Two New Kronos 2, Same Problem. System Startup Failed.

[Amplitude]

I have always loved Korg, I still remember using the Trinity, that organ sound has never left my head, and that was almost 30 years ago. Recently I purchased a new Korg Kronos 2 from Sweetwater, imagine my excitement. All was well until one night I turn on the Kronos and got the error of death: "System Failed to Start."

Now, I am a programmer and have a background in Electronics Engineering and so I was not scared, however the issue is, the Keyboard is less than 6 Months and should not have problems or require opening.
Why would I want to repair something that new?

Anyway, I contacted Sweetwater and explain the issue, I did not ask for a replacement and expected nothing in return, especially given the return Window has closed.

To my surprise, I received an email from Sweetwater offering to send me a new one and asked that I return the defective one. Imagine my excitement. So I got the new Kronos 2 same as before and when I started it, the same error appeared.
"System Failed To Start."

How is this even possible? I have nothing connected to the keyboard, only the power-cord. no USB connected.

Researching online, I see that this issue is prolific, and this is not an isolated issue. Is Korg quality control going down the hill? Or has it gone down already?

How is it that a company with so much rich history makes something like this?

The only explanation I can come up with is that these machines are over-engineered, they are doing things that are not supposed to be done by Keyboards.

Again, that's why we have dedicated (desktop/laptop) computers. My thought is that the more advance you make these devices, the more easily they are to malfunction.

Again, people talk about RAM and SSD and checking wires, this is all good if the Keyboard was about 10 years old, why would I start checking wires for something I just received.

Thanks!

[GregC]

Instead of jumping to Internet conclusion, lets get some data.

there are basic steps to follow:

Did you confirm you are receiving factory sealed A stock Kronos' ?

Did you look over the shipping box ? 1 drop of a Kronos will cause problems with connectivity

[Amplitude]

Instead of jumping to Internet conclusion, lets get some data.

there are basic steps to follow:

Did you confirm you are receiving factory sealed A stock Kronos' ?

Did you look over the shipping box ? 1 drop of a Kronos will cause problems with connectivity

2 dead Kronos and I am jumping to conclusions?
Looking on the internet to determine if this is an isolated incident.

You make valid points but given my experience so far, I am merely stating with evidence what I have experienced.

This should not be happening, given the price of these machines.

This is like buying a Mercedes C Class and it wont start.

[GregC]

I don't expect Internet reports to totally represent the " full picture'.

Its the numerator, and sometimes key details are nor presented.

My post to you was to head off and define the easy stuff, as in the beginning history of each Kronos . Sometimes the defect problem has a simple answer.
Thus my 2 questions to you.

FYI, no one here works for Korg. Its a user group. Thus we don't know the exact inner workings and defect rate of products, or whats up or down inside Korg. as it pertains to the Kronos product

[Amplitude]

I don't expect Internet reports to totally represent the " full picture'.

Its the numerator, and sometimes key details are nor presented.

My post to you was to head off and define the easy stuff, as in the beginning history of each Kronos . Sometimes the defect problem has a simple answer.
Thus my 2 questions to you.

To answer your question:
The first box was delivered without hits and holes, the second box, looked as if it was thrown around.

However, they were both double boxed.

I also own a Korg Triton which I have had for about 12 years and the only issue I have was to replace the battery.

We will see what Sweetwater says, I need this Keyboard because I have written about 12 songs for my new Album and all of the songs were inspired by the Kronos.

I don't know.

Just sucks.

I mean it still works sporadically and as I stated, if the Keyboard was older, I would have opened it and hopefully fix the issue.

Thanks for your response.

[GregC]

Lets focus on now . Triton/Trinity were much simpler than Kronos, etc.

lets backup on your experience.

Your first K2, you owned for 6 months. In month 6 , you experienced
"System Failed to Start." It worked, but 'sporadically'.

Is this accurate ? Depending on what is tolerable or the root cause, , it could be your data not hardware. I guess its not use full to re-analyze since you did the replacement.

You contacted SW for the 2nd K2.
Given what you report, on shipping box, I am not 100% confident a double box totally protects the K2, Especially this time if year, when shippers are stressed every which way. Thus I think you have bad luck on your second K2.

[Sam CA]

I returned 2 of them with the same issue. Third time was the charm for me!

[GregC]

I returned 2 of them with the same issue. Third time was the charm for me!

but you have Lucky Charms for breakfast. That may have helped

[Amplitude]

Lets focus on now . Triton/Trinity were much simpler than Kronos, etc.

lets backup on your experience.

Your first K2, you owned for 6 months. In month 6 , you experienced
"System Failed to Start." It worked, but 'sporadically'.

Is this accurate ? Depending on what is tolerable or the root cause, , it could be your data not hardware. I guess its not use full to re-analyze since you did the replacement.

You contacted SW for the 2nd K2.
Given what you report, on shipping box, I am not 100% confident a double box totally protects the K2, Especially this time if year, when shippers are stressed every which way. Thus I think you have bad luck on your second K2.

Yes, that is accurate.
Usually the Keyboard works if I turn it off, wait a few minutes and turn it back on. When I received the first keyboard, I updated the System OS.

