Issue with cf card handling on 500 and possible faulty box

Hey all,

first post here.

I bought a 500 in November and didn't have time to use it until now (long story) and I started to prepare some wav samples on my computer to put on to a cf card this week.

Here is my issue (I checked other posts and a few people might have had same issue, was wondering it here was any resolution before possibly having to send it in)

- a cf card attached to my pc/mac reads fine.
- when i put that card in the 500, it doesnt seem to recognise it. If i try to format that card when plugged into the 500, the 'format/do it' light doesn't appear as selectable. If i play around with some keys (i know this is strange) I can get it to let me select 'do it' when in the format menu, result: formatting.... then 1 second later 'SYSTEM ERROR!!!'
- when the mpc is connected to my pc or mac via usb cable there is no drive letter assigned although the usb hub inside windows for example seems to recognise the device is attached (again the card is probably responsible for the non allocation of volume letter as it is not seen by mpc500).
- have tried the usual - other cards, other cables, reboot, different order of connectivity etc
- is there any way for me to go for a hard reset without having to load in an os (which i obviously can't do).

I have read the manual too btw!

Any views?

thanks

Sounds like you need to send it in.

Yea i have tried everything pretty much.

Im in europe and dropped akai an email but no answer yet.

thanks for the reply.

hey hobb3s, i am having a similar problem. I bought an mpc500, and then got a 2 GB sandisk compact flash card in it, but when i have tried to format the card at the "Frmnt: Format CF Card" screen, it dosent give me the flashing "do it" button either. Please let us know!

Glad i wasnt the only person having this problem. I was feeling like an **** for a minute.

hey dude

yea i sent it in to akai in the end, need to wait 2 weeks.. will update when i can.

Not sure your issue is the same though? Mine is an issue with the cf card slot i think, it didnt know when a card was put in at all.. (not even the 128MB one that came with)

update:

I'm going to pick it up tomorrow from the store where I bought it as it has come back from the Akai repair people.

I called up the repair guys a couple of weeks to ask for progress and they said that it worked fine for them with all cards they had tried. I said I had used the card that came with the mpc500 and a Sandisk 2GB card and neither worked and gave all the problems as listed in my initial post. They said Sandisk were to be avoided and did not work - I find this incredible and I told them this................... it's one of the most popular brands, no way can that be true.

So I will get it with little hope that it will work as they probably havent done anything to it other than fix the rubber feet which were all completely different lengths meaning my mpc rocks, but not in the good sense of the word :/ and I would just like to get my money back as it has never worked. I think I will make them test it out in the store actually.

More as it comes in...

oh btw, I also told them I had formatted the 2gb sandisk in my digital camera before using it with mpc and they said nonono never do this... I find that hard to believe too.

I have a 256 Sandisk and haven't had any probs, I did format it in the 500 but not while it was attached to my MAC. When I then connect to the MAC it reads as an "MPC500" Drive.

hobb3s wrote:update:

I'm going to pick it up tomorrow from the store where I bought it as it has come back from the Akai repair people.

I called up the repair guys a couple of weeks to ask for progress and they said that it worked fine for them with all cards they had tried. I said I had used the card that came with the mpc500 and a Sandisk 2GB card and neither worked and gave all the problems as listed in my initial post. They said Sandisk were to be avoided and did not work - I find this incredible and I told them this................... it's one of the most popular brands, no way can that be true.

So I will get it with little hope that it will work as they probably havent done anything to it other than fix the rubber feet which were all completely different lengths meaning my mpc rocks, but not in the good sense of the word :/ and I would just like to get my money back as it has never worked. I think I will make them test it out in the store actually.

More as it comes in...

Hi-

What were the results when you got it back?

I just got a new MPC500 yesterday (2-25-2008) and am having exactly the same problems with CF cards as described in your original post about cards not being recognized for formatting (and also locking up the menu selection so that you can't move the data wheel and get other options like Load, etc.)

I have a bunch of different brands and sizes, and only the original card that came with the unit works properly, along with a SimpleTech 256 card from about 6 years ago. Interesting that they told you to stay away from SanDisk since that's what Sweetwater recommends as an accessory for this unit.

As you mentioned, some cards will work in the box, but don't show up on the computer with the USB connection. Other cards, as mentioned, just lock up the MPC500 (so you can't format on the box.) For these latter cards, I tried formatting them as MS-DOS FAT 32 both on a Mac and on a PC with XP-Pro, but same problem when inserting into MPC500.

Please tell me, what was the result after you received the box back from repair? Did this fix the problem?

I'm going back to the music store today to see if the same problem exists with another unit they have on display. And to see if it happens with a MOC1000 they also have.

At least the rubber feet were even...
forneau

im having the same type problem i just got my mpc500 on friday june 20th and havent got very far because when i load the 128 mb sound library card it came with nothing happens and the screen just freezes but when i hook it up to my pc card reader it reads everything fine WTF is it a defeted mpc500??? =(

I had this problem some time ago. I formated the CF card on the MPC-500 almost 20 times, and suddently it worked! Try it.

Ahr, shiet! Double post sorry guys!

Good news Fellaz...!!! I figured it out.. A friend of mine opended the box(easy to do) and found that the ribbon that plugs into the CF simply was loose due to all the moving around I was doing. It's a really really simple fix, so don't waste your money..Simply take the cover and stuff off and re-connect the ribbon. If it still doesn't work then yes, I agree take it in or re-set your OS system...Glad to be of some type of help..