K not booting from USB DVD drive..

miden · Post by **miden** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:48 am

Been trying for a while now to get the K to boot of the Factory disks...refuses to budge..

I have used the LaCie DVD on my windows PC and it can read the factory disk fine...

But connect to the K and follow re-install instructions and the screen remains blank.

If I try to just boot from the original factory ssd it boots to the red line under the S and then tells me a system boot failure remove all USB drives (none connected) and then just sits there....

I did try with a fresh SSD (Samsung 840) but as it didn't work either, I thought I would re-install the factory SSD, and just use the 840 as a data drive only...tried booting with it (the 840) connected and dis-connected, makes no difference.....it won't boot from factory ssd, nor will it boot from factory re-installation dvd's..

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

miden · Post by **miden** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:51 am

Also does anyone know if the Kronos USB hubs actually supply enough power for a USB DVD drive?

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:26 am

Yes it has enough power.

When I had that issue, it was because my RAM wasn't properly seated.

pedro5 · Post by **pedro5** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:43 am

Check that the ssd is connected to the correct socket.......not sure which one,but it can present problems when introducing another drive.

Also,not all usb dvd drives work with the Kronos.........there is a list of known compatible ones somewhere on the forum,trial and error for the unlisted.

miden · Post by **miden** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:37 pm

Thanks guys..

Yeah Sander, that was my first thought so I double checked the RAM...

I did not know there were incompatible dvd drives...I will hunt that one out..

cheers

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:46 pm

Do you have one or two chips in? Possibly the second (upgrade) chip could be bad, malfunctioning even if properly seated. You could try with just one 2GB chip. If the first chip were bad the K wouldn't boot at all.

miden · Post by **miden** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:58 pm

One of the chips is the original factory 2 gig, the other was a matching Hynix 1gig one I bought. AFAIK, there are no requirements with this type of RAM for matching sized RAM sticks.

And I have never heard of an added RAM stick corrupting already installed RAM - which I might add was never touched....

However I have tried booting with the new stick in and out, no difference.

I have tried the factory drive in SATA port 0 and 1,

I have changed the RAM slot for the original RAM and bought RAM (with both in and the bought one out).

I suspect the culprit now may be Acronis Clone tool....I cloned the factory SSD to a new Samsung 840 with the intention of replacing...I changed nothing on the factory SSD, only took an image.

When the "cloned" Samsung was installed (by itself) I got this issue with system failure - red bar at the S . No problem I thought as I will juts put the factory SSD back in and sort it out.

Replaced the factory SSD - the system failure kept happening..so I decided to just do a full factory restore and go from there..you know the rest!

So I think somehow Acronis not only stuffed up the cloned ssd, it also did something to the original in the process!!

I have been using Acronis for several years for the same purposes, and never had an issue - Linux OR Windows...but the Korg OS seems to be really REALLY fussy!!!

And to read that not all USB DVD drives work!!!!! I mean come on guys - USB DVD is a universal standard, all of them should work!!!

I should add, that my USB DVD is a LaCie and I tried the process using its own external power supply and also getting power only from the K USB interface...

pedro5 · Post by **pedro5** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:18 pm

Sorry to hear you're having so many problems.... getting to be a real pain for you, to say the least.

It seems as if your only option is to find a dvd player that works with the Kronos and re-install the factory settings etc.

It has been reported that this can also be done using an usb stick(large enough to hold the installation dvd data,obviously)....perhaps worth a try if you have one.
Not sure if it'll help with the ssd that's appears to be corrupted though,it's just an idea...
(I may be confusing factory data,rather than disk maintenance/repair access etc).

Once again,good luck !

Best Wishes.

miden · Post by **miden** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:38 pm

Thanks Pedro- yep already tried the peuso - dvd drive on a USB stick...nothing

Trouble is, to test the ram I need to buy more of it (around $50 out here for a single 2 gig stick)

Then a usb DVD drive - that IS compatible so it really restricts the market and therefore the price, so about another 45-100...and even then that may NOT be the issue!!!

tbh, USB DVD drives are all supposed to be Class Compliant same as USB 1.1 - the K uses and Intel NM-10 mobo with an Atom processor - so really ANY usb-dvd drive should run....

