Broken MPC 2500

Hello everybody,

Today, something bad happend to me... my MPC broke It stand on the floor against a wall in a bag. Just for a few seconds because i was about to go, and put my shoes on. Then it fell, right on the front. So it fell not from a high distance, it was just leaning against the wall. I know, this was realy realy stupid, and i could slap myself because of this On the outside nothing is broken. Everything looks fine. But i think the system has taken bad damage... After the "mpc 2500" boot screen, it looks like the brightness is way too high (before, everything looks fine), it´s almost white (the screen is a blue one). The buttons F4; F5 and F6, the jog wheel and the padbank buttons no longer respond... everything else is fine. I can hit pads, and there comes sound, i can go in all screens, as long i don´t have to trigger the above buttons. i can record and so on. I opened the mpc, and all looks fine to me, but when i opened it, there were 2 little black plastik things that fell out. They look a little bit like jumper, these little things you find on motherboards. But i have no clue from where they are... And another thing is, when i start the mpc, it loads automatically all factory sounds from the internal harddrive. Before, that didn´t happened.
I´m a realy desperate now, i think you can understand me I don´t know if someone can make a "analysis" from what i wrote, but do you think this is easy to repair, or should i forget it
I would like to erase the OS (JJ OS) and formate the internal hdd. Maybe this helps, but withouth the 3 F Buttons, that don´t work... Is there another way, to make this? "Factory Reset" (erase and start up) does not work.
I hope someone can help me, give me some advise.
Thanks in advance

Greetings
Elias

PS: Sorry for my realy bad english. I´m from belgium

Ouch!

Can't be of much help, really... but did you try if any of the non-working switches respond with the casing off and the plastic button removed? What happens if you try pushing the tact switch directly? There's a slight possibility that it is just the plastic buttons (and not the switches) that have broken. In that case you'd only need new buttons, that's a quick DIY fix. No idea about the data wheel.

The two tiny plastic things are spacers off Q1 and Q2 slider shafts. Just take off the slider knobs to put the spacers back. First time I opened my 2500 I almost lost those.

I would definitely try to get it fixed. Good luck!

Ah, thanks so much for the response. I realy get crazy without my baby here I can need any advice you have!
Yeah, i opened the whole mpc directly after the accident, disconnected and reconnected some cables, and also looked onto the plastic buttons, no problem there... Could be possible that i have to replace the tact switches. But on the other side, who knows, maybe it is something wrong with the main platin... Man, this drives me crazy. i want to make beats again

And thanks for the info on those two plastic things! now i know that the faulty things have nothing to do with these ones

Any other advices?

Greetings
Elias

Maybe you have a loose connector somewhere? I would make sure everything is seated firmly. But it is definitely worth fixing.

Hmm, I think I checked everything. Anything looks good inside. The bad thing is, i don´t have a clue where the faulty part is... I could maybe buy the 2 boards (from mpcstuff.com or something) where the buttons are, that don´t function, but than, on the otherside, maybe, it is the main board which is faulty... And than i would lost 100 dollars. Or the other way, i buy a new main board, which is damn expensive, and then it could be, that the 2 other boards are faulty... Hmm, i just hope the guy from which i bought it, has still the bill for waranty. Just waitin for his answer.
Thanks for the advice krush

Greetings
Elias

I wouldn't go change the boards like that. I'd take it to a professional repairer - if you can't do the troubleshooting yourself, take it to somebody who can! It's certainly going to be cheaper than just blindly switching whole circuit boards. Did you know that if you switch your main board, you'll lose the JJ OS password...

So, the warranty option might be best. Worst case, you get a completely new machine (but lose the JJ OS).
If there's no warranty, the next best option would be professional synth (or audio/video/electronics) repairer. It won't hurt if you google the MPC2500 Service Manual PDF, print it out and give it to the repairer.

I would try to determine where the two loose pieces belong and replace that board...ex...go to mpc stuff look up the main board and all the others and see if you can spot anything resmebling pieces that fell out

Hey

@konc3pt: Jungleman already told me whre the two pieces belong. They are from the 2 sliders... I don´t believe that there is anything missing, cause it was in a bag, and i looked in there. And in the MPC itself was nothing loose. So i think, the internal drive has some issues. And maybe the contact from the faulty buttons is not there, so maybe it must just be solded new.
But thanks anyway for the tip.
I mailed a german synthi repair shop, now i wait for a estimated price.

Greetings
Elias

So no warranty, then? Bad luck.

A contact issue, probably, but I can't see how the internal hard drive might cause the trouble. You might try removing the hard drive and see if that solves the problem - I don't think it will.

I hope you don't mind me asking again, but are you absolutely sure the tact switches don't react at all? Did you remove the plastic buttons and try pushing the tact switches underneath when you had the casing off? Try it, if you didn't. Then, take a very close look at the removed buttons (F4-6, Pad Banks). It might not be obvious, but the thin plastic legs the buttons stand on can be damaged but here's the catch: they don't necessarily look broken until you try moving them. Then they may snap right off or just bend a little, so that when you push the button, it won't activate the tact switch. I've seen that happen to the switches of an older MPC1000.

