Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
By ruzina Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:15 pm
bizon wrote:Hey tuzina. Don't be disappointed. Don't expect this forum will solve all your problems. I used to have problems with my 4000 as well. Luckily I have found guy how could fix that for me and it cost me a bit of money too.

Here is the link how to remove FX card:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1cId_bHUFM

Make a video with all your 4000 issues. Sometimes it's better to see the issue rather than reading about it.
Peace



hey bizon and everybody else!

thank you for your help so far.
I've read about how difficult can be to remove the EFX card, so initially I was bit scared. I saw the youtube video you are mentioning a week ago and it was not completely clear to me what exactly he removed before video started. I searched for a help from a professional electronic person. He did it for me in a less than 20 min. I was amazed.
Yes, MPC is now booting completely normal, it finds all disks including USB thumb drive and CDrom, and it samples from the inputs which was all malfunctioning before EFX card removal.

SO thats great!

However, I still have no sound coming out from the LR mains (nor XLR nor TS). I have sound coming out from Mutec 8 analogue out ( all 8 ) and I have sound coming out of Headphones.

On the Headphone out there is constant buzz that is annoying (it is not too loud) and does not have relation with how much HP volume pot is opened.

Please, any suggestions what to do further?
Also, I can not find online info if Mutec 8 analogue outs are balanced TRS or TS.

THX

ruzina
Last edited by ruzina on Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
By ruzina Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:16 pm
CharlesRandolph wrote:It's hard to trouble shoot a machine, when you don't have machine in front you. As for the response, @Bizon has it under control. It's easier to figure it out, when you don't have 400 chefs in the kitchen.


THX, I understand. And agree!

cheers,

Ruzina
By ruzina Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:24 pm
NearTao wrote:Did removing the FX card help? This is a very common problem with the Z4/Z8/4000 line and is very well documented as an issue all over the net including linked posts above.


hi NearTao!

Yes, as you can see at my reply to bizon, it did help and it solved all booting problems, including not finding disks and such.
However, still there is no sound coming out from main LR.

With respect to this problem is well documented on the interntes:
I really looked all over the forum, reseated RAM, disconnected HD and CDROM, changed the battery. I did not manage to find a post that explicitly, surely and securely stated with confidence that not booting in very high percentage of cases means faulty EFX card. I really did not find that. I stumbled across some posts mentioning it. Even bizon wrote a reply that I should try that and then i replied with a question if that was a guess or a known fact :) At the end that what it was, but I really was not under impression that was for sure an answer for my trouble.
That said, I am really thankful for every hint on how to solve this. I was not ignorant or lazy!

Once when I solve this I will write on post about all findings and when I get new EFX card and take machine apart will try to make decent video about it all.
Will let you know, all of you, of course.

Cheers,

Ruzina
Last edited by ruzina on Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
By ruzina Tue Mar 10, 2020 10:56 pm
bizon wrote:Nice to hear about partly success, however I don't know what can cause noise coming from outs. Good luck mate.


it seems it is coming from HD spinning... I need yet to confirm this.
It seems somewhere on the internets was a post about changing HD to SSD to remedy this, but I can not trace it.
By ruzina Tue Apr 07, 2020 10:36 pm
bizon wrote:Nice to hear about partly success, however I don't know what can cause noise coming from outs. Good luck mate.



hi bizon and everybody!

so i finally had time to open it (again!) and look for the noise problem @ headphone out.
someone suggested me to move the internal cable of HP around and find a spot where there is no interference and tape it there. that makes sense, but there is no single cable arriving at the USB HP board, there are rather 2 chunks of cables and i wasnt sure which chunk would make difference. so i moved both chunks around which resulted in no difference whatsoever. then, because of some other hint, i disconnected HD to see if HD spinning would remedy this. and there was no luck as well. so i am still stucked with same problems.
01. MPC was not booting normally at all so after all this hassle it was confirmed that FX card is making trouble
02. as FX card is removed all is ok at that end, but i need to order new card
03. no sound coming from main out at all even though there is sound coming from HP out and individual outputs, probably i need to buy that card as well
04. noise from HP out

so, thats it.
i managed to record the buzz from HP out as well as took some photos. if anyone is curious and care to listen to it, maybe some idea what is causing the buzz appears? oh, and yes, sound is quiet as on the first half, but on a second part of a recording i gained it up.