I agree that this time of year is very busy and I took pictures of the box which had some holes indicating it was thrown around.

I am surprised that there was no "Fragile." labels on the box.

Well, I am going to keep and open mind and see if they send a third one.

But I am going to pass this information along about the shipment.

Thanks again!

[Amplitude]

I returned 2 of them with the same issue. Third time was the charm for me!

YIKES!

Well, I am going to keep having them replaced until this issue is resolved.

Thanks

[GregC]

Lets focus on now . Triton/Trinity were much simpler than Kronos, etc.

lets backup on your experience.

Your first K2, you owned for 6 months. In month 6 , you experienced
"System Failed to Start." It worked, but 'sporadically'.

Is this accurate ? Depending on what is tolerable or the root cause, , it could be your data not hardware. I guess its not use full to re-analyze since you did the replacement.

You contacted SW for the 2nd K2.
Given what you report, on shipping box, I am not 100% confident a double box totally protects the K2, Especially this time if year, when shippers are stressed every which way. Thus I think you have bad luck on your second K2.

Yes, that is accurate.
Usually the Keyboard works if I turn it off, wait a few minutes and turn it back on. When I received the first keyboard, I updated the System OS.

I agree that this time of year is very busy and I took pictures of the box which had some holes indicating it was thrown around.

I am surprised that there was no "Fragile." labels on the box.

Well, I am going to keep and open mind and see if they send a third one.

But I am going to pass this information along about the shipment.

Thanks again!

I think it will work out. If I know SW,and if you contacted them early am today, they already shipped you a 3rd Kronos today

If so, you 'should ' have it by Thursday/Friday, and you are back in business.

[Aripearlmusic]

If the 3rd one has that problem also then you can be sure that the shipping company is mishandling it. I'm willing to bet it is being caused by one of 2 things or both.

1. The korg disk (with the OS on it) may have a loose data cable or power connection.

2. Power supply is not fully connected to the motherboard.

With your background it shouldn't take long to verify and correct either one but it would still forfeit the warranty unless you are an authorized korg service technician.

[Amplitude]

If the 3rd one has that problem also then you can be sure that the shipping company is mishandling it. I'm willing to bet it is being caused by one of 2 things or both.

1. The korg disk (with the OS on it) may have a loose data cable or power connection.

2. Power supply is not fully connected to the motherboard.

With your background it shouldn't take long to verify and correct either one but it would still forfeit the warranty unless you are an authorized korg service technician.

Exactly, which is why I am hesitant to do it.
I recently replaced the Power supply and the pitch bend stick on my Roland, however, these are older machines and I have had it for over 20 years.

If the 3rd one has a problem, then I can ask the company for half-off and just fix it my self.

But we will see what happens.

I also hate boxing and returning because each time you do, you risk breaking something and then it's on you.
And these Kronos feels like 80 pounds.

[Hector Space]

I appreciate your pain. Last year I had a similar run with Kawai and their MP7SE ( first one faulty replacement was faulty too). In the end I gave up and bought an RD2000 much against my principles but it’s ok.

At the same time I bought a K2 61 (Jan 2019) which has been great, but it did exhibit the occasional failure to start (3 or 4 times) - always at the stage where the red line is nearly at the M for music workstation. I think that’s where it’s doing it’s OS file checks. Anyway I decided since it was very rare and random it would be pointless sending it back coz the dealer’s repair shop wouldn’t find the fault. (I had already spent hours recording and videoing the problems on the Kawai, because they where random and without evidence I didn’t feel Kawai would believe me)
So I’ve kept the K2 and gig with it regularly as my main board. Currently it hasn’t continued to produce the non start problem. It seems to have settled down and is doing an extremely good job.
Like you I’m an engineer- software and hardware, over the years I’ve been involved in the development of many turnkey industrial pc solutions. I don’t believe machines heal themselves so something else is going on here. My view is it’s either a dodgy connection or two or possibly some duff sectors on the ssd. Either way I don’t like skating on thin ice.

[Amplitude]

Just wanted to update this post with the latest info.
I sent an email to Korg over a week ago and have heard nothing back.

However, I was given the following response by the Tech at Sweetwater:

I heard back from Korg and they said that even if the os is current and up to date you may need to update the sub-system firmware. The sub-system firmware upgrades can be found at the link below.
https://www.korg.com/us/support/download/product/0/424/.

If the sub-system firmware upgrade did not correct the issue, the only other thing you can try is to restore the Kronos 8 using the accessory disks that came with the keyboard and an external USB DVD drive.

I have attached the instructions to perform the sub-system firmware update and to restore the Kronos 8 to this email for your convenience.

Hopefully the sub-system firmware update or restoring the Kronos 2 corrects this issue. If not, at that point it would need to be serviced by a technician at a Korg Authorized Service Center. If they need to locate a service center close to them, please ask them to visit http://www.korgusa.com/KorgDealer. First click on Service at the top of the screen, enter the KRONOS8, their Zip Code and then click on search.

I have already Factory defaulted the unit and updated it and the issues persists.

I did try to Update the Sub System and got a message that the Sub System was the Latest version.

So now I am waiting for #3.

I am really hoping this issue gets resolved.