Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By m56p87 Thu Feb 21, 2013 4:47 pm
Booting from zip should be easy, if there's no disk in the floppy the mpc cycles through all the scsi id's to find something to boot from. Maybe it's that crappy Zip drive/disks? :wink:
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By mr_debauch Fri Feb 22, 2013 5:27 am
hey it's not the contrast being down? (shift+jog wheel once it's on) or is it doing the thing where all LED lights on the machine stay lit?
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By JUKE 179r Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:00 am
The Zip Disk should only have the MPC2XL.bin file on it and nothing else to boot from.
By Soundsmith the Programmer Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:00 pm
The Zip Disk should only have the MPC2XL.bin file on it and nothing else to boot from.


got it.

It's been so long that I had to mess with one to fix it, or a zip disk for that matter. :o

So here's the deal... the screen lights... the pad bank A light is on... but nothing else.

It just sits there with a blank screen.


Tried the shift button dim thing... nope. :cry:
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By SimonInAustralia Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:06 pm
Should boot from the internal OS flash memory.

Not sure if it will be able to boot from a Zip, especially if it is showing nothing at all on the screen.

Do any of the buttons work when turned on, can you change banks with the bank buttons, start the sequencer by pressing record-play, etc.?

Have you tried it with everything disconnected, no internal/external drive cables connected (IDE/ATAPI, floppy, SCSI) and option boards disconnected/removed?
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By JUKE 179r Fri Feb 22, 2013 11:08 pm
@STP... post some pics of what it's doing.
By Soundsmith the Programmer Sun Feb 24, 2013 6:35 am
so I narrowed it down I think.


What I think happened is someone ejected a non-hot swap cf in the middle of it being on, and it screwed up the boot sector of the ROM so it never gets to the OS, so the OS on the F-ROM never gets to the scsi chain boot search.

The curious thing is, the A bank button is lit like it should be...

I have tried the shift data wheel and even jumped the tact switch to see if it was faulty at all.

therefore, I need a dude that flashes EPROM chips to make an OS so I can put it in the native socket, or I have to buy this.

https://www.vstservice.com/p-104-akai-mpc-2000xl-boot-rom-eprom-ver-114-software-upgrade.aspx
By MPCHunter Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:57 pm
Soundsmith the Programmer wrote:so I narrowed it down I think.

What I think happened is someone ejected a non-hot swap cf in the middle of it being on, and it screwed up the boot sector of the ROM so it never gets to the OS, so the OS on the F-ROM never gets to the scsi chain boot search.


How did you deduce this?

The MPC 2000XL boots from flash. Unless the flash is corrupted during a flash reinstall, removing a compact flash card during operation will not affect the boot sector.

Check your voltages with a multimeter. If they are fine, try starting the MPC with a floppy drive and a floppy boot disk.
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By Beatdiggerjazzcat Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:24 pm
If the flash rom is not booting due to a fault the Xl will request a system disk.

If your screen is blank with the led lit up and nothing else you have a boot error.


-This boot error will not be due to the flash
- if the flash was faulty it would request a disk
- zip will not work
-Buying an EPROM will not solve the problem


The fault is on the motherboard or the PSU and it is This fault that is preventing the machine from accessing the initial boot process.
By Soundsmith the Programmer Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:01 pm
If the flash rom is not booting due to a fault the Xl will request a system disk.

If your screen is blank with the led lit up and nothing else you have a boot error.


-This boot error will not be due to the flash
- if the flash was faulty it would request a disk
- zip will not work
-Buying an EPROM will not solve the problem


The fault is on the motherboard or the PSU and it is This fault that is preventing the machine from accessing the initial boot process.


but you think a floppy might do it like he said here?

How did you deduce this?

The MPC 2000XL boots from flash. Unless the flash is corrupted during a flash reinstall, removing a compact flash card during operation will not affect the boot sector.

Check your voltages with a multimeter. If they are fine, try starting the MPC with a floppy drive and a floppy boot disk.