Virus b problems - OS won't boot, LCD glitches, LFO led's light up - common problem
 

OK, I have an issue with my Virus b.
I was checking on Ebay for broken Virus b's and found 2 people in the last month selling them with the exact same problem.

1. Turn it on
2. The LCD comes up with the startup screen (OS 4.1 etc...). Then it starts glitching and resetting continuously. The brightness of the LCD also sort of glitches birghter/darker etc..
3. The LFO LED's are lit. Nothing else works/lights up.
4. It never boots, so there's no way to reset the Virus etc..
5. Turn it off/on again and does it all over again. One out of 40 times it actually starts up and works.

I figure it's something about the power supply not getting the DSP good power, or it's not getting a good clock signal and it keeps trying to re-boot. Or I guess sonem other bad connecton somewhere.
Since I've seen two people with the exact same problem in the last month alone this must be hapenning to a lot of people so it must be a flaw somewhere, maybe a component in the power supply going bad or something.

Here's what I've tried.
1. Powered the unit with a bench supply up to 15v to see if it works when given clean power up to 15v DC. Didn't help.
2. Checked the connectors. This is not the problem since it should boot-up without the front panel board or LCD even hooked up. The problem is on the mainboard somewhere. Everything there looks fine. No visually bad parts or connections.

If anyone has any experience with this or can offer any suggestions I'd be grateful. Access didn't offer any advise aside from referring me to my local repair shop:

Advanced Musical Electronics
8665 Venice Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 559-3157

I'd like to fix it myself before paying someone else.

Brian.

brian,

you could try to open it up and check all connections. apart from that, there is not much you can do. what you describe is not a common problem and close to impossible to trouble shoot with the relatively little info given.

it shouldn't be the battery, the virus boots, even if the battery is low. the unfortunate truth is that hardware can get damaged over the years. i assume that you know that.

Advanced is one of the two certified repair centers in the US. we had good results with them over the years. our support team is not designed to assist with hardware problems, that's why they won't be able to give you clues on how you could attempt to fix the problem yourself.

good luck, marc
access music

thanks very much for the reply.
I'm certaintly aware the support group can't assist with these problems. I did get a quick reply and a few things to check so it was nice they even replied.

I'm an EE so I'll take into the lab at work and check it out. There's really not much to check on dsp-based stuff like the virus. There is hope since I can get it to boot up and work every once in a while.

so I bought it over to Advanced Musical Electronics this morning. They were very fast getting it on the bench and got back with an estimate already. Unfortunately it's not the power supply or crystals or anything obvious so there would be a good deal of labor troubleshooting. They estimated $250 to $500. Makes no sense at all to go through with it, it's only worth $500 working, and you can get $200 for a broken one on Ebay.

Problem Solved !!!
After contacting official repair center and ask in vane for the service manual i have changed all the electrolytics (schematics attached) and all the 3 voltage regulator.
all is working perfect now
If you have the same problem do the job and you solved !!
Thank you all
Fabio

just when i got my studio going nicely too...
 

i was just setting up a session when i looked over and my virus b just started acting weird. i did a restart and it acts similar.. i let it rest for a while and it'll get to this knob turn test which it responds to if you do it manually only it starts over and over.. if it doesnt work after being off and unplugged for a while i guess changing the capacitors and voltage regulator is the next step. this is the only thing i found online that is relevent.

Hey !

I had the same problem with endless reset - now it is SOLVED !

caps and new psu

Now all ok !

:D

Virus Classic Rack/b Lcd Flicker
 

I got a Virus Rack B and a month ago the LCD started flickering and dimming. I opened the unit by unscrewing the bottom lid. Then switched the power on and touched the white LCD ribbon cable a few times, and guess what? The LCD started flickering every time I touched the cable. It wasn't the solder joints but it was due to ACCESS bending the hell out of the cable, almost 360 degrees :mad:. So to fix the issue I unbent the cable by counter-creasing it and then I twisted it in a circle so that the bends are very obtuse. Closed the unit up and now it runs very bright. I hope this helps many who are having the same problem.;)

HI, i wasn't so lucky... mine boots up now but soundbank A and B is history and it freezes after 20 sec. do you have the servicemanual as a PDF? If you do would you be so kind and sen it to my mail djhaunebu@gmail.com it was such a blow when it froze.

