mpc 60 mk2 screen

I got back my mpc 60 mk2, after having a sketchy mpc 3000, and now have issues with the 60!

Besides some hum from the inverter the 60 and her screen was working fine, person who had it I don't think used it all, though it was transported around. Turned it on, backlight is non exsistent. Ok, no big deal, I figure the inverter power has come loose during transit.

So I opened it up, reseated all the cables. Turned it on, backlight still dead and now the screens blank as well. F****.

I've reseated and checked all the connections. No luck. Why would the screen just die like that? Other than knocking a cable out. Any ideas how to proceed?
Quite sad now.

Ok, I twisted the power cable from the inverter into all different configurations and eventually the backlight came back on. Then I picked up the mpc and the when I put it down the text on the screen faded back in, and is now working too.

No idea whats going. The power cable has tape around it near the connector, but the two wires seem to make proper connection. Here's a pic:

Maybe the connection at the screen end is suspect? I don't get why both would come back on at the same time like that. Does the cable running from the inverter to the screen area power both the backlight and screen itself? The black cable running from the board at the screen is seated fine at both ends so what else is there to check?

It seems like since it worked when you twisted it that you might have a cold solder joint on the inverter board - that's what happened to me. Also that power cable does look a bit iffy

any updates?

Yes! When I opened it to check the inverter cable I disconnected one of the wires for the contrast knob - i.e no contrast the screen appears dead. So resoldered that and fixed the screen. I can't figure out what going with the inverter connections, and will probably try re soldering everything - the wire doesn't look stock, I assume the screen or inverter were swapped out at some point - I might replace the inverter so I was possibly going to wait and do that. (Although I've read through the threads and still haven't decided if it's worth doing.)

I have to put in a new pad sensor so I'll most likely snap a few wires and cause problems will I'm doing that too and I can do that at the same time too.

The black tape wrapped around your inverter indicates that it is probably close to death. The tape is used to reduce the vibrations and whining noise put out by a clapped out invertor.

You could replace the invertor with one from an S-series rack sampler (shown below), or go for one of the newer USB type joints. If using a 3rd party replacement pay attention to the input and outout voltages, get them as close to the original as possible.




Above from left to right: S3000XL, S1100 and MPC60 inverter. All work in the MPC60.