New Kronos died after 3 minutes - tech support 2-3 days?!!

PatrickD · Post by **PatrickD** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:44 pm

There is always the possibility that KORG has nothing to do with this and really bad things can happen during shipping.
I drove semi for 20 years and I can tell you the wrong guy, the wrong road, the wrong receiver can all play hell with electronic item and this sounds like you may have been bit.
Box damage wont show a thing sometimes if it lands right and your unit is hurt anyway. I know its no consolation but I would try again with a different unit.

whardy7 · Post by **whardy7** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 8:31 pm

I called Zzounds and they were very responsive. I finally received a response back from Korg and they said to contact Zzounds.

After about four hours of researching, as well as restarting constantly hoping for a lucky break, I actually tried reseating the ram, disconnecting the hard drive cable and reseating it, as well. Amazingly, after about 5 restarts it actually let me restore from the DVDs. It came up the next time, but it appears that 3 of the sound engines have problems. I begin to play and the sound on piano, strings, brass, all cut out after about 30 seconds for about 5 seconds, almost as if someone brings a fader down, then back up. The other banks don't do that. It does it through monitors and headphones, both, so I've tried to isolate any other causes.

This just does not appear to be a good unit. Now I'm scared to keep the Korg. I know Yamahas have problems, too - I don't have my head in the sand about that. I just never had it happen with a new unit and when I eventually needed some service, the tech support was so much more accessible.

Thanks for all the responses. That was a help.

keven108 · Post by **keven108** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:44 pm

Glad to hear Zzounds was responsive.

Just curious, do all the programs in those engines fade out or just some?

voip · Post by **voip** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:46 pm

Demo sounds from preloaded expansion packs fade in and out until a licence key is bought for them. Do the default sounds like KRONOS German Grand also fade in and out in this fashion?

.

whardy7 · Post by **whardy7** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:53 pm

I haven't tried every one of them, but took a sampling out of them. I play a key repeatedly and I timed it. It plays for 10 seconds, then it fades out to nothing, then back up for a period of 4 seconds, then plays 10 seconds, etc. It is a clear fade, not an immediate dropoff.

If I restart the keyboard, it sometimes comes up and sometimes doesn't, so I'm hesitant to restart it too many times. I have taken out every variable that I can conceivably think of. My outputs are direct to speakers, I've switched speakers, cables, and I've tried the headphones, as well. The pattern stays the same every time.

I'm just ready to get it out of here and get a new one. It tempts me into thinking that it is a really great keyboard, but I'm really skewed against it right now, and mostly towards Korg tech support. They didn't seem to be concerned at all. Zzounds is replacing it with the same thing, so maybe I'll get to get a real feel for it. Now, I'm going to be worried about it lasting very long.

keven108 · Post by **keven108** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:09 pm

Wow, such a bummer. You have a very unusual situation with it though.

On the fading out, see voip's reply above. It's not the sound engines. Those are free third party expansions that need a key to activate them. I never bothered with them...

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:13 pm

whardy7 wrote:I haven't tried every one of them, but took a sampling out of them. I play a key repeatedly and I timed it. It plays for 10 seconds, then it fades out to nothing, then back up for a period of 4 seconds, then plays 10 seconds, etc. It is a clear fade, not an immediate dropoff.

If I restart the keyboard, it sometimes comes up and sometimes doesn't, so I'm hesitant to restart it too many times. I have taken out every variable that I can conceivably think of. My outputs are direct to speakers, I've switched speakers, cables, and I've tried the headphones, as well. The pattern stays the same every time.

I'm just ready to get it out of here and get a new one. It tempts me into thinking that it is a really great keyboard, but I'm really skewed against it right now, and mostly towards Korg tech support. They didn't seem to be concerned at all. Zzounds is replacing it with the same thing, so maybe I'll get to get a real feel for it. Now, I'm going to be worried about it lasting very long.

you really went above and beyond to try to 'fix ' a defective board.

The defect rate for consumer electronics can range from 1-3%. If you think about it, there is a variety of mass produced computer components that go into a keyboard and the Kronos is much more complicated than your old Motif. One crummy component in the 'chain ' creates a failure. You really had some bad luck, IMO.

Many of us are going on 5 years old with our Kronos' running strong and reliable. But that is what is expected.

whardy7 · Post by **whardy7** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:35 am

Well, here seems to be the end of the saga...

In answer to a preview question, this happened on the programs that Kronos2 came with, including Berlin. I hadn't loaded anything else onto the Kronos2, except for reformatting and restoring from the DVDs. It did force me to go online and do something with reauthorizing a public ID, but that seemed to go without a hitch.

Zzounds had another keyboard here today, which I thought was really good service. I've been playing with it for a couple hours and it seems to work like a charm. I think I was just unfortunate to get something defective off the line.

I have some questions, but I'll post those in a new thread.

Thanks for all the replies. Ready to have fun now...

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:18 am

Glad to hear you got this sorted. That's a really disappointing start with such an expensive board, but I hope it can win you over and make you forget about those first few frustrations. We have a pretty nice community here if you need any help. And be sure to check out the enormous list of tutorials by various members.

voip · Post by **voip** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 10:30 am

Good to hear Zzsounds did the honourable thing, and you gan get down to enjoying the Kronos.

.

danmusician · Post by **danmusician** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 6:39 pm

whardy7 wrote:...I actually tried reseating the ram, disconnecting the hard drive cable and reseating it, as well...

For future reference, I'm not sure I would try doing this to troubleshoot a brand new unit. There's a real risk in voiding the warranty. If a part inside the machine turns out to be broken, it would be hard for the dealer to know if it came that way or you caused the damage.

I'm glad Zzsounds took care of you. Use your new Kronos without fear, it's a great instrument.

But for others, if you have trouble out of the box, better not to open up the unit while troubleshooting.

Thoraldus · Post by **Thoraldus** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 6:41 pm

danmusician wrote:
whardy7 wrote:...I actually tried reseating the ram, disconnecting the hard drive cable and reseating it, as well...
For future reference, I'm not sure I would try doing this to troubleshoot a brand new unit. There's a real risk in voiding the warranty. If a part inside the machine turns out to be broken, it would be hard for the dealer to know if it came that way or you caused the damage.

I'm glad Zzsounds took care of you. Use your new Kronos without fear, it's a great instrument.

But for others, if you have trouble out of the box, better not to open up the unit while troubleshooting.

+1000 !!!