I have a dead Virus Indigo (B with a keyboard)

I too would be really interested in a service manual.

I took it to Advanced and they quoted the same, costs more to repair than the thing is worth.

email: brock.fansler@gmail.com

Hi,
just to say I had the exact same problem - Virus B would keep 'cycling' during the boot, constantly resetting until eventually after about 20 minutes or so it would work fine.
I replaced the electrolytics and 2 of the voltage regulator (found and replaced the dodgy capacitor before I got to the 3rd voltage regulator) and it now works perfectly.
This thread is the only useful information about the problem I've found on the net - and it does fix it.
Just note that the capacitors marked 47uf-25v on the circuit diagram are 470uf-25v on the board - not really an issue as you spot it quick enough.

Huge thanks to audioman for posting up the fix and diagram

Help
 

My Virus B is doing exactly this thing!! Is there anyone near Southampton, UK, who could apply the fix mentioned in this thread? It's beyond me.

Just wanted to say thanks.

A friend's Indigo had the same problem, I replaced the two 220 uF and 100uF for the switching reg (LM2575T-5) and now all is fine!

Thanks Z. This is exactly what my Rack was doing, and exactly the fix for it.

~ vonnor

So mine receives midi and sends. It turns on but doesn't boot the OS. You can do reboots of the system but no sound comes out any of the audio outputs. I can send the most recent OS but once it asks you to store it. DSP-RAM error.
I replaced the one capacitor pointed out and it didn't fix it. I took down any oxidization that may have accumulated on the socketed chips(which I believe are the ram chips?)
Nothing looks unusual inside.
The LCD doesn't blink when it's turned on. It will often show black bars. All leds seem to still function and controls? unless you do factory restore in which it will show all sorts of internal saved information and let you go through all the menus...
Does anyone know:
Can I send the OS upgrade from a virus a?

Help!!

Confirmed, seems this is a common(ish) fault with the virus b - the capacitors go bad. Symptoms are part boot/ no boot, screen flickers green, LFO leds light up but nothing else. Don't despair, replacing the capacitors fixes the problem! There's a schematic in this thread, so if you take note of the cap values you can source them and replace without the need for a service manual. There's another approach - If you're like me and have no clue how to do that, there's a guy on ebay who sells a replacement kit that's not just a fix, but actually offers super audio quality to the existing design. It's really not that hard to do - my virus was a brick in the cupboard for three years but now it's actually better than it was brand new! Not an electronics wiz, but if I can do it....

Do you know the name of the guy from Ebay?

I recently purchased a Virus B that is in exceptional condition (like new cosmetically and mechanically) but occasionally while playing the display will begin to fill up with "1"s and then "@" symbols "P"s and other random characters. When this happens the unit continues to play perfectly and I can even change patches and adjust settings but the display only shows garbage characters. All LEDs, functions, etc. continue to work perfectly. Even the LCD technically works perfectly as far as brightness and display of characters just not the right ones.

Should I do a reset? Should I reflash? Could this be capacitor/psu? Is this something more serious? Should I cry? :) I'm capable at EE/soldering.

It is running 4.9 OS and right now I am controlling it from a Casio CTK-451 via MIDI on channel 1. I thought the "1"s may have been control from the Casio or some issue with the crappy Casio I am using currently. (Still could be, but I don't have any other 5 pin MIDI keyboards to test) TIA!

Hi,

Pre: yes i know - old post, but i think it's still relevant. Especially with regard to aging.

