hours and was the most challenging thing I ever solved on the G90.

In any event, if you value your tubes please send me the board for repair. When error 88 triggers while the projector is running (not in standby, actually projecting an image) there is a 100% chance that all three tubes will be struck and most likely be destroyed. Occasionally when the tubes are struck, it might land outside the image area and the tube can be salvaged, but I've only been so luck a handful of times... I think I was able to save a red from a projector once, and a blue from another.

Other issues that can cause tubes to be struck such as error 11 can but often don't strike the tubes. I still think one shouldn't mess around with error codes that can strike tubes.

But I guarantee what you did to "fix" the YA board will not stop error 88 from happening again. 88 is a tricky bitch because yeah, you flip the rocker switch off, wait a sec, flip it back on, and bam the 88 is gone. The sad thing is that it will come back, hopefully not while you are watching anything Shocked

craigr