When we say, "check your ground" all we mean is to look at the ground wire that connects to the amp and make sure it's adequately grounded. What I do is bolt it to a car seat bolt, that is the best ground you can get(called chasis ground). Try that and if you're still experiencing issues, troubleshoot it by removing one signal wire at a time. signal wires are the speaker and auxillary wires. Sometimes a short on these wires will cause the amp to go into protect mode. If you removed all your signal wires and all you have left on the amp is the remote, power(12volt battery) and the ground and your amp still goes into protect mode, then there's a short in your amp. good luck