THX

link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RlyE9 ... a8nE2srYuG
User avatar
By Sense-A Sun Apr 12, 2020 2:04 pm
It sounds like you have already performed quite a bit of testing, which is good.

I would worry less about your effects, and more about just getting your MPC 4000 to reliably boot. I do agree with removing all unnecessary parts, including the FX card. What is the bare minimum you need for the mpc 4000 to just reliably boot? Remove all expansion cards, cd roms, add ons, usb plugs, usb devices, etc.

If wiggling your usb card around intermittently fixes the problem, then you should focus there. Did a USB cord ever get ripped out? Is is possibly the circuit board was damaged around the usb plug? Perhaps there was a power surge at that usb port?

Clear off the dining room table and tell the wife you're eating on tv trays the rest of the week.

Take the MPC 4000 apart and analyze around that particular USB port carefully. Get one can of electrical contact cleaner and one can of compressed air to blow out cobwebs. That will cost you about $15-$20. It's the price of the game. Get a magnetic tip Phillips size screwdriver too, and tupperware or a magnet to keep your screws nearby and from rolling around.

Take pictures before and while disassembling. If you need to order a part, it could a long time before you get it back together. You won't remember everything. Pictures help a lot. And it helps the forum community here help you by seeing what you're seeing.

Use the compressed air first, to get rid of all the dust. Clean out that usb port. clean out inside and around it. Then use the electrical contact cleaner. Inside the usb port there are copper connections that get corroded, scratched, or dirty over time.

Look around the usb connection on the circuit board. Does anything look odd? Discoloration? corrosion? Bulged capacitors? Any crack in the board? If wiggling the USB cord gets the MPC 4000 to boot sometimes, then maybe the usb port itself has a loose connection to the circuit board?

Try to fix the EASY stuff first. Easy thing would be to not use usb and see if it boots. Try a different usb cord that you KNOW works with other devices.

A fun story about fixing the EASY stuff first. One time my shower head stopped working almost completely. Almost no water. So instead of detaching the shower head or just replacing the shower head, I automatically assume it must be a complicated defect, such as the diverter valve behind the wall. So I get tools, parts, plumbing wrenches, valves, bushings, washers, and spend $100 in parts and tools to replace the diverter valve and all washers. Turns out that didn't fix it. I spent all weekend and $100 in parts fixing something that was not even the problem. The problem was some chunks of plastic inside the shower head preventing almost any water from getting through the very small ports the water is forced through. 5 minutes of detaching the shower head and cleaning it with some kitchen white vinegar could have saved me all weekend of my time and $100 in parts and cuss words. Why? Because I assumed the problem was something worse than it really was and didn't check off the easiest/cheapest possible things that could be wrong first.

When it comes to mechanics or fixing just about anything else, usually the diagnoses is more difficult than the repair, in my experience anyways.
By ruzina Fri Apr 24, 2020 3:40 pm
Sense-A wrote:What is the bare minimum you need for the mpc 4000 to just reliably boot? Remove all expansion cards, cd roms, add ons, usb plugs, usb devices, etc.




thx, but if you read my posting, you ll notice i already removed fx card and unit is booting as it should. But i think i have additional problem with ADDA card as there is no output from main outs, where there IS outut on all individual channels as well as on headphones.
User avatar
By Sense-A Thu Jun 11, 2020 6:22 pm
ruzina wrote:
Sense-A wrote:What is the bare minimum you need for the mpc 4000 to just reliably boot? Remove all expansion cards, cd roms, add ons, usb plugs, usb devices, etc.




thx, but if you read my posting, you ll notice i already removed fx card and unit is booting as it should. But i think i have additional problem with ADDA card as there is no output from main outs, where there IS outut on all individual channels as well as on headphones.



Forgive me if I am asking a question already answered.

Are you getting analog output signals from anywhere? Headphone output? analog expansion card outputs?

Or are you only getting digital outputs?
By dryad-66 Sat Aug 01, 2020 1:38 pm
He said hes getting signal from hip out.BTW FX boards do go wrong but also they might just need cleaning and reseating.Possible.Also thelower boards clip together and they also could need cleaning and reseating together.Just worked on mine after i nearly gave up.Its worth spending some time down there and getting to know it through trial and error.