MPC-500 displays "unknown file format" msg- help plz

recently bought a used MPC500 and have been unable to successfully load sounds onto it. No matter what file i attempt to load onto a pad it tells me "unknown file format".

i even downloaded this TEST folder from MPCtutor:

http://www.mpc-tutor.com/akai-mpc-500-loading-files/
I followed the instructions - attempted to load it multiple ways (program, sample, etc) with every sample it tells me "unknown file format".

I've even recorded sounds directly into the MPC and it still gives me the same message.


is this a correctable issue? Or is this a defective unit?


***I've tried multiple CF cards, formatted each one, tried loading samples from MPCmaid as well as RS-16x

*FYI the MPC came with custom red screen, upgraded 128MB - mentioning this in case these add ons were done incorrectly and could have created some kind of corruption issues within the unit

Turn off the unit, take out the 128MB RAM, turn it on and see if that fixes it.

MPC-Tutor wrote:Turn off the unit, take out the 128MB RAM, turn it on and see if that fixes it.

Thanks for the suggestion, but it didn't fix it. It still displays "unknown file format" in addition it also displays a flashing "insufficient memory".

Do you have any other ideas of things i can try?

Lampdog wrote:Possibly a memory problem. Take out memory and try again. It will default to using mem on motherboard. Way smaller mem but at least that gets the expanded mem (128) out of the picture for troubleshooting.

I've removed the memory but still experiencing the same problem. Any other suggestions?

I did notice once having removed the flash card from the unit it will play the sounds that are already pre-loaded onto the unit. But none of these sound files display once there is a FC inside. Could the problem have to do with FC malfunction?

Lampdog wrote:I can't think of anything else at the moment.

should i likely return it (eBay), as it seems defective?

Ok, so what you saying is that you are loading files from a PC to a CF card and you are loading these to the 500 and getting the Unknown Format message right?

From this, I can recommend to change your files to [email protected] because that all what the 500 will read.


I'm pretty sure the problem is within the file system to get such a message. Convert them in your PC then load them up and tell us what happened.

Ill-Green wrote:Ok, so what you saying is that you are loading files from a PC to a CF card and you are loading these to the 500 and getting the Unknown Format message right?

From this, I can recommend to change your files to [email protected] because that all what the 500 will read.


I'm pretty sure the problem is within the file system to get sum
h a message. Convert them in your PC then load them up and tell us what happened.

Yes all files i've been attempting to load are [email protected], even MPCtutors TEST files.

A couple other things - I noticed some of the files i place on the flash card disappear after placing the card into the unit. Also the names of the files display differently in the MPC, i.e.TEST will be displayed as TAWT

The seller has recommended that I reinstall the Operating system, he says it could be a bug. Is it likely it could be a bug?

Anything is possible, but OS problems unlikely to magically happen during the journey from seller to buyer. First try re initialising the unit. Turn off, hold down the erase button and turn on (keeping the erase button held down until the boot up message appears). Otherwise, try reinstalling the OS from scratch, but perform the re initialise procedure afterwards regardless

MPC-Tutor wrote:Anything is possible, but OS problems unlikely to magically happen during the journey from seller to buyer. First try re initialising the unit. Turn off, hold down the erase button and turn on (keeping the erase button held down until the boot up message appears). Otherwise, try reinstalling the OS from scratch, but perform the re initialise procedure afterwards regardless

I've tried re initialized the unit, no change. I've attempted to reinstall the OS from scratch and it does not install, it gives me the message "CF: bad format. OS start in 5s".

Does this seem to be a problematic unit that I should return to the seller?

Try another CF card. And yeah, if the problem remains, return the unit and tell the seller he can shove his piece of junk up his ass...

**** wrote:Try another CF card. And yeah, if the problem remains, return the unit and tell the seller he can shove his piece of junk up his ass...

I've tried multiple cards, 4 different ones, always the same result. I'm considering taking it to my local shop here in LA, Forat Electronics. Worth it or nah just return?

imapilot wrote:

**** wrote:Try another CF card. And yeah, if the problem remains, return the unit and tell the seller he can shove his piece of junk up his ass...

I've tried multiple cards, 4 different ones, always the same result. I'm considering taking it to my local shop here in LA, Forat Electronics. Worth it or nah just return?

If you've tried 4 different cards, reformatted all of them, have used files you know are compatible, reinstalled OS etc etc, then it does seem there's a hardware issue. Send it back and get one that works properly.