Anyone Buy A Replacement Motherboard Recently?

tunaman · Post by **tunaman** » Fri Jan 06, 2023 12:45 am

I just spoke with the Korg tech who is troubleshooting my second K2 73, and he has yet to get it to fail (as described in another thread). It failed intermittently, but frequent enough, that I had to get it diagnosed and serviced.

I had already bought a new power supply and piggy-backed it on the original for testing purposes, and it still failed indicating that it wasn’t due to the PS.

He checked the Korg site, and it showed the motherboard as discontinued. However, I seem to recall seeing someone post that they were able to source a replacement relatively recently?

CliveJ · Post by **CliveJ** » Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:35 am

This is probably a dumb question - won’t a Nautilus motherboard do the job?

tunaman · Post by **tunaman** » Fri Jan 06, 2023 3:42 pm

As they say, the only dumb question is the one not asked

Not sure if they are compatible or not, but it is worth looking into. I’ll ask my Korg tech to check into it, thanks!

CliveJ · Post by **CliveJ** » Fri Jan 06, 2023 3:44 pm

Please let us know how you get on.

McHale · Post by **McHale** » Sat Jan 07, 2023 3:49 pm

When my Kronos died I was positive it was the power supply. It was not. It was the motherboard. I picked up mine from ebay for like $40. Since then I have picked up 2 more spares that sit in a box just in case.

Korg used off the shelf PC motherboards. I believe yours is an Intel Atom D525 (mine's a 510). BUT... open it up to confirm. Ebay has them all the time.

-Mc

tunaman · Post by **tunaman** » Sat Jan 07, 2023 7:33 pm

Thanks. I took a glance this morning and see several different motherboards available, with several different I/O configurations for connectors and such. I’ll have to dig in deeper and get one of mine opened up to look at the specifics more closely.

Appreciate the suggestion!

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Sun Jan 08, 2023 5:14 am

My understanding is that, though there are several commodity motherboards that will work, some will require modifications to either the board or Kronos due to physical size constraints and location of connectors. I think I read that here a few years ago.

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Sun Jan 08, 2023 6:26 pm

This is the one that is spec'd in the service manual for Kronos X / Kronos 2
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Dual-Core- ... B0041RSC94

Several much less costly listed on eBay, supposedly brand new.

average_male · Post by **average_male** » Sun Jan 08, 2023 7:26 pm

Xenophile wrote:This is the one that is spec'd in the service manual for Kronos X / Kronos 2
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Dual-Core- ... B0041RSC94

That is for the V1 Kronos. The Kornos V2 uses ASRock 140D Plus motherboards.

And it seems the service manual you are referring to may be noting V2 of the manual and not the Kronos?

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 4:47 pm

average_male wrote:
Xenophile wrote:This is the one that is spec'd in the service manual for Kronos X / Kronos 2
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Dual-Core- ... B0041RSC94
That is for the V1 Kronos. The Kornos V2 uses ASRock 140D Plus motherboards.

And it seems the service manual you are referring to may be noting V2 of the manual and not the Kronos?

You’re right. In fact I was recently griping in another thread about not being able to find a service manual for Kronos 2. The “V2” manual just comprehends Kronos and Kronos X, and calls out the fact that they have different motherboards. I didn’t realize Korg had changed motherboards again, even though I’ve been inside my Kronos 2 a few times.

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 4:53 pm

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpbb2/ ... hp?t=96799

average_male · Post by **average_male** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 5:46 pm

For the OP (or anyone else that currently needs a K2 motherboard), this seller has two of them (used and from the UK).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/404095085468
(Apologies to anyone referencing this link in the distant future as the listing will be expired at some point. I did attempt archive it at: https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://w ... 4095085468* or here: https://web.archive.org/web/20230109174 ... 4095085468)

These are the same 140D Plus model, however, if you compare these with the ones currently in the Kronos 2, the Kronos 2 motherboards have some components removed, like the "mini PCIe" and "mini-SATA" ports on the back of the motherboard. There are several other components on the top side of the board also have been removed. Guessing with the model currently on eBay, these motherboards may consume more resources (processing power and current) and may need to have some bios settings changed to match stock Kronos 2 motherboards?

Xenophile · Post by **Xenophile** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 6:43 pm

I see someone in Pakistan trying to sell those ASRock boards for $950 plus shipping.

I'm not sure, but I think Korg service centers can still get the original boards for around $400. I had mine replaced a few years ago, while my K2 was still under warranty. I think that is kind of a default repair when Kronos gets flaky.

cjfox · Post by **cjfox** » Tue Jan 10, 2023 10:00 pm

For what it's worth, I've replaced the MB in my original Kronos 61. I got a used D510 off ebay, It worked, but shortly after that the power supply went, taking out the video driver board. I documented all my efforts in another thread. I've got it back working, but it freezes after exactly one hour. I've tried to change the BIOS settings with no change. The Korg repair tech near me was no help and it sat in his shop for months before I finally took it home to do the work myself. From researching the forum, I have found out: Korg does not sell the D510 MB anymore, they will sell the D525 which requires the V2 operating system discs, and also a different power supply harness, and a different I/O board. I am frustrated with the whole situation, as I loved my Kronos when it was working. Too many parts on the original are no longer available, and you risk going down the rabbit hole of replacing multiple parts.

JFree · Post by **JFree** » Thu Jan 12, 2023 12:45 am

Looks like I'm in the need a motherboard boat. Looking for an original new, or if anyone discovers documented info on a substitution if there is such a thing. It seems like all of a sudden lots of people are having issues.