Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By rmd252 Sat Oct 29, 2011 9:38 pm
So I recently took a risk and bought an MPC 2000 off ebay (for a surprisingly low price), seeing that everything appeared to be working in the pictures. So of course it comes in a fruit box wrapped in some newspaper, and I wasn't too surprised to see that something was wrong. I plug it in and turn it on and it kind of makes a popping noise, and all the LED's flash on as well as the back light on the screen. No response from anything but the power button. Tried unplugging it and plugging it back in, then, after that failed, opened it up, removed the top pcb board then top panel, and reseated some of the more major cable connections on the main pcb (the power, screen, and, of course, connection from the upper to lower boards). Didn't help. Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this? Would it be worth going through and reseating everything else?
User avatar
By mr_debauch Sat Oct 29, 2011 9:57 pm
yes it would be worth it... take any expansions off as well for the testing period (the additional ram if it has it.. as well as the eb16 effects card and the 8 outs.) also, do you have the OS boot disk for the mpc 2000 because that model requires one and also make sure the pad sensor sheet and the lcd screen cables aren't disconnected or loose.. be careful with the lcd ribbon though because that one is finicky.
By rmd252 Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:08 am
So I unplugged and plugged everything back in except for the expansions, which I removed. It had the 8 output and the smpte. I also made sure the pad sensor ribbon cable was latched in there tight. The screen is still blank and all the lights are still on, but the floppy drive now sounds like it's reading the boot disk, although when I remove the disk the light remains on on the drive. Do you think the pad sensor might need to be replaced? Thanks for the help.
User avatar
By mr_debauch Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:27 pm
*Pilchard* wrote:Have you tried reversing the floppy ribbon?
Sounds like it may be plugged in the wrong way round.
Flip it over and plug it back in.


ya true, make sure pin 1 lines up with pin 1
User avatar
By Lampdog Mon Oct 31, 2011 1:40 am
If you have a red or colored wire on the ribbon then that is situated closet to your power cable on the device.
By rmd252 Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:32 am
Yeah I tried flipping the ribbon on the floppy drive and it still has the same light on the whole time, makes the same noise when I put a floppy in. All the expansions are taken out at this point, too so I'm thinking the floppy drive itself must be broken. Either that or it might need the main board replaced. Anyway to tell what it actually is at this point without paying for trial and error?
User avatar
By Lampdog Mon Oct 31, 2011 5:17 pm
Try another floppy drive and another ribbon cable.

Try the floppy drive in a desktop computer and see if it even works or not.
User avatar
By jazzbee Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:00 pm
Lampdog wrote:Try another floppy drive and another ribbon cable.

Try the floppy drive in a desktop computer and see if it even works or not.


I was gonna say the same as what lamp said...

I came across a mpc2000 a while back which had a faulty floppy drive and was displaying the same symptoms as yours, once the floppy was replaced it was good to go.

Lets hope you dont get more issues after the floppy fix i.e pads jog wheel etc... they can be a pain if they havent been looked after.

Let us know if u get it up and running.
By rmd252 Thu Nov 03, 2011 8:38 am
Sorry I haven't replied for so long. Was out of town. But I have now completely removed the floppy drive and tried turning it on and it's doing the exact same thing. Currently all I have plugged in is the screen and the upper board with all the buttons, pads, slider, etc plugged in tightly. It should at least be bringing up the start up disk error with out the floppy drive shouldn't it? So I'm thinking it must be something else. I did recently find my old zip drive and my boot zip disk. As soon as I find the ac cable for it I'm going to try and see if that helps, but I'm starting to think it might be one of the boards. I have also noticed the internal power supply is looking pretty rough. The fuse is fine, but the largest metal cylinder (not sure what it's for?) has some orange gunk dried on it. Other than that, everything looks to be in pretty good shape. Pad sensors look pretty good, screen definitely is newer than pretty much everything else, no other apparent corrosion. I'm probably going to post some pictures pretty soon.
User avatar
By locotesmjr Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:12 pm
^^ I tried several times to power on my MPC2000 when I disconnected the top board (the one with the buttons and jog wheel) and it booted up normally... I guess the only thing that you really need to turn on your unit it is the main board, the screen to see if its working and the power source... I mean at least to see an error message on screen... when I did that I had all my expansion boards and floppy drive connected and it loaded everything I just couldn't navigate of course because the top board wasn't connected... at this point I guess your motherboard is damaged... :cry: