Help!! 2500 Randomly powering down

My 2500 has started randomly powering itself off & restarting.
The screen will flicker, the contrast will go lighter & darker & then the unit will restart....
Sometimes it will be fine & other times it will do this a few times in a row.

I have checked all connectors inside, re-seated the ram & made sure everything is clean.
I'm thinking something inside might be on its way out.
Any ideas what to check first?

Any & all help will be appreciated,
Thanks fam

sjeit i have the same problem! I first try't smaller CF cards....but stillllll.......like there's a ghost inside or something....(You make beats....get a coffee....come back....en re-boots itself/)

I already posted a topic too but no reactions.....

Just recently encountered this issue. Recently bought ah 2500 from mpcstuff for 1400$ end of 2022, and this issue only started after using mpcstuff’s 2 gb card that came included with the unit. As soon as I used a different smaller compact flash card the random turning off, and on suddenly stopped, and have been using it for 2 hours straight with no more issues. When it did reset constantly it was pretty consistent, and it even started causing issues with screen causing yellow lines, and boxes! For 1400$ this is BS. Mpcstuff aren’t much help as they only want to offer repairs. I tried using different power cable, different outlet, reseated ram/cleaned contacts, nothing worked. Only when I used a different CF card did the problems go away, and right now it seems to be working perfectly again. Time will tell, and will post back to see if the CF card was the issue!

The only other thing I can think of to do is to open up the unit, and look at the fuse that sits in the Power switch assembly to see if it’s bad or maybe a bad capacitor has developed or maybe a loose connection on on the internal power board is my next guess.

Removed the Ram completely and I’m still having the same issue! Going to try, and Install the original operating system as it has free JJOS on it. I seen people mention to try, and reinstall the operating system as this might be a cure, but someone has also posted back saying it still does the restarting BS after doing so…Not sure what to do as I pretty much bought a 1400$ lemon. If it’s the mother board going out then there is really no point in trying to fix it as these parts aren’t even available, and new main biard is like 500$ Mpcstuff.com is a joke. They sold me a lemon! This restarting BS makes the sampler pretty much unusable. I’m now looking to sell this thing for parts, and will never be buying from mpcstuff ever again! They do have a 90 day return policy but of course this issue starting occurring 6 months after purchase. This is what we call a lemon purchase

Jay - I read the problems you are having and wondered if you've got a hard drive installed in that unit?

It doesn't make sense that the type of CF card that you're using would be the culprit for reboots, they don't draw anywhere near the power required to do that.

Let us know if you have a hard drive installed? If you do, remove it and try starting up the 1000.

Lastly, start up the 1000 without a CF card inserted and load the built in saved sequence (I think it's DJ Rubs or some sh_t) and see if the power still cuts out on you.

The purpose of why I'm asking you to check this is to determine how the 1000 functions without anything else installed. You can also remove the SDRAM from it and run it with the onboard memory as well to see if you still have the same problems.

JJ OS free would not be the cause of your issues either but if you want to reflash it, that could help resolve any potential (but uncommon) corruption on the onboard flash.

Good luck man

DJ Instramental Jay wrote:Just recently encountered this issue. Recently bought ah 2500 from mpcstuff for 1400$ end of 2022, and this issue only started after using mpcstuff’s 2 gb card that came included with the unit. As soon as I used a different smaller compact flash card the random turning off, and on suddenly stopped, and have been using it for 2 hours straight with no more issues. When it did reset constantly it was pretty consistent, and it even started causing issues with screen causing yellow lines, and boxes! For 1400$ this is BS. Mpcstuff aren’t much help as they only want to offer repairs. I tried using different power cable, different outlet, reseated ram/cleaned contacts, nothing worked. Only when I used a different CF card did the problems go away, and right now it seems to be working perfectly again. Time will tell, and will post back to see if the CF card was the issue!

The only other thing I can think of to do is to open up the unit, and look at the fuse that sits in the Power switch assembly to see if it’s bad or maybe a bad capacitor has developed or maybe a loose connection on on the internal power board is my next guess.

