Kronos will be staying home in the studio

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:13 pm

Repair shop had it for several weeks, and finally were able to repro the issue after leaving it powered on for several days. Diagnostic indicated that there is an intermittent problem with the main board, so they are replacing that under warranty. Hoping that solves the issue!

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:17 pm

I imagine I will still have to work with Korg Support to re-activate a couple of EXs packages that I purchased, since I understand that their license is tied to the motherboard serial number?

NormC · Post by **NormC** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:04 pm

Xenophile wrote:I imagine I will still have to work with Korg Support to re-activate a couple of EXs packages that I purchased, since I understand that their license is tied to the motherboard serial number?

I believe it is tied to the MAC address of the motherboard so you will definitely need Korg support.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:11 pm

Xenophile wrote:Repair shop had it for several weeks, and finally were able to repro the issue after leaving it powered on for several days. Diagnostic indicated that there is an intermittent problem with the main board, so they are replacing that under warranty. Hoping that solves the issue!

I guess you are referring to the motherboard, an Intel product. Thats a broad problem, IMO, and its good to read they ID'd the defect.

I realize that Kronos is an assembled keyboard. Just the same , I am curious about the defect rate of various components. There is such a large range of longevity on components, from 1 month to + 8 years.

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:29 pm

GregC wrote: I guess you are referring to the motherboard, an Intel product. Thats a broad problem, IMO, and its good to read they ID'd the defect.

Kronos 2 uses an ASRock IMB-140D Plus motherboard with an Intel Atom D2500 processor.
But according to the service tech, Korg makes some modifications to this board... apparently removing some interface chips? I had not heard that before.
I would speculate that they might remove some onboard audio interface or USB hub.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:00 pm

Xenophile wrote:
GregC wrote: I guess you are referring to the motherboard, an Intel product. Thats a broad problem, IMO, and its good to read they ID'd the defect.
Kronos 2 uses an ASRock IMB-140D Plus motherboard with an Intel Atom D2500 processor.
But according to the service tech, Korg makes some modifications to this board... apparently removing some interface chips? I had not heard that before.
I would speculate that they might remove some onboard audio interface or USB hub.

good to know, thanks !

KK · Post by KK » Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:06 pm

Xenophile wrote:But according to the service tech, Korg makes some modifications to this board... apparently removing some interface chips? I had not heard that before.

On the K2, mods to the motherboard include removal of some connectors so it can fit in the cramped space and also other undesirable components like the buzzer, etc.

Purgatory · Post by **Purgatory** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:18 pm

Xenophile wrote:I imagine I will still have to work with Korg Support to re-activate a couple of EXs packages that I purchased, since I understand that their license is tied to the motherboard serial number?

I believe you will not need to re-activate the EXs as the security to authenticate EXs is done on another board with a security chip AT88SC0204CA or a variation of it ( http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/d ... ummary.pdf ).

That chip and the Kronos Public ID is all linked into the security to authenticate EXs and the kronos software.

The chip :-

It creates the Kronos Public ID

It holds one part of the AES keys that are used to encrypt the kronos software.

It is used to authenticate EXs

This is why people that repair their kronos with a new motherboard themselves never need to re-activate the keyboard or EXs.

Well let us know when you get it back if you need to do any of that, as long as they don't replace the SSD with your software on it, I bet it will be like it was with no need to do anything it will just work without re-activation.

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Wed Jul 24, 2019 4:31 pm

I finally got it back yesterday after 2 months in the shop (It was there for 1 month before they were able to observe the failure). They replaced both the motherboard and the power supply board. As Purgatory predicted, I did not have to re-activate anything. It is nice to have that powerful instrument back!

I still am not planning to take it to gigs until I feel confident that it is stable. Plus, I've fallen back in love with Mainstage/Logic's "Vintage B3." Kronos organs are good, but I can't get them to scream like that plug-in can.

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:26 pm

Just in time to take advantage of this!
https://shop.korg.com/kronos

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Thu Jul 25, 2019 1:39 am

Xenophile wrote:I finally got it back yesterday after 2 months in the shop (It was there for 1 month before they were able to observe the failure). They replaced both the motherboard and the power supply board. .

Its great to have it professionally repaired , good news

Thats a major repair for a 1 year old Kronos 2 keyboard.

Components should last , theoretically , for numerous years. Thats what I would expect from your K2

popmann · Post by **popmann** » Sat Jul 27, 2019 4:32 pm

Xenophile wrote:
I still am not planning to take it to gigs until I feel confident that it is stable. Plus, I've fallen back in love with Mainstage/Logic's "Vintage B3." Kronos organs are good, but I can't get them to scream like that plug-in can.

Amels’s Organ for LogicX is the second best emulation I’ve played—and takes less resources to run seamlessly than the first (acoustiSamplesB5) -the cx3 was decent for 2001 tech...and I’m sure fine live...but authenticity is not the strong suit by modern model OR sampler standards.

Glad to hear they got the issue worked out.

tomto66 · Post by **tomto66** » Sat Jul 27, 2019 8:24 pm

My Kronos X88 is also retiring to the studio. I'm switching to laptop/VSTs/Cantabile. Main reason is international travel - too heavy to ship, rental is too expensive (I hardly make money on international gigs) and the fact that purchased libraries cannot be ported to rented keyboards.

However - after 6 years of gigging (that amounts to 500+ times in/out of flightcase/car), it NEVER EVER failed on me. It crashed once in the studio - when I had the phone on top of it when someone rang - interference I guess; it rebooted fine.

No complaints about reliability, and expect to use it many more years!

Derek Cook · Post by **Derek Cook** » Sun Jul 28, 2019 7:26 am

tomto66 wrote:My Kronos X88 is also retiring to the studio. I'm switching to laptop/VSTs/Cantabile.

Another shout out for Cantabile. Very powerful software.

And I am glad the OP has his Kronos back all fixed. Touch wood, mine has been faultless.