Bonanza 35 pilot reported the PFD going blank inflight in IMC.

Date: 2020-05 · Aircraft: Bonanza 35 · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|deviation-altitude-excursion-from-assigned-altitude|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|inflight-event-encounter-unstabilized-approach|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence

Synopsis

Bonanza 35 pilot reported the PFD going blank inflight in IMC.

Narrative

I had filed to shoot some approaches at ZZZ; ZZZ1 and return home to ZZZ2. After departing ZZZ2; I was level at 4;000 ft. Upon trimming the plane the Aspen PFD went black in IMC. I was now partial panel with a cloud deck at 1;600 MSL and unknown where the ceilings were. After some time the unit restarted and hung on the ADAHRS initialization screen. Best I can tell from downloading data from the unit; I lost the Aspen for approximately 60 seconds. At the same time; I momentarily lost GPS signal on the Avidyne IFD540. This is an even larger issue as the Aspen E5 uses GPS inputs as part of its ADAHRS calculations. I immediately requested priority handling with Regional Approach. In an unknown amount of time the GPS signal came back. The Aspen now was displaying erroneous wind calculations which led me to have little confidence in the reliability of the unit.It is worth noting that we have had a previous issue with Aspen on inflight resets. The latest unit from Aspen had approximately 25 hours and had not demonstrated any reliability concerns up until this flight. The hardware/software combination that we're running on the Aspen is not covered by AD 2020-16-08.After two vectoring turns and one descent to MVA they cleared me for ILS XX approach into ZZZ2. When cleared for the approach I was at 3;000 ft. instead of the typical 2;000 ft. I was hyper focused on capturing the localizer that I didn't start a descent. In retrospect; from when I was cleared for the approach to when I would have been at Glide Slope intercept; I still would have been way too high. I flew the approach as a localizer; but with a high rate of descent approximately 1;000 FPM. I did not capture the Glide Slope until I was below the cloud deck at approximately 1;000 AGL.My decision to fly a steeper than acceptable approach was due to: Two avionics issues in flight; limited experience post instrument rating on partial panel; task saturation on capturing the localizer. I have been in contact with both manufacturers of equipment and are trying to get to the root cause.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.