OB-X8 OS 1.1.0.0 BRICKED MY SYNTH

[neakaiser]

Can someone help me?  Just transferred the new firmware via Sysex on a mac.  No issues at all.  Restarted the synth when done. Now when I turn it on, my LCD doesn't turn on, and most of the buttons have the red light showing, and nothing works when I press any buttons. Sysex doesn't see the synth anymore either so I can't re-send it.

HELP!?

[fg]

Can someone help me?  Just transferred the new firmware via Sysex on a mac.  No issues at all.  Restarted the synth when done. Now when I turn it on, my LCD doesn't turn on, and most of the buttons have the red light showing, and nothing works when I press any buttons. Sysex doesn't see the synth anymore either so I can't re-send it.

HELP!?

Try the recovery mode described here: https://support.oberheim.com/hc/en-gb/articles/7067213876370

[neakaiser]

Thanks for the suggestion. Tried that but didn't seem to work. I get the recovery screen but when I send the OS via Midi, it doesn't seem to accept it.  Still says "Ready for SysEx".  Sysex takes some time to send it, but nothing happens on the receiving side.  I usually send Sysex via USB, so perhaps my old USB-to-Midi cable I'm using is problematic. 

Can someone help me?  Just transferred the new firmware via Sysex on a mac.  No issues at all.  Restarted the synth when done. Now when I turn it on, my LCD doesn't turn on, and most of the buttons have the red light showing, and nothing works when I press any buttons. Sysex doesn't see the synth anymore either so I can't re-send it.

HELP!?

Try the recovery mode described here: https://support.oberheim.com/hc/en-gb/articles/7067213876370

[Vestapol]

Can someone help me?  Just transferred the new firmware via Sysex on a mac.  No issues at all.  Restarted the synth when done. Now when I turn it on, my LCD doesn't turn on, and most of the buttons have the red light showing, and nothing works when I press any buttons. Sysex doesn't see the synth anymore either so I can't re-send it.

HELP!?

Try different USB cable?

[g3o2]

try contacting support

[deflep44]

For the recovery mode stuff they made me use a midi connection and not USB. That worked well.

try contacting support

[neakaiser]

Yes, ordered a midi interface instead of the cheap usb to midi cable. Hopefully does the trick.

For the recovery mode stuff they made me use a midi connection and not USB. That worked well.

try contacting support

[Analog Prophet]

For some reason DIN based MIDI seams to work better for this kind of operations, in general, than USB MIDI. At early firmware of Prophet 6 and Prophet 5 they recommended DIN based MIDI for updating firmware instead of USB MIDI, but haven’t seen such notes at later firmware’s.

[LPF83]

For some reason DIN based MIDI seams to work better for this kind of operations, in general, than USB MIDI. At early firmware of Prophet 6 and Prophet 5 they recommended DIN based MIDI for updating firmware instead of USB MIDI, but haven’t seen such notes at later firmware’s.

I've found it's good to have multiple options on hand; it seems synths from some manufacturers tend to not like USB/MIDI that others do.  For example I think Sequential's support docs at one point mentioned the M-Audio Midisport Uno as a cable they had good luck with, and I never had a problem with it on Sequential stuff, however other synths seem to work better (or in the case of my JP-8080 exclusively with) the Roland UM-ONE.  I also have a MIDIFace 8x8 as an option, but most of the time when updating the OS I just use straight USB->USB

[neakaiser]

Just an update, I was able to do the OS Restore once my new cable came. Still no reason for the initial failure as that was via USB and transferred 100%. But if anyone else gets stuck and has to do an OS Restore and doesn't have a midi interface (your only option for restore), this is the cable I used which worked: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MTQ718H?psc=1
Glad to be back and running!

For some reason DIN based MIDI seams to work better for this kind of operations, in general, than USB MIDI. At early firmware of Prophet 6 and Prophet 5 they recommended DIN based MIDI for updating firmware instead of USB MIDI, but haven’t seen such notes at later firmware’s.

I've found it's good to have multiple options on hand; it seems synths from some manufacturers tend to not like USB/MIDI that others do.  For example I think Sequential's support docs at one point mentioned the M-Audio Midisport Uno as a cable they had good luck with, and I never had a problem with it on Sequential stuff, however other synths seem to work better (or in the case of my JP-8080 exclusively with) the Roland UM-ONE.  I also have a MIDIFace 8x8 as an option, but most of the time when updating the OS I just use straight USB->USB

[Analog Prophet]

Different USB-cables has different standards, older are USB 1 and my guess is it’s possible the cable must support USB 2 or later.

[PolyBrute]

Thanks for the update. Sorry you had to take one for the team, but I'll appreciate you if this happens to me and I have to go through the same thing.

[g3o2]

I use BT Midi via DIN (CME Widi product line) and this works like a charm for sysex transfers to/from laptop from/to synth.

USB for MIDI purposes is just a huge pain to handle: A vs B vs mini vs micro, cables longer than 2m causing problems, potential ground loop issues, issues related to data transfer speed, physical port vulnerability, etc.