Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
User avatar
By BeBop Tue Dec 30, 2003 4:14 am
1 800 AKAI gave MANY reasons for why machine was freezing up constantly today... but I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone else had this problem.

My machine has periodically frozen since I got it...and an upgrade to 1.14 seemed to help with that. But in sampling and trimming and basic working on the machine, it still ocassionally would hang up with no goin' back.

Now today ..the thing was constantly freezing..and displaying on the screen this wild number and letter scheme...with no alternative left but to turn it off (needless to say I was baking up constantly...which is a pain)

Is my 32meg internal memory perhaps fried or screwed up (1 800 Akai cited that as a potential problem). I use an external 1 gig JAzz drive for saving ...but the freezing was happenenig before I got that accessory..and how could it be that thing since the machine is'nt going back and forth looking and saving (know what I mean??)

I tried loading other files from the SCSI jazz drive (others then I was experiencing the problem on today)..and worked on the machine, but eventually the MPC frooze up again.

I fly around on this thing pretty quick, and am wondering on occasion if I'm just making moves too fast.

I did conduct the memory test cited earlier in a post by Chabo ...and all three test said OK. I did the pad test and when I hit the main screen button i got "error at: 0000:7A59.

What does this mean?? I've seen this error message before!
This day sucked beyond belief..my one free day to write and I'm screwed by this hardware.

Any help appreciated,

Bop

By e_D Tue Dec 30, 2003 4:26 am
I feel you dawg. My shit been doin nothing but freezing today. Never experienced this problem until today really. I don't know whats the problem.. Wish I knew how to help you but I really have no idea.. If you figure anything out please lemme know. peace.
User avatar

By Blaz4me Tue Dec 30, 2003 5:27 am
Does it happen only when you try to load up certain kits? Are you lying your disks around or on your speakers/monitors? It might just be some corrupt data. At least it was for me last week. Look for the common factor existent with every crash.
User avatar

By BeBop Tue Dec 30, 2003 3:15 pm
Blaz...I don't use floppys any more...I just store on the 1 gig HD, so no, no discs laying around.

I know you're right, it sounds like corrupt data somewhere...and I'm thinking lowest common denominator here...but I've got no idea where to start lookin' ...'cos I've got 12 song folders going now on the HD ...each with it's own samples, programs etc..

Damn this sux
User avatar

By Blaz4me Tue Dec 30, 2003 3:51 pm
My corrupted data was on zip. I couldn't load a particular All songs and sequences file without my MPC crashing when I tried to play one of the tracks. Was it saying Error at 0000:7A59? In my particular situation it was corrupt data.
User avatar

By itchyvinyl Tue Dec 30, 2003 8:48 pm
Mine doesn't crash "all day", but it definately crashes on a regular basis.
Learn to SAVE often to avoid heartbreak.
User avatar

By itchyvinyl Wed Dec 31, 2003 3:58 am
Whoa, today my XL crashed, but before it froze up it started randomly triggering all the sounds that I had loaded up, it sounded like a really out there avant garde electronic record for about 15 seconds, and then it started making this hellish distorted squealing noize that would make Trent Reznor proud - and just froze.
I really wish I had the Pro Tools in record when it happened. :lol:
User avatar

By BeBop Wed Dec 31, 2003 4:07 pm
Hey Itch...

I know what you mean!!! Mine's done the SAME thing and I wish I would have been able to throw SOMETHING into record and just document it...'cos it was the most wild sounding cacophony!!

BTW all....I had some sucess yesterday, working for @ 2 hours straight without a freeze up...and the 2 things I was doing different in this session were:

1) I moved slower from function to function..i.e., when trimming a sample I let the whole screen fill with the waveform before I touched another button. (typically with longer waves I'd start making moves before the screen was "complete".. and I think this may be confusing the 2Kxl) This, along with generally moving slower from all the "moves" we make on the machine seemed to help. I , like most of you, can fly fast around this thing ...faster then one probably should, and with on 32 meg of memory inside for this thing to bouy itself on...well, I'm guessing that could be one thing that has been causing some freezing.

2) I saved CONSTANTLY. Anytime I concluded a sample or trim or sequence I wanted to keep ...I SAVED.

As you say Itch...save often.

E_D ..if you see any similarities here with the way you work...think about it.

Bop

By PLATINUM1 Wed Dec 31, 2003 9:25 pm
I can't say that I can help, but mine only seems to freeze when doing sys-ex messeges. Very rarely does it freeze for some unknown reason. I have never lost an actually sequence or song , seems to be pretty stable when playing sequences. But I move around on it kinda slow--- like a turtle, so that could be one reason. Good luck on getting that straight.

By mpc3000 Thu Jan 01, 2004 4:20 pm
"1) I moved slower from function to function
2) I saved CONSTANTLY"

Umm, sounds like working in windows. hehe.

Seriously, the error code, like 0000:7A59, are not going to tell you anything. That message is actually telling you at what line of the instruction set the error was detected. The resulting debug screen shows the processor register values, program counter and memory contents. This stuff is very valuable to programmers. I am surprised that Akai left that routine in there. I suspect that they do not realize it is there, or if they do, they lack the resources (know how) to remove it.
User avatar

By Blaz4me Thu Jan 01, 2004 5:46 pm
Thanx for the clarification Playa, once again it's good to know you're around. AIGHT
User avatar

By BeBop Thu Jan 01, 2004 10:05 pm
MPC....how the he** do you know all that info about code etc!! Damn that's deep.

Seriously though, you're right...it (the MPC) is like working in windows, and my crashes have been non existent for the last 48 hours since I've employed my new rules.

Let's see if it continues.

Thanks for the info!

Bop
User avatar

By dj_2xL Thu Jan 01, 2004 10:54 pm
man,i've been getting disk read errors everytime i try and save something.this just started happening like 4 days ago and my mpc is brand new!! does anyone know why it's doing this? :evil:
User avatar

By incurablebeatlust Fri Jan 02, 2004 1:47 am
i have been having the same problems recently. when moving quickly from the trim screen to the program screen and then the params screen i get a lot of crashes. i just slowed my steps down some and i havent had any problems today... is there anything i can try to get the mpc to unfreeze(?) when it does happen? [/code]

By mpc3000 Fri Jan 02, 2004 1:54 am
"is there anything i can try to get the mpc to unfreeze"

I do not think so. On some other Akai models, one could press a secret key combination to force a `soft restart`, but on the XL no one has been able to find it.