Did you ever get this working?

It’s a 2500 not a 1000. It doesn’t have a hard drive. I tried everything! Reseated/cleaned/completely removed the 128mb ram, and it still restarts by itself. I have tried a different power cable, diff outlet, even removed free JJOS that was previously installed in the unit, and I’ve noticed that doing this had an effect on the way it would boot up. With free JJOS on boot up the screen is really dim. With the Original OS installed the screen doesn’t dim upon starting up the unit! Could be a sign that this is a motherboard issue? Another thing that is weird is when it does do this automatic restart problem; there are lines in the screen, and boxes! Sometimes it wont restart properly, and it will hang on the boot up screen constantly till you physically turn it off. I was told that this could be a bad capacitor or series of bad capacitors on the powerswitch assembly board or worse the motherboard! Have only had this refurbished 2500 for a few months, and it only started doing this, and was never like this when I first started using it…It has progressively gotten worse which makes me believe a part inside the unit is on its way out? What I’ve noticed is that it will restart by itself just having it on doing nothing, or it will for sure restart once you get the sequencer going, and have it playing for a few mins. Another thing, is when it is about to restart you can hear the audio start to become glitchy, and then a weird zapping out noise occurs, then restarts. I haven’t tried running the unit without the CF card, but I assume it will still do the same thing. Everything works just fine when the unit is on…very strange! I’ve opened up the unit to look at the power board, and from what I can tell there doesn’t look to be any blown/expanded capacitors or loose connections anywhere! If it is a motherboard issue I may be out of luck. There are no replacements for the mainboard on these 2500’s anywhere online. Also trying to fix this motherboard I was told from mpcstuff.com, and others that the mainboards may not lend to repairs so well. I have read everywhere on this forum about restarting issues, and no one seems to have a definitive answer to what could be causing this issue. There was a guy on here with an mpc 5000 years ago brand new out of the box from akai that had the same issue, and was just sent a replacement lol. I’m out of ideas to what is causing this. Most likely it is a motherboard issue because mpcstuff.com have told me they think it is the motherboard. So they have obviously tried repairing the motherboard, and have failed either by bad workmanship or the board is just bad, and is going out for real. Mpcstuff is shady, and don’t trust them to do any repairs. They offered me 400$ to trade this back in when I just spent 1400$ on it a few months ago
I have a feeling they are trying to rip me off again in saying it’s the motherboard going out so they can get it back, to fix it for real this time, and sell it to another unsuspecting customer making more money off them.

The only other part that I can think of that is causing this restarting issue inside the unit is the power-switch board! Maybe a bad fuse or bad capacitors on this part would cause it to do this. Luckily there seems to be replacements for this part online, but want to exhaust all other possibilities before I try, and replace this part. I may have to send it in to FORAT for diagnosis/repairs. I don’t trust mpcstuff.com anymore!

The 2.5k and 1.k are nearly identical devices. Advice for one typically applies to the other.

If something started acting up since swapping CF cards, I'd check to make sure you don't have any bent pins. I find it unlikely that it'd work with a bent pin, but something might have caused a short.

Checked the pins inside the CF slot. No bent pins or any missing. Have tried now running the unit without the CF card, and it still restarts by itself after being on anywhere from 5-25 mins of being on…

What I have noticed now is the record inputs have developed a “crackle” when sampling into the device or by just having the input thru signal on with an external device connected.. Wasn’t like this before…I can hear this crackling noise coming from the headphone jack as well…This crackling noise does go away when restarting the unit. Also when the record inputs are being used; while spinning or slightly moving around the connection you can hear this crackling noise become evident. If the record inputs are crackling when the connection is fully seated then I would assume it has something to do with the motherboard as this is where these inputs are connected to. It has to be a part inside the unit that’s going bad. Now when it does restart you can hear the crackling noise. It just zaps out then re-boots.