My yamaha receiver shuts down when I turn it up.

After checking the speaker connections as suggested and finding them in order, check that you have properly matched the impedance of your speakers with the receiver. Here is the sequence for doing that:

If you are to use 4 or 6 ohm speakers, set “SP
IMP.” to “6ωMIN” as follows BEFORE using this
unit.
1 Make sure this unit is set to the standby
mode.
See page 26 for details about turning on this unit or
standby mode.
2 Press and hold STRAIGHT (EFFECT) on the
front panel and then press STANDBY/ON to
turn on this unit.
This unit turns on, and the advanced setup menu
appears in the front panel display.
3 Press PROGRAM l / h buttons on the front
panel to select “SP IMP.”.
The following display appears in the front panel
display.
4 Press STRAIGHT (EFFECT) on the front
panel repeatedly to select “6ωMIN”.
The following display appears in the front panel
display.
5 Press STANDBY/ON on the front panel to
save the new setting and set this unit to the
standby mode.
The setting you made is reflected next time you turn on this unit.

If the impedance is set properly, when you adjust the volume take is easy. A quick increase in volume will change the impedance (if only for a millisecond) enough to trip the overload protection.

Good Luck.

If you have bare wire going into the receiver's output terminals, make sure a strand or two of wire is not touching the other terminal. That can short out the outputs, especially when you turn up the volume, which increases the voltage present at those terminals. That would cause the receiver to shut down as a saftey precaution.