OS DATA ERROR!!

Hi,

I have just purchased my first mpc, the 2500 and saw on the website that it said update to the latest driver, which was 1.24, i downloaded it, and followed the instructions to install it, i backed up my flash card via usb, then i replaced the file mpc2500.bin with the one i had downloaded.
I then dismounted the dik image from my mac, powered off the akai, powered it back on while holding the 'window' button, and it came up saying 'mpc 2500 update - do it, so i pressed f6 to do it, then it went through flash rom erasing, then writing, gets to 100%, says 128mb ram installed and then just says 'OS DATA ERROR'.

I can't get back into my akai now, when i turn it on it just comes up witht eh update screen, and i can't mount the disk image on my mac again, it's like my mac doesn't see it.

Anyone got any ideas or help and advice on what i should do to get it going again?

Many thanks for any help,

Tom

Morning Tom

Ok, hopefully its just an error on the file you copied across, rather than a hardware issue.

first thing Id try is download the file again and repeat the process.

You could actually try going straight to JJOS (which is what many people use on their 2500s here including myself, it is a better Operating System).

If you have access to another CF card - you could try using it - although I doubt the problem is there. I have a 2500 so let us know if you still have problems with this.

Good luck.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your help, basically it was a corrupt file, so i did as you said and replaced the file with my original 1.23 file, and i'm back to normal now.

I'm still a bit confused on a couple of things though :

How do i access my internal memory? And what capacity is it?

Would i find it difficult to learn the JJ OS? because i'm getting quite used to this akai 1.23 OS (alongside learning the akai manual)

Earlier today i bought a 2gb CF card, because the one that came with it was a '128mb akai professional mpc sound library' card. So i thought i really could do with the extra space that a 2gb card would give me. This way i can load lots of my own sound banks and samples on the card, and it would give me more room to record my own samples on there and leave them on there, am i correct in doing this?

I transfered all the data from the 128mb card and put it on my new 2gb one, alongside the akai 1.23 os file, so now i just put that card in the cf slot.

I'm still a tad confused about the internal memory though, like in the guide on how to update the OS it says you should back up the internal memory, but i can't see how to get at it, it's like i can only see the CF card when i hook the mpc up to my mac via usb.

Sorry if this is all stupid newbie questions, i just really want to have a good understanding of file structures and the OS before i plough into using it properly.

Thanks for any help.

Tom

No worries Tom

Im at work at the moment so can't check it out for certain on my mpc but my understanding is this

i) Well first of all, you're quite right about the CF card. I suspect you may need even more space soon enough.
ii) Remember you can also install a hard drive in there - so you can free up some space on your CF card and the hard drive would work out as a cheaper solution (it takes the same hard drives used in laptops).
iii) Ok - now I bought my 2500 with 128mb, I think when you switch your MPC on it will confirm how much memory is installed - note this is not CF card memory - or hard disk storage, this is memory. Yours may say 128mb, if it doesn't - it may be an idea to consider getting more memory before a hard drive.
iv) Now this memory is used to load all of your samples, programs etc. Even if you have samples on a CF card - you need to load them into internal memory before you can use them. So when you press LOAD and select a sample - you are transferring it into internal memory, where you can then alter it, chop it up etc..
v) There is an option when you SAVE on the mpc that enables you to 'SAVE ENTIRE MEMORY' (this is shown on the display). This will save whatever is in your internal memory at the time. This is quite handy when you are working on a project with a lot of patterns, samples etc. and want to make sure that you don't forget to save anything before you switch the unit off. Switching the unit off clears everything in your internal memory.
vi) Thinking about it - when I hook it up to my windows box I cannot see the 'internal memory' - I can see CF cards and hard drive files, so this is expected.

Hope this helps.

Mark

Thanks Mark, that's helped loads, i have got the 128mb of ram already installed, so that will help me no doubt.

I'm mostly playing around at the moment, saving stuff loading stuff, creating sequences etc, to see exactly how things work. I just did the 'save entire memory' option, (i created a folder called 'test project' and chucked everything in there)...... i then turned the machine off, but when i loaded the test project back on using the load function, i noticed it had not saved my samples that i had recorded in from my turntable. It did however remember my sequences, but i couldn't work out why it didn't save my samples i had recorded in (there was 2 of them, about 6 seconds long each).
I noticed that the 2 samples ARE in the test folder (i had a look when i hooked it up to my mac), but for some reason when i loaded the folder on the mpc it didn't put the samples on the pads i had assigned them to........baffling.
Still, i love learning and mastering something and this is what it's all about when you first get some great kit like this, i just want to master it and learn it inside out.

Am seriously thinking of installing the free JJ OS later this evening.

Ohhh, i just tried something - i loaded the test project folder again, but this time at the option where it says 'replace same files in memory - i chose 'yes' this time and now my 2 recorded samples i made are on the pads i assigned them to in the program i put them in!

Yayyyy

I want to get all this kind of trial and error stuff out the way before i do any proper work with my mpc, incase i come up with something great, turn the machine off and find it's gone haha.

great stuff.

Keep at it mate -

and I suspect if you were unlucky enough to lose a good project by not saving everything - well you would not be the first !

M

Thanks will do!