As much as I like the sounds of this thing - the OS, the way it does things with filing systems, the sequencer, the REALLY fussy nature of it all......well, I am seriously considering just getting it working again and dumping it...

In all of this debacle I have followed STANDARD PC operational methods...I have been building and repairing PCs for years, in all sorts of configurations...this is really just weird behaviour...it is after all pretty muhc a bog standard Atom based PC with a specific OS, that ENTIRELY runs from the hard drive...no on-board ROM with at least a basic factory OS...

Anyway it is Sunday here and as I am around 6-7 hours drive away from the nearest place that has this gear, it is by post only so I need to buy all this crap which will take several days, all the while with the K sitting gathering dust...

The local distributor is about as useful as tits on a bull as they only got the dealership/tech support in November 2012 after the incumbent crashed and burned after over 25 years of being the Korg Distributor.

They (the new guys) have next to no expertise in Korg systems or boards, Korg afaik have given them rudimentary training - they have practically no spare parts for any Korg board let alone a K, it is always we need 4-6 weeks to get it in...the old guys had everything - including the BEST tech support - none of them were taken up by the new firm!!!

If I try to get something sorted with Korg US as the matter is urgent, Korg US just tell you to deal with the local guys....the local guys know nothing so they have to confer with Korg US to get an answer....and then they forget about contacting you back...I am still waiting on a query I put to them in December last year!!!

Nah, I am just about over Korg period!!!

But again many thx for at least trying to help me out here

pedro5 · Post by **pedro5** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:55 pm

Your frustration is understandable,the technical reasons you give has given cause for concern to other owners as well.

However,it must be said that a fully working Kronos is really a nice instrument.....setting aside all its "strange" ? workings etc.

Perhaps it's time you set it to one side for a while,then have another go at it later.
I'm sure your efforts will be rewarded,eventually having the opportunity to explore and enjoy the instrument.....as many others do.

Please keep us posted on future developments.

Take care,my friend.

Best Wishes.

BobTheDog · Post by **BobTheDog** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:31 pm

I have had Acronis arse up a source drive before, I stopped using it after that!

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:15 pm

Not knowing to much about PC but having A thought and I don't know if it is possible. Here goes, is it possible to reformat the ssd and load the Kronos DVDs onto it the. Swap it with the internal ssd bypassing acronis completely? Or at least getting the new shop do reload an ssd for you to swap in?

AntonySharmman · Post by **AntonySharmman** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:36 pm

I think that this forum requires a Kronos troubleshooting area , 'cause all important technical post are lost in the stack of Kronos
"general" discussions and miden got my attention only by PM !

Last year I had talked about taking seriously that age of safe DOS is over and we landed on common Linux OS , commercial mobos
and of course common troubleshooting as in PCs that all will face and it's just a matter of time to find out.
Also when I said that a clone disk is required to save your "skin" in such issues with 5 min. entire system recovery , some claimed that
it was heard like a "joke" , now ask miden how this joke looks like !!!

Now miden , since your system failed after one successful booting (and not during Ram,SSD or whatever experiment ) then SSD
contents are corrupted so Installing OS is the option ! (no matter what could caused SS data loss ).
I red all you wrote in PM and those here , and come to conclusion that (if Usb DVD is compatible) your DVD1 might be corrupted ,
so proceed to solution I gave you , also I clarified that ISOs must been written in DVD9 empty disks..
Check your external USB DVD device compatibility , even with a data CD you can write with PCG or compatible to Kronos sys data
and proceed to clear installation (not reset) with SSD format option.

Additionally
The only commercial shareware PC utility that can clone correctly this complex 5 linux partition SSD is Acronis Pro 2013 , but use
entire SSD volume , do not use raw format , clone also SSD boot sector and do not partition destination SSD that must be 128 Gb max.
Also a 16 Gb USB Stick is a good source solution for Kronos OS installation DVDs but requires programming since no utility
(at least known by me ) , is able to comfort 2 DVD9 in a bootable installation compatible to Kronos !

Good luck and let us know of results !

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:42 pm

Actually it seems that cloning his disk was the source of the problem.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:45 pm

I think there is a question if a user can actually clone the Kronos ssd. There might be copyright protection scheme in there.