Which cap types are taken for replacement (e.g. Panasonic FC, FM or FR for max.temp 105° ones) - regarding lifetime, temperature and audio quality?

@Audioman: are you sure the caps are 47uF and not 470uf? I have took a look on my board, where there is a 470uF print on the related caps (as chancanasta has mentioned too). And the 4,7uF (M2A) is labeled with 63V...

Best regards,
Rio

Hey Fabio,
I had same exact problem but as OP and after a while of it just sitting it no longer boots at all. Dim screen with no characters and just the LFO 1 and 2 lights come on solid. I opened it up and replaced two 2w 1 ohm 10% tolerance resistor that had some charring on their bodies with a 2w 1 ohm 5% resistor (all I could find) and its still same thing. Dim screen, just thw two LESs. None of my other capacitors or resistors look bad but it sounds like I'd need to replace them as well. Question is, on your diagram, which caps did you replace? All of them or just some? Any clarification is appreciated. So bummed that this thing is bricked after
15 years of just sitting on my desk and working without fail in my studio. :confused:

Hey djinfinitee,

Before you continue to change unnecessary things. What you are describing will most likely be on one and the same faulty cap (100uF 25V), as described in more detail here, for example:

http://joeyfehrenbach.tumblr.com/pos...pair-adventure

or the cap(s) mentioned by Timo here:
http://infekted.org/virus/showthread...highlight=boot
(last picture)

So the best thing to do is to replace the left one and see if it works..
(That's just a guess.)

greetings,
rio

Yep, more info:- http://infekted.org/virus/showthread...917#post305917

Is this repair something that's suitable for someone with little soldering experience?

I've got a Virus Indigo exhibiting these symptoms, while my first thought was to get it serviced, I'd actually quite like to learn the basics of this stuff so wouldn't mind trying to fix it myself (I got it cheap enough that I could live with myself, just, if I totally broke it 😂)

It sounds like it is fairly straightforward, but whenever I've tried fixing stuff before it's always turned out to be more complicated than I expected! Should I just need a basic soldering iron? Could I get an old/dummy circuit board to try it out on with a spare capacitor? Do I need to be particularly worried about discharge from the capacitor injuring me or should it be OK if I leave it unplugged for a day or two?

Any pointers gratefully appreciated (and if you don't think it's really suitable for an unexperienced solderer please say!)

I'd imagine Youtube would be useful for soldering tuts. Practicing on an old/dummy circuit board would be very useful beforehand.

You'll be pleased to know that desoldering a cap[acitor] is much easier than a pot[entiometer] - A cap only has two straight legs to desolder and pull out, whereas a pot has six and they're all bulky and kinked!

Kit you'll likely need:
* Low-wattage soldering iron, with a fine tip
* Soldering iron stand (to rest the iron while it's heating up)
* Wet sponge/paper for cleaning the iron (of any old globules) before tinning the iron tip
* New capacitors of the correct specification
* Solder (not too bulky/thick) with flux
* Solder-sucker (to remove molten solder when you're de-soldering the old cap out)
* Wire cutters or similar, to trim the capacitor legs to length after soldering them in.

Low-wattage soldering iron, 15 Watts or so, is useful to avoid burning things. A fine-tip on the iron allows you to work with greater precision, some tips (sold as default) are a little big and bulky and unsuited to circuit board work.

If you take the ribbon cables out of the main board to separate the chassis away from the front panel, make sure you remember which ribbon cable goes to which socket as there are three ribbon cables and they all look identical.

Thanks Timo, very helpful advice! I’m going to give it a go - a while ago I bought an 8x8x8 LED cube kit, so I need the equipment anyway if I’m ever to build that... I think I’ll use that as a practice project then move on to the synth :) Would be a handy skill to have!

8x8x8 cube? Straight in the deep end there. :) Would be more difficult I think as you're effectively soldering the LEDs in mid-air. Soldering a cap into a circuit board is easier as both legs are effectively tethered.