Just posting, as this might help someone else out with similar problems with their S900, S950 or other older Akai S-series samplers (probably other brands like Roland, E-mu, etc. too)
Was considering selling my S950 lately; so, I started it up for the first time since 2016 (about 5 years) this morning… only to find out it isn’t starting like normal nor booting up.
It was working perfectly in 2016 and before.
When hitting the power switch and trying to turn it On, the floppy drive lights up and constantly runs (very loudly) and the screen doesn’t show anything.
Videos 1 & 2.
I googled the problem and found a few threads on MPC-forums and GS (it seems relatively common). So, I will just post what I found here.
Of course, I was super worried… as, I don’t want to sell my S950 as “parts only” or “non working” and lose a lot of money.
The other option would be to have a professional repair it… and that would most likely be at least $200 to $500 or maybe even more.
Read a lot of advice on the threads I’ve found… So, I checked:
All fuses - all good.
Any burn marks on psu and fuse pcb boards, or any funky/bulgy looking components, capacitors, etc. - all good, no bulging caps nor burn marks on boards/traces.
Check underneath the fuse pcb board (unscrew & remove it first) for cracked, loose, broken solder joints - none… checked all joints with a metal pick or needle-nose pliers and all are very solid with no cracks.
Faulty floppy drive - unsure how to really check this… someone suggested unplug power cable to floppy drive; and if the unit turns on normally then the drive is bad.
Well, I unplugged the small, white power plug (it goes to the floppy drive from the fuse pcb board) and nothing turns On now. So, I’m guessing the drive isn’t the prob.
I’m thinking it might just be corrosion/dirt on the plugs’ pins, I hope.
From my past experience fixing my old music gear, brushing DeoxIT on the pins and reseating the plugs 20x in&out fixes most problems 90% of the time.
The other 10% is broken solder joints (already checked out to be good) or faulty components. (the former being much more common)
In the end, whew, I was right and got dang lucky. Plugs just needed to be lubed and reseated.
Videos 3 & 4.
If that didn’t work… my only other options were:
1. Sell as “parts only” and lose a lot of money.
2. Pay prolly $200-600 for a pro to repair it… then sell as working-condition… still losing money on repair.
What I did (after doing the aforesaid check-ups):
Brushed/lubed all the plug-pins with DeoxIt, and also all the fuse-ends (removing them first of course) on these 2 pcb boards (pics 1 & 2).
Then, re-seated plugs 20x to scratch/scuff off any corrosion.
I marked all the plugs (9 total) and fuse-ends with a green-dot for reference (pics 1 & 2).
After lubing and reseating all the plugs and fuses on the 2 pcb boards, it still didn’t turn On normally, and at this point I was getting worried, lol.
Then, I did the very last plug (pics 3 & 4) that was kinda hiding and on one of the main/big voice boards. Lubed it, reseated 20x, and then hit the power switch… it worked! Videos 3 & 4.
I guess that plug was corroded and not feeding power to the rest of the unit.
Anyways… hope this helps out.
I’ve read countless people that couldn’t fix nor power-On their S950/S900 (while the its’ floppy-drive lights up and runs), and then relegated them to Bricks.
Of course, they also might have much bigger and more complex problems too, that isn’t as simple as connections/plugs like mine. (I know connections are the first things people usually check out)
https://imgur.com/a/cf2vHzvhttps://imgur.com/a/5vwyf0nhttps://imgur.com/a/WkxmJAVhttps://imgur.com/a/oCqZiSyhttps://imgur.com/a/Tj5WwtYhttps://imgur.com/QV3GSH3https://imgur.com/wMDM1NFhttps://imgur.com/qmhYyvc