100% Pad Failure

sup peeps, i have a major problem -> 100% pad failure

the pads died a slow death going away one by one over 3 years... i understand it's rare to have total pad failure so i'm consulting here if anyone has had this happen before. obviously i've checked if the ribbon controller is well inserted, it is.. other than that there is some black oxidizing but i was told that wasn't unusual.. could this be a pcb board problem?

just thought i'd check before ordering a new sensor that might be useless in my case..

here is what it looks like:

noticed no responded...i don't havean answer but when my pads started dying I did what you did which was make sure it was seated properly. Mine started working again and I never had a problem since. If all else fails order a new sensor I wish I had an answer for you...good luck

Try rubbing an pencil eraser on the end of the ribbon cable where to contacts are exposed. (Don't rub too long of you will have no contacts left. a few swipes back and forth is enough)
Then clean the contacts with tissue to get the left over bits of eraser gunk off.
This fixed the LCD issues on my MPC4K, just don't get any of the eraser debris into the machine

thanks i'll give that a try!

It I wise to start with the simple things

If contact cleaning is not the answer (usually isn't)

Follow the pcb path after the sensors ribbon, look for dry/broken solder points or blown pcb components.

Although total sensor failure is rare, the fact they have died one by one could just be an indication that they have been hammered a little too much!

An error elseware would normaly result in an instant death of your pads.
This steady rate of death seems most likely to be the sensors themselves.

If and When you are satisfied that it is the sensors that are dead, you can always try the cutting trick... It has saved a few people some cash in the past

Regarding the cutting trick....

Look at the sensors themselves.

You will notice hollow channels between the sensors themselves, these help air flow within the sensors (allowing lift after press contact)

As a nothing to loose rule; you can cut a small section out of each air strip. This will sometimes be enough to re inflate the sensor space.

If they have been getting worse over the last 3 years new sensor pads would have been my first move..................................................2 3/4 years ago.

Seriously though it does sound like you need a new sheet of sensors.

ok let me better explain, i bought the mp second hand in 2002 for a ridiculously cheap amount, obviously though it had been banged up, possibly dropped as the back casing has some serious dents. a year later a pad went dead, then 2, then 3, 4,5... at the time there was no mpcstuff.com and getting it repaired in my country was mad expensive. i put the mp in storage and bought a new one (which i later sold). fast forward to 2012, i decided to revive the XL and perhaps thanks to you guys get it up and running again, but before i order anything (i'd also like to upgrade a MCD drive) i wanna make sure the thing is fixable..

again about the pad failure, at best i can remember, they died slowly until maybe 3 or 4 were left. after 6/7 years of storage failure is now 100% ... could the remaining pads have died on their own? if not maybe there is a blown component but if thats the case i'm not sure i have the technical knowledge to investigate it further..

i will try the pencil eraser trick as well as the cutting trick, btw is there a yt video or tutorial about the cutting trick, i'm not sure where exactly and how big i need to cut the sensor???

If the advice given doesn't get you anywhere, you could always get in touch with mpcstuff and ask them if they think it's a sensor prob, and if they could give a refund if they don't do the trick for you.

Otherwise try bringing the machine to a local tech, a good tech does not need music gear experience to fix music gear! You could give him the service manual PDF to save him time.

If he quotes you too high a price, just sell it as non working on ebay, use the cash to get another.

thanks i've already been in touch with mike @ mpcstuff, he said it looks like the sensor may be kaput but there is really no way for him to tell 100%

there a several akai music techs in my city but they all charge substantial fees, i could probably get a working 2K XL second hand cheaper than what they charge.

as you can see i've already looked into all my options, which is why my final resort is to try and fix it myself. i'll keep you guys posted..

There is a yt vid but that's for cutting the edges of the sensor, the strips are a safer bet, one 3/3mm square in each line about just to remove a small square secton from each channel.

If more pads died in storage something else could be going on!

hey man i've re-read your instructions 10 times but i still don't get what part needs to be cut out

is it the edge of the sensor i need to cut a line into to ventilate it?
or do i need to cut out a square inside the black square

philip morris wrote:hey man i've re-read your instructions 10 times but i still don't get what part needs to be cut out

is it the edge of the sensor i need to cut a line into to ventilate it?
or do i need to cut out a square inside the black square

Between the sensors there are clear lines

[ ] [ ]
| | <---- cut a small square in that bit
[ ] [ ]

The lines to cut out are clear and run vertically between the pad sensors

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I can't work out how to put photos on here

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