Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
Bydonnachacostello Tue Jun 22, 2004 5:11 pm
Hi all.

This might be of interest if your 60 suddenly dies some time.

My friend's MPC60 gave up the ghost a few weeks ago. It froze and when he switched it back on, the screen filled up black and then cleared. No buttons worked/lit up etc.

We assumed the worst.

Anyway, I got around to opening it up today to check a few things.

With the unit switched on and with my friend watching the display, I checked all ribbon connectors.

Then it happened... I pushed one of them and hey presto... 60 jumps back into life.

The connector in question was the 5 pin one connected to the main transformer, above where the power cable enters the unit. It was making poor connection with the terminals but when you pulled it back towards you, the unit was alive.

The problem: Enough power was getting to the unit to give the screen a burst but not enough to complete startup. Once the connector was making good contact, power flowed, the unit lived.

The solution: I used a pliers to GENTLY bend the contacts towards the front of the unit so that the cable connector plug had a really snug fit into it's socket.

hey presto!

I figured that perhaps from heat over the years, the plastic on the socket part had expanded slightly and no longer held the connector tight.

So, if your 60 ever dies, at least there is one thing you can check!

Cheers!

:D

By elmacaco Tue Jun 22, 2004 5:44 pm
Good Work!!!

What also helps, and what may be the case here as well is a bad solder connection on the power supply board. I had this happen to my 5 volt line, the power gets to the pin when you exert a bit of pressure sideways, the leverage helps the solder connection, but when released it loosend up and doesn't make good contact. You might want to resolder the connector pin on the power distribution board on your friend's 60 so that when the pins lose some of their spring it won't happen again.

Cleaning the pins with alcohol or something helps a lot two.

I'm Glad to see selfstarters on this board.

Bydonnachacostello Wed Jun 23, 2004 12:25 pm
Yep, I reckoned there could well be a dry joint underneath.

Didn't have a soldering iron at his house, or the time to disasseble the 60.

However, I'll be fitting some new switches and the OS/SCSI upgrade for him so I'll investigate it then. In the meantime, he's back in business and no longer having to use cubase [yeuchhh]
:)