Xpantastic!

Hey

Odds are real good it's a battary issue, But being the machine is +20 yrs old the caps 
could easily need replacing. While you are replacing the battary it would be a good
idea to re-seat all the ribbon cables, chips etc.  

If/When you can get it to boot up, Go to the service page and run the memory
test diagnostics., on the outside chance you have RAM /ROM issues. 

Let me know what happens    

Best Luck

Karl




--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 2/9/16, deanolium@... [xpantastic] <xpantastic@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 Subject: [xpantastic] Weird Xpander Behaviour
 To: xpantastic@yahoogroups.com
 Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 4:46 AM
 
 
  
 
 
 
   
 
 
     
       
       
       Hey there,
 My xpander - which I
 got last year - has started doing odd behaviour, and I just
 want to float it past you guys to see if it is what I hope
 it is; or if not, help to narrow it down.
 I was using my
 xpander yesterday, generating kick-ass sounds as normal.
 Then after about 20 minutes, suddenly the patch name display
 just filled up with asterisks. The sound engine still worked
 - and I was able to continue editing my sound. I then went
 to change the patch at which point the whole thing hung. No
 sound being produced and the buttons did nothing. I then
 rebooted it. The thing sprung to life as per normal but no
 sound was coming out.
 I then turned it off
 and unplugged from mains and left it a while. A couple of
 hours later I replugged it and turned it on. Booted up but
 still no sound. After a hunch, I went into the voices page
 only to find all the voices were set to off -- I turned them
 on and the xpander was working as it
 should.
 Again, I played with
 it for about 40 minutes (really addictive synth that it is),
 and just as I was about to turn it all off, the displays
 just went blank and the leds went on solidly. I power cycled
 it, and this time it didn't boot - just stuck with the
 leds on and no display.
 I turned it off and
 left it about a minute; rebooted and it displayed the
 message of Resetting the Memory (patches won't be
 effected). I pressed yes, only for it to again lock with all
 the LEDs on and no display.
 I again unplugged and
 left it a couple of hours. Coming back, it again showed the
 Reset the memory display, but this time it then booted.
 After that, I turned it off and called it a
 night.
 I'm hoping this is a
 battery issue -- it looks like it's using the original
 batter!
  y and surely that thing has to be dying by now. I opened it
 up and the caps all look fine. Checking the battery voltage
 (albeit in circuit), it's at 3.2v - which seems fine,
 though that is not under load. Reading online, it looks like
 when the battery dies, it can do all kinds of odd things to
 the synth; though checking the schematics I'm not
 totally sure of how this would affect the system once
 it's booted (and has been running successfully for half
 an hour or so). 
 
 I've
 ordered a new battery and will check the voltages with the
 system on later to see what's happening there (I might
 as well scope it, so I can also check for ripple).
 So does this sound like the likely
 cause? The only other thing I can think of (beyond the
 diodes around the battery and 5v line dying) is the psu
 giving spikes or drop outs -- which I'm really hoping it
 isn't. Mainly as the caps in those things can be pretty
 nasty. However, it is a Japanese unit and they seem to be
 known for having shitty PSUs. If it does end up being that
 (ugh), would just replacing the electrolytics be fine, or
 should I look at replacing the power supply entirely with a
 more modern design?
 Cheers,
 deano
 
 
     
      
 
     
     
 
 
 
 #yiv6944683957 #yiv6944683957 --