Korg Forums

oaibarra · Joined: 10 Jul 2015 Posts: 21

Hello I just got as a gift a Korg M1 the only problem it had was the dead battery. I opened it up and changed the battery. After i turned it on, the screen displays "KORG Music Workstation M1 #19" and I press all the buttons and nothing happens. Please help!!! It was working fine before i replaced the battery i would load the sounds to it via my mac and it would make the sounds but now i think i broke it.

Thanks in Advance.

voip · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Nov 2014 Posts: 3769

It might be worth taking the new battery out, leaving it for a few minutes then replacing it. Whilst it's out, check all the cables and connections, and also measure the voltage across the battery. Should be over 3 volts.

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oaibarra · Joined: 10 Jul 2015 Posts: 21

Okay ill try that later and see what happens. I already cheacked all the connections and they were all connected. i took it all apart to see if they were the cables and it wasnt that either.

voip · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Nov 2014 Posts: 3769

Another thing to try might be a factory reset. To do this, hold down the INT, CARD and COMBI buttons at the same time whilst turning the power on.

The sounds will have to be reloaded via sysex afterwards, since the procedure zeroes out the M1.

If this doesn't work then the problem will not be a straightforward fix.

Just a thought, are any of the buttons stuck down?
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oaibarra · Joined: 10 Jul 2015 Posts: 21

I tried the factory reset but that still apears. I change all the tactile switches and replaced the plastic buttons, since one of them was broken off, and still doesnt work

voip · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Nov 2014 Posts: 3769

Well, it's not for lack of trying on your part to get the M1 working again.

I get the message "Korg Music Workstation M1 #29" if I hold down the INT key whilst powering up, but I can't get #19 to come up. To someone in the know, it will mean something.

Could damage from static electricity have caused the board to malfunction? It's always a good idea to touch metalwork before touching any circuitry, as most electronics devices can easily be damaged by static. It's an ever present risk, becoming more likely on very dry days.

Could any cables have become trapped between any of the PCBs and the metalwork? If you changed the plastic buttons, that needs quite a teardown to get to the switch-containing boards.

It is starting to look like a job for a Korg service technician who has access to a good range of diagnostic kit, but as it is an old board, there are no guarantees the parts will be available to repair it.

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oaibarra · Joined: 10 Jul 2015 Posts: 21

Okay so i opened it up again and changed the battery again. When i turned it on it said Low battery (internal) even though i had changd it with a new one. ANd then i turned it off again and turend it back on and then it just stayed on the KORG M1 WORKSTATION but with no # this time.

Again i opened it and changed the battery and it worked again showing the same message low internal battery. Then i was going to load the factory sounds onto it via a midi usb anf when i tried pressing the buttons it just "froze" and nothing worked

I turned it back off and then on and then the same message KORG M1 WORKSTATION without the # and it just stayed in the message.

and then i turned it off and then did the reset while turning it on and now this time it does show the #19 but it wont go to the main page with the sounds.

Please help.

voip · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Nov 2014 Posts: 3769

Troubleshooting this issue is not easy, I'm afraid.

One way might be to replace the KLM-1266 board, but sourcing one is going to be difficult. Parts is Parts don't have any in stock. The boards very occasionally come up on eBay, the last one was in January 2016.

Replacing the two EPROMS with devices programmed with the M1 firmware is another possibility, since the symptoms shown could be caused by the firmware becoming corrupted (although there could be other causes). This is probably the cheapest option, and the EPROMs are socketed, so relatively easy to remove.

Before doing any of this though, have you measured the power supply voltages inside the M1 using a multimeter, and also looked at the voltage stability of the supplies using an oscilloscope? This was the thinking behind my suggestion of having a Korge service technician take a look at it. They should have that sort of equipment and more.

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