Digitone hanging on boot, are we still assuming it's the capacitor?

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#1

So I turned my Digitone on this morning to quickly listen to the mess I’d made on it last night, all fine. It was probably only on for about a minute before being turned off.

Went to turn it on about 2 hours later and it started hanging on the boot. No issues on test mode, everything fine there, same with different PSU, but just will not boot up. I’m assuming I’ve done something to the big old capacitor because there’s a few lights lingering red for about 2 seconds after I power off.

I’ve waited 3 hours and it’s still doing it, so I’ll probably wait til tomorrow and have another go before I submit a ticket, just wondering if there’s anything I might have missed before I do.

Here’s a nice portrait video of the naughty little bastard, mostly so you can all have a good laugh at my misfortune.

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#2

So you can get into test mode fine? If so that might lead me to think it could be a firmware issue, maybe try reflashing it from the startup menu?

#3

Yep, test mode is all good.

The thing that’s makinge think it’s the cap is that only half the lights are kicking in and the weird little bunch that stay red after powering down.

If I remember rightly from when I had one do something similar before, it’s something to do with the supercap in it that acts as some sort of temporary memory or something and how it can get stuck not discharging fully, which somehow stops it booting up. I’m not 100%, it was a couple of years ago.

I’ll look into reflashing the firmware though, see what that does.

#4

I turned mine off and then on too quickly a few weeks ago and it did the same thing. Test mode worked, but it wouldn’t get past the E logo.

I think I just unplugged the USB cable and then it worked. Although that could be a coincidence.

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#5

Yeah, I originally thought that was the deal, but the fact it’s still doing it 3 hours later is making me think there’s something else going on.

#6

i have a sneaking suspicion that these random “boot-stuck” moments often happen and then fix themselves (the ones that are not provoked by fast on/off cycle), might be caused by staticly charged dust somewhere on the mainboard. maybe its just that sensative during boot.

Its easy for dust to get into digis through button gaps, but its not a big deal because they can later exit through vesa mount holes or in some cases jacks.

#7

Interesting, had not heard about the supercap - hope you get it working - maybe leave it powered off for a couple days if reflashing does not help.

#8

Have you tried unplugging it and powering it on (to discharge the capacitor completely)?

#9

Yeah, nothing doing. I’m gonna leave it 24 hours and see if it works. Similar thing happened with a Digitakt once, just left it a day and it was fine.

#10

Not much to offer but hope it gets sorted. The lights at startup look correct, the red lights when powered off do not.

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#11

It’s different lights on startup though, sometimes there’s more, sometimes there’s less.

#12

Mine crashed while using a few trigger locked arps (1/4 kicks) at different pitches on the same track. Afterward I couldn’t get it to boot. Similar problem (visually) to what you’ve experienced…I unplugged everything and let it sit. Fortunately for me it booted after about 30 min, but yeah…i wanted to get rid of it after learning this is a fairly common problem. I hope the best for you and your Digitone. I absolutely love mine, but am starting to play live shows and need reliable kit.

#13

Oh, that doesn’t sound good. Pretty sure mines consistent. Good luck!

#14

Fixed!

Not quite sure how though.

Turned it on this morning, same issue, so plugged it into my wife’s laptop to try and flash the firmware, didn’t work, as the computer couldn’t see it.

Spent the next half hour pissing about with USB and PSU cables and rebooting things and for some completely unknown reason it suddenly just booted up.

I’ve updated the firmware and all seems well so far. Song mode looks shit.

Cheers for the suggestions/thoughts and prayers.

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#15

And it’s fucked again.

Oh well, let’s just hope it’s still got some warranty left on it.

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#16

I bought a Digitakt when they first came out, and within a few days it had froze when booting up. I could never get it to reboot again, so I returned it. This is something that is completely unacceptable, especially after these have been out for so long. I can’t imagine having that happen at a show.

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#17

I dunno, it’s a pretty impossible standard to expect every single unit to work perfectly and for nothing to ever go wrong.

I’m more likely to judge a company by how well they deal with problems, which Elektron have always been really good with when I’ve had to use support.

Shit happens, I’m not going to get all pissy about it, no point.

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#18

Hahaha awesome

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#19

And just to double down on that, I’ve submitted the support ticket this morning and had an email from Christian to get the necessary troubleshooting going within 5 minutes.

You can’t really ask for much better than that, from a service perspective.

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#21

I respectfully disagree with that. every company on earth will have a faulty unit or two. and as Fin says, elektron have some of the best customer service on earth.

last week they made up a little cart for me of black digitoneKeys bottom row sequencer buttons n 4 octatrack track buttons so I can turn my digitone stealth mode.

they’re top drawer in my book

:sunglasses:

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