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 battery 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
