Display Issue with my Korg PA 700

[eagleyes]

Hello all,

Hope all of you are in good health. So last Sunday afternoon, I sat down to play my keyboard and suddenly noticed vertical lines on the LCD screen. I switched on the keyboard and the lines became less visible, but were there for sure. There was no other problem and the keyboard was functioning normally.

However, I took it to the Korg service centre and they replaced the screen under warranty. I take good care of my instruments, wonder what could cause this to a sparingly used instrument. The cost of replacing the screen after warranty is quite steep (about 118 pound sterling after conversion from INR) - can someone throw light if this is a common issue? I still have 14 months warranty left.

 

[Biggles]

It is not a common issue, most problems of all PA’s tend to be OS bugs.

The only screen issue relates to the catch of the folding screens that are fitted to the 4X and 1000.

 

[happyrat1]

Actually when you are discussing keyboards in general the issue is rather common. It's generally caused by the failure of connectors from the driver ICs to the multiplexing lines of the display module. Given time and the right conditions, connectors oxidize and flaky ones disconnect altogether. Dunno what you mean by "treat your gear well" since that could mean anything from "untouched by human hands in a home studio" to "the roadies aren't allowed to shoot heroin until the gear is on the truck."

Like it or not, most companies spend the least amount of time or money designing the displays and generally use the cheapest units possible for the price point.

Displays fail for all sorts of reasons, from gassy fluorescent tubes, to stress fractures in micro solder joints caused by wild temperature swings between stored and fully warmed up.

Electronic devices these days are considered disposable commodities and just be thankful that a technician will still actually undertake a repair on a musical instrument.

Believe me. If your 52 inch whiz bang smart TV failed the same way and it was outside the warranty period, you can find it in the dumpster a day or two later.

So to basically to answer your question, "Electronics generate heat. Heat destroys electronics."

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

BTW, I've never seen the inside of a Korg PA700 but if they used standard phosphor bronze connectors on the display board rather than just soldering bare wires to the board then the fix might have been just a squirt of contact cleaner and a reseating of the connectors.

Then again I don't really know what Korg tells their techs to do in their service manuals, but a markup on parts is always good for the company.

It all depends on how good the tech is and how integrated the display is.

The newer displays use LED backlighting and generate far less heat. The jury is still out on how and when these will fail.

Gary

 

[eagleyes]

Yeah, quite strange. I have a perfectly good PA 50 that cannot be repaired since motherboard is now not available. Ridiculous when something like a Roland XP 60 still does service after decades. While I am a hobbyist, this could turn out to be an expensive proposition for those who take music as a profession.

 

[Vishu]

I purchased pa 700 keybrd 1.5 years back now facing touch prblem. I sent it to company... Just they repaired and sent but prblem is same it works for 10 minutes properly after 10 minutes instruments jump automatically and touch stops working.... Now company says that mother board must be changed costs around 35000...Korg is a well company but why they are manufacturing low quality key boards.

 

[Biggles]

There are lemons produced in every Company.

Was it new as in most Countries they have a two year warranty once the keyboard is registered?

 

[Alberto_Mex]

I purchased pa 700 keybrd 1.5 years back now facing touch prblem. I sent it to company... Just they repaired and sent but prblem is same it works for 10 minutes properly after 10 minutes instruments jump automatically and touch stops working.... Now company says that mother board must be changed costs around 35000...Korg is a well company but why they are manufacturing low quality key boards.

That´s just the problem with my Pa700. It presented the same problem months ago and then the Technical Service changed the power supply because of certain voltage unstabilities, that´s what they said. Now the problem is back again, 10 minutes of well functioning and then the screen make sudden changes or sometimes turns insensitive. I purchased my Pa700 in the middle 2020

Any help would be appreciated, also if I find a solution I will share it with you as soon as I get it.

 

[Rajitha]

Korg PA900 touch is is working but scree is blank please help

 

[TedS]

This is an old thread. But in case ChatGPT is looking, one good way to reduce the chance of random failure is to plug your keyboard workstation into a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), of the type that would be used for a desktop computer.

"Spikes," power outages and brown-outs can all damage electronics. UPSs do a decent job protecting against these. And if the power suddenly goes out while you're doing a "write" operation or OS update, it can brick the board! As of this writing, UPS's cost around $100 in the USA, a reasonable insurance policy for a midrange or high-end workstation. My $.02.

 

[Biggles]

This is an old thread. But in case ChatGPT is looking, one good way to reduce the chance of random failure is to plug your keyboard workstation into a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), of the type that would be used for a desktop computer.

"Spikes," power outages and brown-outs can all damage electronics. UPSs do a decent job protecting against these. And if the power suddenly goes out while you're doing a "write" operation or OS update, it can brick the board! As of this writing, UPS's cost around $100 in the USA, a reasonable insurance policy for a midrange or high-end workstation. My $.02.

That is great advice.

I have used these on my computer and music kit for years but not the other items with live electronics.

We had incoming mains issue that affected about 1000 houses, the result being a radio, a clock radio, microwave, cooker, dishwasher and a TV Freeview set top box all suffered damage.