Korg Forums

Rai1gun · Joined: 25 Mar 2010 Posts: 2

My M3 has suddenly started rebooting when I try to play combis, prog mode seems to be okay. My searching the forums indicates the problem is likely the power supply.

The Korg KA-300 is a discontinued part, and I've been unable to find an alternative. Is my otherwise perfectly fine M3 now just a $1500 paperweight??! It's the heart of my home studio, my master controller for my DAWs.

Has anyone found a solution for this problem?

Panicking...

Bald Eagle · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 3:32 pm Post subject:

You should contact an authorized Korg service center. They can often find alternate parts that can be used as replacements. Otherwise you can try to find a used module for sale on eBay.

This guy seems to have used a laptop power supply although he doesn't give any details.
http://www.scottfromcanada.com/wordpress/?p=203

Rai1gun · Joined: 25 Mar 2010 Posts: 2

I went with this one...got the last one I think.

FSP Group Notebook/ laptop Power Adapter 60W 12V at 5.0A

Korg KA-300 specs image

stewbee123 · Joined: 17 Jul 2014 Posts: 2

I just ordered this one on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/60W-AC-110V-to-DC-12V-5A-Balance-Charger-Adapter-Power-Supply-for-Imax-B5-B6-B8-/311142467270?hash=item48718946c6:g:YxMAAOSwY45UR2Cx
Wish me luck. It looks to be the exact same dimensions and plug size as the old one.

SoundWerx · Joined: 10 Oct 2011 Posts: 28

I thought I would resurrect this thread as the information I offer may be useful to others. Last week I was surprised to find my M3 rebooting over and over as last time I had looked at it, it was left running in my studio. Some quick searching lead me to this thread and other threads that pointed to the internal KA-300 power supply being the problem.

As most of you know, the KA-300 is proprietary in it's dimensions and cord length, made specifically to fit snugly in a metal harness within the M3. You will also no-doubt know the KA-300 was discontinued quite a long time ago. So, I contemplated replacements, I had some, 12v 5amp adapters are easy to find. But, I would have had to modify the metal harness and I wanted to keep the small cable that is on the original KA-300, it also has a interesting barrel connector with a center pin and I would have had to ordered one... if I could get one.

Because of this I decided I needed to get into the original KA-300 anyway, so I could de-solder the output cable to use on my replacement adapter. I didn't want to damage the case in any way at all. Yes I have spudgers and flat head screw drivers... they always mark up the case.

Heres a trick, and it worked perfectly!! Using a small syringe I squirted a small bead of petrol right around the case join. Left it for two minutes. Came back and did it again. Waited another two minutes then the case opened up by pulling it apart with my hands, no force or resistance at all. The petrol melts the solvent that glues the case together.

OK. So I then removed the shielding and "hello... what have we here". Two 1000uf 16v capacitors were starting to bulge on the top, very slightly and no electrolyte leakage was present. Both caps are close to the power LED (this isn't relevant to the issue... just to indicate where you should look). The capacitors in the KA-300 power supply are crap, sorry Korg but they are absolute rubbish... not cool! They are produced by a chinese company called CapXon. I replaced both caps with good quality Japanese Nichicon 1000uf 16v. Put the power supply back together and it's fixed. No more reboots.

The KA-300 is 100% repairable so if you hit this reboot problem you maybe able to fix it also. Smile

voip · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Nov 2014 Posts: 3777

Good to know about this specific case. The same issue is present in numerous synths built at around the same time as the M3. There's a couple of synths here that need fixing.

.