I just got a second-hand Analog Rytm Mk II on Reverb. It was working great for a couple of days, and then I tried installing the newest firmware (1.72) from 1.70 using the Transfer app. After hitting “yes” to update, it just got stuck on the logo page. I turned it off, and now when I hit the switch, the pads flash once (all white) and then nothing—it looks like the unit is off. Nothing ever comes on the screen, just black. The Transfer app doesn’t recognize it. Holding Function + startup does nothing. Touching pads or other buttons doesn’t do anything. I even tried switching to another similarly rated Elektron power supply.
Anyone experience this or have some suggestions on getting it to reboot?
Wondering if this is a bad firmware problem or just a faulty unit, in which case I would like to ask Reverb to help refund me or pay for repair costs—but I only have a few more days to figure it out.
Appreciate any help y’all can provide!! Thank you!
If an elektron device doesn’t load into the test mode / startup menu when you hold func on powering up, then something in the machine has gone significantly wrong. There are some myriad issues reported by users trying to upgrade to RYTM 1.72 but your specific issue does not sound like something that can be resolved by routine troubleshooting.
The normal process here, or next logical step would be to contact elektron support and you’d likely need to have the machine serviced if it’s still under the 3 years of warranty coverage. That will take time, patience, and back and forth with them to fulfill obligatory TS steps and then getting approved and scheduled for the repair.
I can’t say who is at fault here because I don’t really know the status of the RYTM prior to your purchasing it and can only go by the details provided. You’re saying it worked and that something in the upgrade process bricked the machine, but test mode should come up even with firmware issues I’d think. It’s a loader, or basically like a computer’s bios, it loads pre-firmware.
What I can say is that if your window is closing with Reverb, you really only have 2 options and one is to pursue a warranty claim with elektron, and the other is to follow that other path with Reverb but I can’t really say whether or not that’s the correct move or that you would be doing it virtuously.
Ok, there’s something in some of the elektron manuals which says give it 30 seconds between power on and off (or also off and on) and I had heard from a few syntakt people that on seldom occasion someone had to wait a day to power back on because it messed something up when they flipped the switch in fast succession, but that’s super rare and I wouldn’t expect that’s what’s going on here, especially if you had several minutes in between the issue, the power off, and then trying to power back on.
I think you kinda have to play it by ear. Hopefully you get a response from elektron support today and can try a few things with them before you have to deal with the reverb stuff.
Wish I had some more advice for you, but I think that you’re already doing the best thing you can right now so that’s at least a direction you can head in with it. Make sure you communicate to elektron support that you already tried another power supply as well, so that you don’t waste a back and forth email with them recommending that you try something like that.
Good luck man, hope it works out one way or the other.
You might try unplugging it with the power switch off, flipping the power switch on, leaving it that way for a few minutes, turning the switch back to off, and then plugging the power supply back in. Then, turn it on again.
It is super improbable that your power supply would fail precisely when you attempted a firmware upgrade, but hey… Murphy’s law?
I always recommend ruling out PSU issues for non properly booting devices. Can you test power supply, or source another to try with? Correct DC Voltage, amps, and polarity of said alternate PSU being obviously important.
I don’t see how this can be the responsibility of the seller if it was working correctly when you received it. Attempting a firmware upgrade is beyond the scope of their condition description as sold and falls within the realm of your own usage. And, as you’ve discovered, is a risky procedure that can easily go wrong. IMO lumping them with a bricked unit seems incredibly unfair when they sold you a fully functioning item.
Hope you get it sorted out anyway, but it’s most likely going to have to go back to Elektron to get reflashed, whoever ends up footing the bill, because it sounds like the bootloader got messed up.
I’ve just opened a new unit from the store, I played the test patterns and everything was OK.
It showed 1.70A so I decided to update to the latest firmware (1.72).
I followed the instructions to the letter via USB + Transfer (fresh install of Transfer 1.9.5).
Everything ran smoothly during the upgrade… The update happened, and then bootstrap reboot went all the way… Until the happy message “please restart me now” or something like that.
So I did restart the device, off, on, and… Nothing.
All the pads FLASH white for a fraction of a second and nothing else happens.
When I turn off the device after being powered, the screen flicks a glitches for an instant, that’s all.
When I put headphones in the jack and crank it to max I can hear the amp is pushing noise, but normal amounts, making me think the unit is powered fine.
I tried the following:
pressing FUNC, and other startup methods to get to some kind of menu - nothing - black screen
pressing the pads before and during switching on (found on forums, reddit, supposed to fix it) - nothing
tapping the pad as it may be a switch closed(?) and stuck before turning it on
leaving it unpowered with the switch ON for a few minutes to (I don’t know, capacitors?)
used the power block from my analog heat mkII = same, result, the power seems fine - black screen.
starting it up with both the power DC and USB connected = same, nothing
I don’t know what to do anymore… Brand new unit, an hour out of the box, worked fine - upgraded the firmware, (not my first elektron device - I’ve upgraded firmwares before on other devices) and now: nothing, a bricked unit.
Any ideas before I waste my life with the shop, which is 1,300km away?
Are you both sure you used the specific Mk 2 OS? There’s a separate version for Mk.1 and Mk.2 devices and it would be fairly easy to grab the wrong one. The Mk.2 version says ‘MKII’ in the filename. I don’t know if there are any safeguards in Transfer against using the wrong one, especially since it is only connecting via USB-MIDI. You’d think the device’s bootloader is smart enough to reject the wrong one, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
yeah, I agree and I don’t want to screw the seller. On the other hand, I’m out a lot of money and have a dead machine that’s going to cost even more to send for repair; and when I initially searched online, other people reported a very similar problem, which wasn’t related to a firmware update, i.e. spontaneously it would just not turn on:(https://www.reddit.com/r/Elektron/comments/p84rkb/analog_rytm_mk2_wont_start_flashes_then_nothing/) ). So I wanted to cover all my options, including faulting hardware, shipping damage, etc.
Now with Keyle’s reply though, it now seems very likely this was directly related to the firmware update. Note, I disagree with you that firmware upgrades are “a risky procedure that can easily go wrong.” Generally, they are routine produces for most hardware devices. Also, elektron doesn’t put any huge warning on it like, this may break your device, so do it at own your risk. Anyhow, still waiting for them to write back…
Hey Keyle, Sorry to hear that you’re also experiencing this issue, but it’s also reassuring that someone else is having a similar problem…hopefully this means Elektron will help us resolve the issue. To confirm, I also used Analog-Rytm_MKII_OS1.72.syx.
Actually, powering down while the firmware is written could in theory harm your device, or at least make it need some intervention from the manufacturer to restore some part of memory. Which is why a message is written to not switch down while upgrading.
Anyway, best thing to do is to contact Elektron support, there is something very weird in the fact that two units had this problem and they will certainly want to investigate this before summer.