I would find it really strange if the soldered switch contacts were broken but the plastic buttons were ok.

In any case, keep us informed!

Hey,
Concerning the waranty, i still got no answer from the guy who sold the mpc to me. I just wanted to know now, how much i probably gonna need to pay, if i have to ship it to a repair service...

I already removed the hard drive. So did i with the memory and the DVD drive... With all these out, the problem still occurs.
Yeah, I pushed the tact switches. No reaction... But I will take another closer look at them, maybe your right, and they are loose or something...
But I still believe, that it has something to do with the board... maybe some of the conduction are broken or something.

Thanks for your help! I will keep you informed. : )

Greetings

I can feel my heart sinking in empathy.

If it happened to me like you describe I'd try unplugging & replugging all the cable connectors I could find.

On the Right Hand Side Board there's a Flat Flexible Cable connector at the bottom that looks like its directly wired into the board. To release it there's two plastic tabs at the side that you just pull down. Reseat the flat cable and push the tabs back. I expect the Pad Sensor has the same thing some where.

You may have to unplug the other cables gently by using a very small screwdriver in between the connectors. Give it a slow turn & they should come apart.

The reason I'd do all this is because the MPC has had a mechanical shock, therefore the fault is more likely to have a mechanical/physical rather than electronic source. That's just my theory, but it is based on several years of experience with other stuff. Though, the soldering on the jog wheel could have cracked because it is a little more prominent.

Good Luck Elias

PS Waloon or Vlanderen ? Limburger ?

Hey LZ Roberts,

Yeah, that was the first thing i did too. I unplugged and replugged a few cable connectors. But not all of them, so maybe i´ll try this. I´m going to search this "Flat Flexible Cable" you wrote about. I so hope, that this will fix it
I will report back if i checked everything.
Thanks so much for your help!

Greetings

PS: The Region i´m living in, belongs to waloon. But It´s a little region, where we mostly speak german, and as second language french. The little village i´m living in is called Kelmis. =) Why you ask? Are you from Belgium?

Hi Elias

I'm sorry that its not looking too good for you at the moment. The flat flexible cable is the plastic strip with conductors on it at the bottom of the Right Hand Side board. This is the connector that sends data to the CPU board from the buttons & was thinking if one of those conductors is not seated properly then that would take out several random buttons related to that board and the 'F' buttons. It maybe an idea to look at that cable too, to see if there is a split.

I'm really hoping for you that it's something like that. After that then I don't think I'd know what it could be. If it was me I'd then probably take the boards off & look for small particles that could be shorting stuff out, but that would be from shear futility. ...I wonder if you disconnected the 'F' buttons & even the Q-links from the RHS board, then if the fault is in one of those then the main board buttons would start to work again.

I do hope it comes back to life soon.

I was in Gent for a while a few years back, when you said you were from Belgium I came over all nostalgic.
Just saw Kelmis on google maps - you could go on a 5km walk & pass through 3 different countries - cool!

Hey LZ Roberts,

I found out the problem yesterday, after your wrote your tip, so thanks so much for this. I opened the mpc again, and than i saw it... On the right hand board you mentioned, where the jog wheel and the most buttons are, was a big tore. I thought, how could i not see this the first time Like i said, the mpc fell on the front side, and i think, the jog wheel was pushed down by this fall, and therefore the board shattered. So, now, this must be the main faulty part. But is it possible, that this tore is also responsible for the 3 faulty "F buttons"? Cause these are different boards... But they are connected somehow, aren´t they?
So i think i will buy a new board. I found a shop, where it cost 58 Euro. (http://www.renato-rizoli.com/shop/en/mp ... pc500.html) Does anybody have experience with this shop? And can confirm that they are trustworthy?
Or do you know any other shops where i can buy MPC parts in Europe?

Hehe yeah, in german, we say "Drei-Länder-Eck". I don´t know if you can translate it correct. It means something like "Three-Land-Corner" And? So you liked Belgium?

Greetings
Elias

^^^^ Well that looks like it might be the source of the problem.

I think a cracked RHS board could effect the F buttons for sure. The buttons will be on a matrix of connections so one fault on one wire would affect several buttons.

I got a new screen from Rizoli a few weeks back. They started shipping me it within a couple of hours of the order. I would certainly use them for all my MPC needs. 58 euro is an excellent price though, I thought it'd be more.

Looking at the post mark on the box they sent it in I think they're based in Luxembourg, so if you ordered from them I'd guess it'd arrive before you switched your computer off.

Good Luck


I loved being in Belgium, was really missing it when I had to come back to England. I was quite surprised how friendly and helpful everyone was to me there. Above and beyond mere politeness. I think people should give Belgium a bit more consideration instead of doing the usual Amsterdam, Paris thing. - Highly recommended place to visit.