I can only start with a boot disk!

I managed to crash my mpc 2000XL. The screen froze and I switched off the sampler. When I switched it on again I got: "Insert MPC 2000 XL Disk !", so I did what I'v done before. I downloaded the newest OS from the official AKAI site, put the .BIN file on a floppy and put the floppy in... The sampler boots ok and works. My problem comes when loading the .BIN OS file onto the internal memory. I go to load the file and get the usual warning about overwriting the flash memory. I hit "DO IT" and the loading is successful - I get a message telling me that everything went ok and I should hit any key to restart the system... So I do this, but instead of starting normally, the MPC asks for a boot disk again. I'v tried downloading several different OSs and always get the same problem. I can still use the MPC but ned to boot with a floppy every time. Please help. Is my Flash broken? i'v only got the onboard flash (not the added extra).
Cheers, Euge

yeah, maybe the flash is bad.

Did u guy it recently? Is it under warranty?

Get it looked at to see what the deal.

Iv had it for about 5 years.
Do you know if this is easy to fix? Thing is that it still works - I guess it does no damage bboting from floppy?

no. no damage from booting from floppy, just a small nuisance..

And that guy didn't even come back to let us know if it worked out for him.

This issue raised it's ugly head on several of my friends MPC2000XL's.

The biggest problem with this issue is that in come cases an MPC2000XL won't even correctly re-boot from a floppy containing a SYSTEM.BIN file.

A further issue is that you are often still unable to load/re-flash the SYSTEM.BIN file to the MPC2000XL internal FLASH correctly, even if you can re-boot correctly from the floppy where it is contained.

I fixed the boot problems on these sick machines by making a RECOVERY ROM that allowed a "CLEAN RE-FLASH" to be performed on the internal FLASH CHIP.

This chip is installed in the spare "BLUE COLOURED" ROM chip socket on an MPC2000XL main board. ( adjacent to the SMT FLASH chip ).

A picture of the empty/spare blue coloured ROM socket can be seen here at Mike Goins's web site:

http://www.mpc2000xl.com/mainboard.htm

A specific procedure is then performed at this stage and the MPC2000XL transfers data from the RECOVERY ROM back into the FLASH chip.

The MPC2000XL can then be set to run/boot from either the FLASH or RECOVERY ROM.

The RECOVERY ROM can be left in place for future emergency use if necessary.

I'll post some more info about the pricing and availability of this RECOVERY ROM some time soon.

Rohan.

"I'll post some more info about the pricing and availability of this RECOVERY ROM some time soon. "

If you do, can you post that in my USEFUL LINKS thread so that people
can have a central place to find it.. Thanks.

** It WORKS now! **

i decided to forget the problem + just boot from floppy but then I found I couldn't load .APS files (could load everything else including samples). This was wierd - deffinitely a software problem.... A friend told me that I should put the .BIN operating system file on a ZIP rather than a floppy. I still had to boot with the floppy but copied the os from the scsi ZIP disc. And It works now. I don't know what was wrong but it works like new now.

Thanks 4 the help. Back to the beats!, Euge

Lampdog wrote:"I'll post some more info about the pricing and availability of this RECOVERY ROM some time soon. "

If you do, can you post that in my USEFUL LINKS thread so that people
can have a central place to find it.. Thanks.

Ok, will do

Cheers,

Rohan.