Dead group of buttons.

Turned my 2k5 on yesterday and after a bit of playing noticed a few of the buttons have suddenly stopped working. Namely Erase, Note Repeat, and After for QLink 1 & 2. After for QLink 3 & 4 still work as do the QLinks themselves. LEDs for QLink 1 & 2 also appear to be dead (do not turn on when you activate the QLink on Main page whereas those for 3 & 4 do.)

I have had it apart and checked connections between QLink board and main control board, and between the main controll board and the CPU board and all seems good. I have downgraded to JJOS Free and back to XL and it persists in both.

Yet to actually check continuity from the switches through to CPU and IC20 (or at least the ribbon cable) or dry joints on the IC pins, which I will probably take it to work tomorrow and do it there.

Was wondering if anybody had a similar thing happen?


Starting to feel the MPC is more trouble than it's worth...

do they work if you apply more pressure or are the completely dead?

sounds like u know what ur doing...dont get frustrated with it..maybe its even in the os,,try to reinstall the os and see what happens...just tryin to help.

Seem to be completely dead and the switches are still clicking nicely so don't think it's the switches themselves (although again not got a multi-meter on it yet.)

Can you check for me that I'm right in thinking the LEDs should come on all the After (why is it called After?) buttons? Can't really break an LED while a unit isn't powered in. I have been tsaking it to work and back in a rucksack but don't think I've physically damaged it by doing so.

As mentioned already tried going back to Free OS and reinstalling XL and the faults persisted.

I had a problem with the main outs on my 2500. They just wouldn't output any sound. As it turned out, one of the boards was damaged from the MPC being moved. It was FAR from abused... however, it did receive a soft but sharp tap on one of the knobs. This resulted in a breakage in at least one of the traces on one of the PCBs. I changed out the board, and she's good as new. I would probably have tried to repair the trace, but I couldn't find it, and I don't have a multi-meter to test with.

I say this to say that, even if you're being very careful when moving the unit, the possibility of damaging one of the internals by moving the unit is very real. The boards inside the 2500 are very fragile, and I assume the 1000's internals are as well.

Without being able to check her out, and taking into account that you've checked for loose connections and softare issues, a cracked board or broken solder joint would be my first guesses. But then, I tend to assume the worst.

I'd like to know that the results of your testing reveal.

-Rook

My F4-F6 buttons are dead and also the jog wheel. All went at the same time with no abuse or movement. I can't reinstall the O.S. because the F6 (do it ) button. I switched from the MV because the tap tempo button smashed in and was pricey to fix. They don't make these machines like they used to.. my 1993 ASR 10 workes perfectly with no trips to service. IF there were an earthquake I would run under that machine?

J Tipsy wrote:They don't make these machines like they used to..

Yeah, no kidding...

I came back to the MPC after doing everything on the PC for a few years. Before that, I had a 2KXL... My boy had the 3K. The XL and 3K were built so much better than these new MPCs.

But hell, the 2500 with JJ on it is too damn good to pass up.

-Rook

kazakore wrote:Seem to be completely dead and the switches are still clicking nicely so don't think it's the switches themselves (although again not got a multi-meter on it yet.)

Can you check for me that I'm right in thinking the LEDs should come on all the After (why is it called After?) buttons? Can't really break an LED while a unit isn't powered in. I have been tsaking it to work and back in a rucksack but don't think I've physically damaged it by doing so.

As mentioned already tried going back to Free OS and reinstalling XL and the faults persisted.

yes if i press my after buttons they light up automaticaly...they are called after buttonsd because AFTER you record...if the button is on it will record whatever you set it to,,,if it is off,,it will not record the new sound but let you set it instead..hope that made sense..lol

rook might be right in you needing a whole new board unless you can track your problem..let us know!!

