Sony KDL55HX750 red LED 8 blinks

If you are having an issue with your Sony KDL55HX750 Sony tonight, you are not alone. My TV started randomly restarting around 8pm AEST 17th June, 2013. 20 minutes into troubleshooting it a friend with the same TV texted me saying they were having exactly the same issue. So I bet we are not the only ones!

[Edit: Here is a link to an official response to the issue from Sony: http://www.sony.com.au/support/announcement/563909/product/kdl-55hx750]

The symptoms we saw are:

• TV starts to randomly reboot. When it turns on the OSD shows "Checking connection with external speakers". During this time you cannot get to the menu or do anything!
• The TV will go through several reboot loops, then eventually go to stand-by mode and blink the red LED light 8 times. On the Sony website, this indicates an audio problem (which matches up with the OSD display)
• Turning the TV off and on just results in the first situation (can't get to a menu because of "Checking speakers") and subsequent reboots again
• Sony suggest a couple of troubleshooting options:
• Power reset the device by unplugging it from the wall for 1 minute. 
• I tried this and and when I turned the TV back on the OSD went away so I could do some things again. However this lasted about 1 minute before the TV rebooted and started the same problem again
• Factory reset the device by turning the TV on for at least 40 seconds, holding down the UP arrow on the remote, and pressing the Power button on the TV itself.
• I couldn't get the UP arrow + power button function to work for me, although my friend did get this to work, however it did not fix their problem and seemed to do a soft settings reset

How I fixed it:

During the power reset, I noticed I was able to get to the menu for about a minute before the issue exhibited again! I used this time to promptly find the menu factory reset options here:

Home button -> Settings -> System Settings -> General -> Reset to Factory

The exact steps I followed were:

1. Remove power for the TV for at least 1 minute (I timed it on my phone to make sure)
2. Power on the TV. Once it's on, start pressing the "Home" button to try and get into the menu
3. As soon as the menu comes up, I essentially followed this procedure: http://www.sony-asia.com/microsite/bravia_i-manuals/FY12/HX750/AU/c_gset_europeall_co_facset.html

1. Press the HOME button, then select  [Settings] at the bottom of the screen using the /buttons.
2. Select  [System Settings] using the / buttons, then press the  button.
3. Select [General Set-up] using the / buttons, then press the  button.
4. Select [Factory Settings] using the / buttons, then press the  button.
5. Select [Yes] using the / buttons to reset all settings, then press the  button.
6. Select [Yes] again using the / buttons, then press the  button.

   After completing this process, the initial set-up screen is displayed.

After doing that, it runs through a complete reset procedure. You will need to re-enter your locality, station programming, and all other settings. The reset also asks to enable auto update... I promptly turned off this feature, as I'm sure I had it on before and was a likely cause for the issue.

So does this fix something for anyone else?