A month ago I ran into the common problem of my Prophet X (PX) not booting. After turning it on, the progress bar would get to full, but not finalize startup.
After a month of trying things, I am happy to say I am back in action.
I found this forum super helpful in troubleshooting this problem, so I thought I'd share how I fixed it in case anyone else comes across this issue.
STEP #1
- To get the PX to temporarily boot, I hooked a CPU keyboard to the "Sample Slot" USB on the Prophet X
- My CPU keyboard would light up when it started to get power for the PX. FYI—yours might not .
- When my CPU keyboard would light up and as the PX began booting, I would press the "F1" key repeatedly. Depending on your CPU keyboard you may need to hold FUNCTION + F1.
- This would get it to boot properly, and I was able to get my custom patches exported via Sysex.
- But I had a gig in a month and needed a permanent fix.
STEP #2
- I contacted Sequential and they told me this.
- "We have been tracking booting issues with the Prophet X, and have determined a couple of solutions involving a PSU adjustment and motherboard update. The most efficient solution would be to send you a pre-adjusted PSU and updated motherboard to install. This swap requires payment of a $200 board deposit, $175 of which would be refunded ($200 - $25 repair fee) when we receive the original parts within 30 days of the new ones' arrival. Alternatively, you can send the whole unit in. You would cover shipping to us plus the $25 repair fee, and we’d cover shipping back to you."
- After receiving the motherboard and power supply, I followed these repair steps https://www.sequential.com/prophet-x-xl-motherboard-power-supply-swap/
- It wasn't the easiest fix, but not too difficult either. Some of the parts were attached VERY securely and needed some seriously sensitive torque to remove them, but not break them.
- After following the instructions, I put everything back together and fired it up. Same problem as before. Still wouldn't finalize booting.
- I tried the CPU Keyboard trick again and my CPU keyboard would not longer light up and the F1 trick no longer worked.
STEP #3 (!IMPORTANT!)
- The instructions included a section about swapping out the RAM and putting your old RAM into the new motherboard
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- I did this—wrongly assuming that my custom user patches were stored in the RAM. Duh / Oops! They are not.
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- I found this out, by opening everything up again and putting the new RAM that came with the new motherboard back into the new motherboard
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- Blam-o! She fired right up and my custom patches were still present. As of now, everything seems to be working as normal.
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Hope this helps! Holler if you have any questions.