Crashes when shutting down: Do I have a faulty unit?

TL;DR: I've had the MPC Live 2 for about a week now. I've seen a handful of crashes, 4-5 times when shutting it down after pressing the power button, but once while working in a project. Trying to figure out if this is "normal" or might indicate a faulty unit. See below for more details.

Hey y'all, new to MPCs and new to the forums here! I just got the MPC Live 2 last Tuesday and have been absolutely loving it!

I have been seeing some kind of weird behavior though and am basically trying to figure out if this is typical or if I should be reaching back out to Sweetwater about getting a new unit. I've done some Googling, but have been seeing mixed responses, or threads from older updates etc. and thought I'd jump on and get y'alls opinion.

I'm all updated to 2.10.1 (did that the first time I booted it up). Everything has been great so far but I have been seeing a few crashes here and there. I've been using it daily since I got it, usually for a few hours at a time, almost all in standalone mode. I'm using a brand new 128 gb Sandisk SD card, and have all of my samples and files saved onto that (haven't touched the internal, haven't deleted anything since I saw that can cause issues). I'm just doing basic beats, certainly not pushing it very hard. 3-5 tracks, only 1 or 2 plugin instruments at a time.

4 or 5 times after I've pressed the power button and confirmed for it to shut down, instead of turning off it goes right back to the "Select a Project" screen (have it set to Demo/Template/Recent if that makes a difference) with an error message "YOUR MPC RECOVERED FROM AN INTERNAL ERROR." To be clear, it is not freezing or hanging at any point. I press shut down, it shows the little hour glass, then suddenly I'm right back to the welcome screen. I then have to shut it down again for it to actually turn off. I've seen this happen when shutting down with a project open, but also when shutting down with an empty template (turn it on to check file browser or some settings, immediately shut it back off and get that error). Usually the prior session worked smoothly, no crashes or errors.

I've only seen it crash while actually using it once. I can't remember exactly what I was doing when it crashed, but I think it was loading a keygroup instrument and it suddenly shut down, with the same "internal error" message. The only other crashes were when shutting it down.

I have been all over the place with it testing it, so I thought that might have something to do with it. For example, if I sit down to make beats for a few hours, it's usually not an hour or two in a single project. I'm usually loading/saving several different projects in that sitting, starting blank projects to test new samples/keygroups/plugins or techniques, switching back and forth between standalone and controller mode to load samples to the SD card, etc. all with it powered on the whole time. So I thought maybe I should be resetting it between tasks more often?

So my question ultimately: Is this "normal" behavior? Is this the kind of thing y'all are seeing, or should I be seeking a return to get a new unit? I don't want to overreact and end up a few weeks without it, but I also don't want to be stuck if these are signs of a faulty unit.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

So ultimately the issue is that you are switching off the unit, but it sometimes it just acts as if you'd chosen a 'New' project instead? That isn't normal, I have never seen this in any of my MPCs. To rule out your SD card or connected USB devices, try using the unit without these attached and see if the issue persists. Cheap USB hubs have been shown to cause issues with power down BTW, something relating to the hub sending power back to the MPC (which should never happen).

If it persists I would send it back to the retailer to get a refund or immediate exchange (shouldn't take weeks, more like a few days). You can contact Akai but that will probably take longer to get the new unit, most decent retailers (here in the UK at least) will take it back and refund with little hassle.

Yeah, I hit the power button, press "don't save" or "shut down" depending on what pops up, it shows the shutdown timer screen, then it goes to that internal error message. When I click okay, it's sitting on the project template screen.

I don't have anything else plugged in besides my SD card when it's happening. I'll try a different SD adapter as well and see if that resolves it (it's a micro SD card in an adapter). I'll also try formatting the SD card. I was checking the manual again after posting this and noticed that AKAI recommends exFAT, and my SD is formatted NTFS so I might as well try that too.

I did also see some forums posts about clearing preferences before and after updates. So today I cleared my preferences and reinstalled the 2.10.1 update, then reset preferences again to see if that might resolve it.

This happens with my MPC Live 2 sometimes. Get to the end of a session, save the project, press off switch at back of MPC, get the ‘do you want to shut down?’ prompt, hit yes… screen goes blank then after a pause I’m back to the start screen (with templates etc) and the message ‘MPC has recovered from an internal error’ (or something like that). But… it’s quite rare. I only get this maybe once in 20-30 sessions and I’ve never lost work because of it…. the project has saved OK and opens OK. It’s mildly annoying but compared with the frequency of crashes and lockups I’ve had in DAWs recently (both Ableton Live and Logic) the MPC is a model of stability. So I put up with it. Would be nice if next firmware update sorted whatever is going on behind the scenes though. BTW this happens with or without a USB hub connected. MPC only ever used in standalone, firmware bang up to date (2.10.1).

