PS Audio P10 – Corrupted Display and SD Card Boot Issue. Any Experience?

Power Components
1

Hello everyone,

We’re trying to troubleshoot a PerfectWave Power Plant P10 and would appreciate some advice.

The problem started after connecting a SACD player. The P10 failed to start normally, and afterward the display developed severe graphical distortion.

Interestingly, the touchscreen still works, and some screens, including STATUS and CleanWave, display perfectly. The main menu is heavily corrupted.

Here is what we’ve tried:

  • The original SD card causes the front power button to flash continuously, and the unit won’t boot.
  • A new 1GB FAT16 SD card containing official firmware v0.46 allows the P10 to boot, but no firmware installation is apparent, and the display problem remains.
  • Leaving the unit unplugged for several days made no difference.
  • The STATUS screen reports 117.2V output, 60Hz, and 0.1% THD at no load, although we haven’t verified the output with a multimeter.

The rear power switch has been bypassed, so the unit is powered on and off by unplugging it.

We’ve already contacted PS Audio support to request the special Forceload firmware.

Has anyone experienced similar symptoms? Could this be corrupted firmware, a display controller issue, or something else?

I’ve attached several photos showing the problem.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

2

Welcome!

3

I have been using a P10 for many years and it has been trouble free (knock on wood …) so I have not had the problem you are having. However, regarding your difficulties with firmware update, I recall from early (say 8+ years ago and prior) firmware upgrades on DACs and Powerplants that the capacity of the SD card and how it was formatted could cause issues.

I did some searching on the forum, and I think 1 Gb is ok, 2 Gb might have been the limit. The formatting should be FAT or FAT16, currently FAT32 is a common option but may not work on this older equipment. The firmware needs to be in the root directory, unzipped and no folders. Also, make sure the card is not “locked”. If these ideas have already been tried without solving the problem hopefully PS will get you the recovery card.

Good luck!