Kronos freeze, continuous tone

HankKeys · Post by **HankKeys** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:23 pm

Hey guys,

last night my Kronos 2 froze during a live show. I couldn't play anymore and the only thing coming out my Kronos was a continuous tone which sounded like a mainboard error signal. It was no hanging note as I was playing strings at the moment and the hanging tone was nothing string alike.
The only thing to solve it was to restart and I can tell you, 1 minute is painfully long during a song.

Has anyone experienced something like this before? Or any idea how the prevent the Kronos from doing this again?

I doubt that I have a loose ram, as the keyboard is only 2 weeks old and completely new, but who knows...

Thanks!

voip · Post by **voip** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:35 pm

There is a chance the RAM may be poorly seated. I've never been 100% happy with the way DIMM type modules fit in their sockets, not just on the Kronos, but on PCs, EMU Proteus...

A possible alternative cause is dirty mains power. Quite a few people power their Kronos via UPS power, to clean up the mains and to keep the board powered up if the mains glitches. A UPS is also useful to power up the Kronos before going onstage, so it's ready and booted when the time comes. Most UPS units will run for quite a long time with just the Kronos connected; easily 30 minutes or more.
.

coyote144 · Post by **coyote144** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:15 pm

Another explaination may be a wrong pedal polarity (this can be inverted in the Global Menu). If you load a global setting with pedal polarity inverted, the sound module consider the damper pedal is always activated. As result, you have a never ending sound, that can only be stopped by pressing your pedal.

Not sure this is what you encountered, but it is something that needs to be known in some cases.

HankKeys · Post by **HankKeys** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:30 pm

Thanks for the replies...

Do you really think it could be the RAM? The keyboard is only 2 weeks old and it never happened before. Currently I'm touring and playing it every night. Also, after the restart it played the whole show (1 hr) perfectly... If it was the RAM, wouldn't it have happened again?

It's not a damper pedal problem, as there where no hanging notes. Just one continuous ugly tone...

I will think about the idea of bad power.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:11 pm

HankKeys wrote:Thanks for the replies...

Do you really think it could be the RAM? The keyboard is only 2 weeks old and it never happened before. Currently I'm touring and playing it every night. Also, after the restart it played the whole show (1 hr) perfectly... If it was the RAM, wouldn't it have happened again?

It's not a damper pedal problem, as there where no hanging notes. Just one continuous ugly tone...

I will think about the idea of bad power.

Its troubleshooting, a short list of causes. If the ram is not locked in firmly, you could get intermittent results.

I would not procrastinate,,, esp since you gig. Definitely solve the power/get a UPS.

All this stuff has been well documented on this forum for a few years.

Falcon2e · Post by **Falcon2e** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:16 pm

I had something similar happen with my new K2. Make sure your OS and FIRMWARE are up to date. After updating BOTH I have not had a problem.

HankKeys · Post by **HankKeys** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 4:27 pm

Firmware and OS are up to date.

Taking a look at the ram is not really possible as I am risking the warranty when opening it. But I would really like to... Maybe there's a service station close by.

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 4:55 pm

I had this happen on my Kronos x 61, I could repeat it by doing the same things I did the first time, there was a certain couple combos that would set it off. I turned everything off from auto load then and I may have even removed everything form auto load then set it back up and it worked fine ever since. I think what caused it initially was a brown out where power fluctuated and caused my Kornos to act up. I now use an APC UPS.

rickster1 · Post by **rickster1** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 3:31 am

I had this exact same thing happen about 6 weeks ago during a show I was doing at a small club/restaurant. I was in sequencer mode, playing with a song I had recorded. Had to re-boot...that was a long 2 1/2 minutes. It happened about a year before that also, at a different gig. Seems random. It's done it 4 times I think. Can't re-create it. I am running 2.1.2 OS & I use a UPS. Just played the same club last nite with no problems. Maybe this has been resolved with the new operating system?

voip · Post by **voip** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 2:03 pm

Is there anything else plugged into the Kronos that could be sending MIDI control or note messages in a way that might throw the board into a frenzy, either via MIDI or through the USB interface? I say that because the nearest I had to this was when plugging in the Korg NanoPAD2 then the AKAI LPD8 to the Kronos USB sockets. Kronos doesn't like both plugged in at the same time!! It immediately started playing a cacophony of notes and then locked up with a continous howl. Powering off, removing the controllers and re-booting cured the problem and the keyboard as been fine since, so nothing was affected permanently.

HankKeys · Post by **HankKeys** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 4:09 pm

No, nothing else was connected. Just the Kronos itself. After rebooting all worked fine for the rest of the concert (min. 1 h). I had soundcheck this afternoon and everything worked fine. So, no idea what happened at the last show.

I now plan to buy a Furman power conditioner to keep myself protected against bad power. This seems to be the nearest solution to me.

Oboemd · Post by **Oboemd** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:08 pm

I had same problem. Freeze would occur when I played specific area of keyboard. My problem was solved by reseating ram, checking connections.

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:59 pm

The Furman will not protect against power drops as far as I know and I know brown outs/drops are one hint that has caused me problems. The UPS took care of a lot of intermittent issues. Stuck notes mysterious restarts. No issues of rover a year since I put it the line.

HankKeys · Post by **HankKeys** » Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:28 am

Yeah, I also came to the conclusion that the Furman is not what I need, as it provides no voltage regulation. An UPS would indeed be better.
We will see... the gig yesterday went fine, so I am waiting with taking any actions. If it happens again I will first check the RAM.

Falcon2e · Post by **Falcon2e** » Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:58 pm

Just to clarify, some Furman products have regulated power, others models don't. I use a Furman power regulator & a UPS. Haven't had a problem. (Fingers crossed)