MuttBeats wrote:But… it’s quite rare. I only get this maybe once in 20-30 sessions and I’ve never lost work because of it…. the project has saved OK and opens OK.

Yeah, this is my experience as well, to a tee. I never lose work or have any other issues besides the inconvenience of having to shut it down again.

How long has that been going on for you?

Your 20-30 sessions comment makes me wonder. My initial thought was it had something to do with me turning it on and off, back and forth from controller mode and just using a ton (like 5-6 hours a day) since it's brand new and I'm trying stuff out. I thought maybe just because I'm doing so much loading/saving/resetting/changing modes etc. that maybe I'm just seeing those rare "typical" errors crop up more due to the bulk of actions I'm doing on it because it's the new toy.

I think I'll probably keep it another week and see if things iron out as I move to a more typical usage. I also did a reinstall of the firmware and am formatting my SD card which might resolve it.

CaptainAhash wrote:TL;DR: I've had the MPC Live 2 for about a week now. I've seen a handful of crashes, 4-5 times when shutting it down after pressing the power button, but once while working in a project. Trying to figure out if this is "normal" or might indicate a faulty unit.

No, this is not normal. What version of the firmware are you on? Also, try doing a system reset to see if that improves stability. Either way, I've had my MPC Live II (black, first release run) for over a year and it's maybe crashed once (and that was on a previous firmware).

EDIT -

CaptainAhash wrote:I did also see some forums posts about clearing preferences before and after updates. So today I cleared my preferences and reinstalled the 2.10.1 update, then reset preferences again to see if that might resolve it.

Oops - my bad! You haven't deleted any factory content off of the built-in storage, have you? Also, make sure you are software ejecting your SD Card or SSD before switching from Computer Mode to standalone, or before removing any attached storage.

Yeah, 2.10.1.

You said do a system reset. I downloaded the USB updater for the firmware update, and reinstalled it. I also reset preferences. Is that what you mean or is there another process?

And no, as I said in my post I have not removed any factory content at all. I haven't even touched the internal storage.

I'm also definitely doing the soft eject on storage before removing every time.



I just had another thought. When I first got it I redeemed the Splice trial and immediately set up the Splice autosync. After using it for a few days I ran into the issue where some samples wouldn't load (which I found on forums is due to issues with the .FLAC format I guess?) Anyways, I deleted my Splice folder and logged out of my Splice account, and started to just manually organize and transfer my samples to my SD card.

Ever since, every time I booted up the MPC I would get an error saying it couldn't find the download folder, even though I was logged out of my Splice account. That message eventually stopped randomly. Maybe that is related in some way. I did just reset firmware/preferences so hopefully that would resolve if that's the case.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Return and get a new unit. Don't even try to troubleshoot it. When you get new unit don't update it till you confirmed its working well then try an update and see what happens. While its brand new and under warranty you should use every opportunity to ensure you'll have a good unit for the long term. I bought an X and have always had trouble connecting to a computer. I tried troubleshooting it for a long time until i came to the realization that it was probably my unit. But that realization came after the warrant expired and now Im stuck with not being able to use controller mode. Don't be a me. Just return it and get a fresh unit. Do it twice if you need to. Get your value out of that warranty.

I purchased a MPC One in November and exactly what you described in the OP is happening on mine. My biggest annoyance is when loading samples and it crashes so I am saving after every successful sample load.

There's more than likely Corrupt Files saved to the Internal Drive, causing the Problem. I would Delete ANY file that was saved to the Internal Drive. NOT the Pre-loaded Content.

Also....Do you Have Splice on your Internal?

Update: No more problems!

After posting this thread I reset preferences, reinstalled the 2.10.1 update via the USB updater (had done it via the PC updater over USB cable before), reset preferences again, reformatted my SD card to exFAT, and DID NOT turn on the Splice Integration.

Not sure what in that list actually fixed it, but I haven't had a single crash or error message since. I've been using it a few hours a day the last few days, and have turned it on and off probably 6 times total.

I wonder If I should try to remove all The expansion packs and then try these above methods...

Unplug all your usb stuff and try powering it on and off. Ive seen this happen when I had my microfreak plugged into usb leaching power. (oh my bad lol i replied before i read that last post!)