Rook wrote:I had a problem with the main outs on my 2500. They just wouldn't output any sound. As it turned out, one of the boards was damaged from the MPC being moved. It was FAR from abused... however, it did receive a soft but sharp tap on one of the knobs. This resulted in a breakage in at least one of the traces on one of the PCBs. I changed out the board, and she's good as new. I would probably have tried to repair the trace, but I couldn't find it, and I don't have a multi-meter to test with.

I say this to say that, even if you're being very careful when moving the unit, the possibility of damaging one of the internals by moving the unit is very real. The boards inside the 2500 are very fragile, and I assume the 1000's internals are as well.

Without being able to check her out, and taking into account that you've checked for loose connections and softare issues, a cracked board or broken solder joint would be my first guesses. But then, I tend to assume the worst.

I'd like to know that the results of your testing reveal.

-Rook

That's pretty much what I'm currently assuming (and hoping.) First thing I thought when I opened the machine and starting examining things was how cheap the board fabrication and other components look.

I have a multi-meter here but no decent linking wire and only a cheap soldering iron rather than a proper station so think I'll take it into work again. There's 5 traces to check (buttons on the MPC seem to work with an x-y grid, much like a membrane keyboard) and it seems at least two of them have gone (going by the schematic in the service manual.) Fingers crossed it will be an easy fix.


Out of interest is there anybody offering servicing and parts in the UK or anywhere else in Europe? Something that should be quite easy to do... In fact I managed to help somebody locate a replacement switch for his machine for about 50p before I even had my unit to make sure it was going to be the right one. MPC-Stuff charge $5 for the buggers. Should teach myself to spray too. Already have an air compressor spray kit but I actually got it to use as a normal compressor for cleaning out machine...

J Tipsy wrote:I came back to the MPC after doing everything on the PC for a few years. Before that, I had a 2KXL... My boy had the 3K. The XL and 3K were built so much better than these new MPCs.

It's too bad they sold out to Numark, anything Numark makes is bound to contain cheap easily breakable parts...

Well opened it up again today and could instantly see a hairline crack on the PCB through all 5 tracks that go to the lower part of the PCB right next to the QLink4 knob and connection.

Solder over the cracks and tested OK but even a tiny bit of flex and it cracks through again. Tried repairing the cracks with AWG30 wire but it still wouldn't survive being flexed. In the end I had to do what I wanted to avoid and run wires in place of the tracks from the connector to the next component connection. Not as tidy as I would of liked but at least it should make it withstand a bit of rough handling better and I'm not going to stop chucking it in my rucksack so it needs to be able to withstand at least a bit of bashing.



Forgot to take pictures of the jog wheel pot again, sorry sonseelye. It is definitely an Alps one though as I saw it's printed on the top of it. Also meant to check if the two caps are wired to different pins (as I would expect) or in parallel (as in the schematic in the service manual.) Still don't feel completely clear on if it was the feel or the operation you really don't like though...

im pretty content with my jog,,but if i could get it to feel and operate like that of the xl,,i would do that...i myself dont like the rusty feel it has....other than that,,,when i hear people say it dont scroll right,,ive come to notice,,the scroling has a lot to do with how ur folders are made,how many samples are in those folders,,,,and it also depends on if ur flipping through samples,or folders,,and if they are opened or closed.....

say i turn the jog and the next folder has a sh1tload of files in it,,,it might take a few seconds to scroll..i'll turn the jog and it wont do anything,,but if i stare at it for 2 or 3 seconds it will then scroll to next folder,,,so basically its in the os i believe,not the jog,,,,,but like i said,,if i could get the wheel to be s smooth as the xl,i would love it...

SO you don't like the clicks? Would prefer a smooth encoder rather than a 24 position indented one? Wouldn't of thought that would be too hard to find...

I think I quite like it with the clicks, would like it to just feel more sturdy. For stepping forwards in Grid edit and selecting tracks in combination with Mode button I don't think I would want it smooth. From my previous experiments it does loose clicks if you rotate really fast but not so bad to make it unusable in my experience so far.