AUTOHELM 7000 PROBLEM

My autopilot switched from AUTO to STANDBY while out at sea. There was
an alrm sound but in the past when there was a problem, I would get a
message that said NO LINK or MOTOR STOPPED. There was no response to
pu****ng the AUTO button.  After turning the power on and off a few
times, I was able to get it to go back into AUTO but only for about 5
minutes when it returned to STANDBY.

After anchoring for a night with the power to the autopilot off, it
went into AUTO with no problem after turning on the power.

I did all the obvious checks for bad or loose connections but found
nothing wrong.

I am reluctant to take it out to sea on a long cruise for fear that I
might end up stearing by hand for a few days if it happens again.

I am curious to know if anyone has had a similar problem.