Korg Forums

I read other threads with Windows communication issues, but I didn't find one where the Kronos just plain doesn't appear to the operating system at all. I'm using Windows 7 64 on two different laptops, and my USB cables are tested with other devices as working properly. My Kronos 2.1.1 works fine. When I plug the Kronos into either laptop, there's no response at all from the OS, and no new device appears in the Device Manager's Sound, video, and game controllers or anywhere else. I installed the Korg MIDI USB driver on one of the laptops, but it made no difference.

Since neither laptop detects the Kronos, I was hoping that there's some setting on the Kronos to ensure its USB will communicate with a computer. I have verified that external controllers plugged into either USB port will play the Kronos as expected. Am I missing something simple? Any suggestions what to troubleshoot?

I can't remember the details but advice was given in the forum somewhere a while back; so you should be able to search for it.

I had the same issue and I recall that it was fixed by deleting the USB Korg/Kronos driver and then re-installing it....

Carbon Trader wrote:I can't remember the details but advice was given in the forum somewhere a while back; so you should be able to search for it.

As I said, I've searched but I only find people who can't communicate with a Kronos that's at least showing up in their device manager.

Carbon Trader wrote:I had the same issue and I recall that it was fixed by deleting the USB Korg/Kronos driver and then re-installing it....

I'm saying my situation is different: with no Korg driver installed, my laptops don't even detect that something has been plugged in. Korg's installation instructions say that without their driver, Windows will still detect it, but you want their driver or else it won't work correctly. In any case, I install Korg's driver for the first time, so that's a clean install, yet that laptop still detects nothing.

Summary:
* Your laptops work fine with other USB devices;
* Your USB cable is fine as well (tested);
* When you connect your Kronos through USB to one of your laptops, nothing happens (no message, no warning sound).

Sounds like the USB-B port on the Kronos isn't working as it should. Do the two USB-A ports on the Kronos work?
You can test this by connecting a USB stick to the Kronos and see if you can read the files on the stick.

Oh for godsake, I plugged the laptop that doesn't have the Korg driver into the Kronos's USB-B port, and Windows sensed it and put two Kronos's into the Device Manager. Presumably, all I need to do now that the computer sees the Kronos is work out the glitches with installing the driver. So you mean the Kronos's B port has a different functionality than the A ports? Did I fail to RTFM somewhere?

I'd only been trying the two USB-A ports, and external controllers play the Kronos without a problem when plugged into either of those ports. So I assumed the laptop could plug in there, too. The A port has a very long USB extension cable, and I also need to locate the laptops some distance from the Kronos. So I need to go out and get a very long USB-B cable or extension?

Hi.
So you have to connect the Kronos to the computer using the squared USB connector (aka USB B).
Also the cable length must be something like max 5 m.

I hope it gelps.

You should never, ever connect two flat ended USB ports unless some manual specifically states so. It's possible to fry either port that way, due to the way USB power is wired.

So yes, you forgot to RTFM.
The USB ports are different, and for a good reason; if you connect anything to the A type ports, the Kronos acts as the host computer for the connected controller or cd drive/USB stick. If you connect the Kronos to a computer via the B type port, the computer acts as the host and the K will be a midi keyboard/sound module from the computer's POV.

Hope that solves your issues.

SanderXpander wrote:You should never, ever connect two flat ended USB ports unless some manual specifically states so. It's possible to fry either port that way, due to the way USB power is wired.

That's a general principle for computer equipment? I never knew that. Come to think of it, I'm now realizing that peripherals I attach to a computer with a USB cable, such as printers, hard drive enclosures, and audio interfaces always seem to have USB-B ports (or else mini or micro). I can understand the practicality of the smaller sizes, but I always wondered why some things have USB-B.

That's a general principle for computer equipment?

Yes. There are a very few exceptions, but this is a very good rule of thumb. That's exactly why ALL your other devices use the USB-B type - so it's impossible to misplug. Except when you go out and buy a cable to get around this.

Or when a device offers 2 USB-A's right next to a USB-B to plug into.

With any normal USB cable it would be impossible to create this problem.

But I can be quite creative. I plugged a long USB extension cable into the Kronos's USB-A, and I was plugging my MIDI controllers into the other end of that. Then when I wanted to use Karma or editor software, I saw I had a USB-3 cable lying around that's A-style on both sides, and voila: I created the impossible.

Fair enough. Now you know. Hope it works fine on both computers now.