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Midi mate locking up???


RobV

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Hey guys,

 

I was just wondering if any of you guys that have owned a Rocktron Midimate controller ever had this problem.

 

What's happening is, when I hit one of the buttons (could be any button) about 50% of the time it will either lock up completely, I'll get some garbage in the readout, or it will reset itself. Generally it'll just plain freak out on me.

 

To remedy this I have to unplug the cable (I'm using phantom power) and plug it back in. Basically like a re-boot.

 

I've taken it apart, and don't see anything broken or wires bare. Anything out of the ordinary. After I put it back together it was better for a while, now it's just as bad as ever.

 

You could see how annoying this is when you're at a gig and right in the middle of a song it just freaks out like this. I'ts gotten to the point where I'm afraid to hit the buttons (not much good when that's what it's job is eh?).

 

Let me know what I could do about this, or if you've had this happen.

 

Thanks

 

Rob

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It lasted for...hmmm... I'd say several days. That's the strange part. I really didn't do anything. Someone on another board suggested I take it apart and check for cold solder joints, and use some contact cleaner.

 

I did this last night. I didn't see any bad soldering, loose components, or anything out of the ordinary. So I used some contact cleaner and cleaned both sides of the circut board.

 

I guess I'll have to see if this improved it any. I'll get back if I see any lockups again. Just wish I would find something.

 

Thanks

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Well, I think that they mentioned good things to check for.

 

Intermident problems are the worst things to troubleshoot.

 

It's much easier if something dies completely, because you know for sure when you fixed it.

 

 

Since it had a short period where it worked, I think it leads me to believe that there is a mechanical issue that is causeing an electrical problem. That would include the mentioned loose or poor solder connection or a frayed wire, etc.

 

 

You should closely examine every inch of the circuit board. Use a magnifying glass if you got it. There might be a hair-line fracture of a circuit board.

 

When it stopped working, did you move the board that day? Like, take it to a gig or another room or out of storage?

 

The movement might have started or moved something into position to cause this problem.

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I had the same problem with mine. I emailed Rocktron support and the guy said that perhaps the power supply wasn't providing enough output/current. The thing is that I was using the supply Rocktron gives with the midi mate. I finally just gave up on it and bought a behringer FB1010. Couldn't deal with the reliability, and if something goes wrong with the behringer I'm only out $100. I miss the readout on the midi mate though. Let me know if you figure out the problem.

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Well, it's possible that the power levels the circuit board was seeing could still be low, even with a good power supply.

 

You still have the socket you're plugging into, then all the interals of the pedalboard.

 

It's possible that something inside was poorly connected or shorted, causing some of the power from the supply being diverted elsewhere and starving the circuit that needed it.

 

The other thing is power supplies can go bad.

 

Either there's an intermident connection and it get wiggled the right way or the power supply heats up enough to cause a hair-line fracture to expand, etc.

 

I had a problem on my GC 1.0, where if I stepped on the board just the right way, the power connectoin wiggled enough to momentarily cut the power and reset the board.

 

Start wiggling things and see if you can make the problem more repeatable :p

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Originally posted by EVH Wolfgang

Well, I think that they mentioned good things to check for.


Intermident problems are the worst things to troubleshoot.


It's much easier if something dies completely, because you know for sure when you fixed it.



Since it had a short period where it worked, I think it leads me to believe that there is a mechanical issue that is causeing an electrical problem. That would include the mentioned loose or poor solder connection or a frayed wire, etc.



You should closely examine every inch of the circuit board. Use a magnifying glass if you got it. There might be a hair-line fracture of a circuit board.


When it stopped working, did you move the board that day? Like, take it to a gig or another room or out of storage?


The movement might have started or moved something into position to cause this problem.

 

 

Well, for the most part I move it around a lot. Like from my basement, to the practice studio and such.

 

Intermitent problems do suck for sure. I used it again last night for a while and it's still working OK. If it starts acting up again, I'll try the magnifying glass and examine the circut board closely ( I actually did, but without the magnifying glass).

 

I'm really hoping that the contact cleaner did the trick

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I thought I did mention it??

 

Whatever....The very first time I took it apart, I didn't use anything. Just put it back together, 'cause it looked fine.

 

And it worked fine.

 

This time after having trouble I cleaned the ENTIRE board with contact cleaner.

 

It's now working fine again. For how long...who knows. Hopefully from now on:)

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