Josh left his broken keyboard at the museum the other night so I could take a look at it, and try and get it working again.
M-Audio | KeyStudio, it looks like a fairly nice keyboard. I don't know that much about what makes a good keyboard or not, but Josh said that this was from his childhood and it would be great if I could get it working again for him.
Josh told me the night before that he thought it was probably a simple fix and I would just need to reconnect a solder joint to the usb connector, no problem I can do that.
So I started taking apart the back and removing all the screws. There was like 20 screws!
Once the back cover was loose it was time to get to the good stuff.
There were 4 ribbon connectors connecting the keyboard, and all the dials on the front of the case to the main board.
The main board was screwed into the plastic with four little screws. Once they were removed the board came out easily.
On first glance the board looks very useable still, i.e. it doesn't look like anything is wrong with it. The capacitors are not bulged there is no charred marks as if something blew up/fried.All the solder joints look very good still, nothing is loose and broken. So I am clueless to what the problem could be.
I guess the first thing to do would be to test what I am getting at the USB connection to verify that the board is actually receiving power. I pulled out my multimeter, plugged the board into my laptop, switched it to test for voltage and poked around near the usb connector.
It wasn't too long till my multimeter sprung alive and I realized that I was in fact getting 4.89 volts from the usb. I believe usb ports put out 5v so that appears correct. The board is getting power, but it still is not turning on.
hmmmmmm.
While I was at it I tried testing continuity of the switch because I wondered if power was coming into the board, but the switch was broken. After testing all the leads, I found out that the switch is still, in fact, working which has me further stumped.
I guess the next thing to do is research this model and find out if anyone else has experienced issues.
But before I do, I had one more trick up my sleeve.
Upon further inspection, a coworker noticed some minor corrosion near the integrated circuit (IC) which are the brains to the synth on the backside of the board. Maybe this has something to do with why it is not functioning. I took a small alcohol wipe to try and clean off the corrosion and try the board again in my computer. Still 4.89 volts coming into the board but it isn't turning on.
All in all pretty frustrating morning. If anyone has any recommendations on how to get this board back to work for my friend Josh, I would love to hear any suggestions!
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