16 LEVELS PROBLEM MPC 2000XL

mr_debauch wrote:basically, it's not a problem with the button... his mpc is saying "**** 16 levels!".

Yeah basically.

Even downgraded to 1.14, swapped main boards, same shit. It's frustrating because I do not want to sink more money into this thing.

I have the exact same problem, first experienced it like a couple of weeks ago, at first it just happened in and out, I'd wait a bit, go through some menus (or in last resort reboot the mp) and the 16 levels would work again, but it's been getting worse and worse up until today where I really can't get it to work at all.

Something you didn't mention that I noticed is that when I was able to get the 16 levels to work again, the only way to disable it afterwards was to press the TRACK MUTE button.

So far I just tried reinstalling the 1.20 OS, to no avail.

@richie, your reports don't give me hope either, if even downgrading & replacing the main board didn't fix it...
I know that on my 2KXL the little board that holds the volume knobs is broken from the rest of the top board with the buttons but it's always been that way and never caused any problems. Still I tried fiddling with it a bit but it didn't help.

Gotta be the weirdest bug ever, seems like it's software related since the button DOES work for the space character, but the fact that downgrading or reinstalling the OS doesn't fix it and that it got worse and worse on me makes me think it's a hardware thing.

The only other related thread I could find was viewtopic.php?f=1&t=167491

Damn, I think I found the fix, I forgot to mention that I have the thick fat pads from MPCStuff and that my 16th pad started to stop working intermittently at around the same time I started having this issue.
And as a matter of fact right now I was not able to get it to work at all either

Without opening the MPC I just grabbed the 16th pad and started jamming it around a little bit, there's been a little skreechy noise like some adhesive getting unstuck and my pad n°16 worked again. And sure enough, after going back to the main menu my 16 levels button works again everytime.

My guess is the little corx thingy on the thick pads moved and was preventing the pad to work for some reason, so the 16 levels probably refused to turn on since it though only 15 pads were working.

Might be a wild guess, but either way I'm thrilled to have this shit working again, @richie check your pads, especially if you also have the thick ones.

@LowHiss thanks for the response man. It's interesting that you mention that the problem started to happen when your pad 16 was going out, I am actually having some issues with my pads and am waiting on a replacement pad sensor to come in.

In order to verify that your issue is connected to the pad issue that you were having, you may want to disconnect the pad sensor ribbon going to the control board, power on the MPC and then check to see if the 16 levels button still works. If it does then your issue may not even be related to the pad sensors?

Maybe you can verify this if you have the time or are in the mood to take the lid off of your MPC?

richie wrote:@LowHiss thanks for the response man. It's interesting that you mention that the problem started to happen when your pad 16 was going out, I am actually having some issues with my pads and am waiting on a replacement pad sensor to come in.

In order to verify that your issue is connected to the pad issue that you were having, you may want to disconnect the pad sensor ribbon going to the control board, power on the MPC and then check to see if the 16 levels button still works. If it does then your issue may not even be related to the pad sensors?

Maybe you can verify this if you have the time or are in the mood to take the lid off of your MPC?

Here is the definitive cause, 99.99% sure.

The thing is, you can't activate 16 levels while a pad is being pressed down, and on my pad n°16 the corx thing from the thick fat pads had fallen off and was touching the sensor constantly, so from the moment the MPC was turned on it would think the 16th pad was being pressed down.

So if one of your sensors went bad and acts like it's being activated all the time that's most likely what causes the issue.

I will soon be ordering one of those cheap IDE CF/SD card reader, I'll still make sure to do the test for you when I install it if you want.

Hope it helps

@LowHiss interestingly enough, I had some issues with some of the pads. None of them acted like they were constantly pressed down but they were not exactly working "properly" either.

I have since replaced the pad sensors on the XL and doing so resulted in the 16 levels is now fully functional again. And by the way, I also tried pressing 16 levels with the pad sensors disconnected and nothing happened - just as your 99.99% sureness has confirmed.

I appreciate all the feedback in this thread, hopefully it can be used as reference for others that are experiencing similar issues.