Electribe 2 Sampler will not complete startup

my3911 · Post by **my3911** » Mon Oct 04, 2021 6:03 pm

Hello Korg Forum!

I bought a second hand Korg Electribe 2 Sampler that has an issue with starting up. I figured I could setup the firmware update on an SD card and it would be fine but this is not the case. After powering it on, the startup image appears and the progress bar goes all the way to the end but it doesn't do anything after that. I have tried four different SD and SD/HC cards ranging from 1GB to 32GB formatted using FAT32, with the following folder structures:
SD > Korg > electribe sampler > Sample > e2sSample.all
SD > Korg > electribe sampler > System > SYSTEM.VSB
I have tried several different firmware versions for the SYSTEM.VSB file, but the unit does not acknowledge the SD card since it never continues past the startup screen. When I do have an SD card installed, only the startup image is displayed and the progress bar does not appear. Is there anyway to unbrick this unit?

Thank you in advance!

russellclarke · Post by **russellclarke** » Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:03 pm

You can fix this via JTAG using OpenOCD and a Raspberry Pi. A few details in this thread, use these OpenOCD config files.

my3911 · Post by **my3911** » Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:39 pm

Thank you! I have a Raspberry Pi 3 with umbrella (hopefully that will work) and based on the other threads I’m assuming I would need to connect JTAG to some headers I’ll need to install at J9 on the E2S? I didn’t find any specific instructions on how to get this setup and the provided config files transferred so any other info would be greatly appreciated!

I also have a JTAG compatible Silicon Labs 8-bit USB Debug Adapter that seems to have all the required connections which I have used on some Moog products: https://www.silabs.com/documents/public ... dapter.pdf

Would this also work or is OpenOCD with a Raspberry Pi the only way to unbrick a E2S?

Thanks again for your help!

my3911 · Post by **my3911** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:26 pm

So I just purchased a JTAG Hat for my Raspberry Pi to facilitate connectivity to J9 on the E2S. The Silicon Labs debugger seems to have all the right connections but I don't see anywhere that it supports ARM processors. Here's the JTAG Hat if anyone is interested and I'll keep this thread updated on how it turns out: https://shop.blinkinlabs.com/products/jtag-hat

russellclarke · Post by **russellclarke** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 2:26 pm

I made a start on a debricking guide. It will be a while before it's fleshed out, but you may find these notes useful:

Electribe 2 Debrick Guide

As far as I can tell, the Silabs adapter isn't supported by OpenOCD, there is a page in the manual dealing with different adapters:

https://www.openocd.org/doc/html/Debug- ... figuration

That Pi Hat looks useful. It's not strictly necessary for the electribe as the voltage matches so we can just use the GPIO.

my3911 · Post by **my3911** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 3:28 pm

Thank you Russell! This is VERY helpful and I'm sure it will be to many others!