Pa3X (very) low level reset possible?

[halbring]

Hello folks -- I come here, with my hat in hand, looking for help from those more knowledgeable than I.

I purchased what appeared to be a standard (American market) PA3X from eBay but, when it arrived, I discovered that the previous owner had somehow installed the PA3X Oriental operating system on the keyboard.

I attempted a factory reset and when I went to install the latest version of the operating system, I hit a wall: the keyboard is looking for the file Pa3X_OS_LEB.pkg on the USB key, while I only have Pa3X_OS.pkg (the hopelessly optimistic act of simply renaming the file failed, as expected).

I suspect that there must be some setting stored in NAND memory, or elsewhere, that causes the keyboard to look for the Pa3X_OS_LEB file on upgrade/reset, rather than Pa3X_OS, but that is just speculation. What I am sure of, however, is that this unit is physically an American market Pa3X so it must have, at one time, had the correct operating system.

I would be eternally grateful if anyone could provide guidance on how I might restore the correct Operating System to this keyboard. I don't need the oriental features and I would prefer not to be stuck forever at version 1.11 of the operating system.

Thank you for your time.

[duby2]

I have changed USB sticks a couple of times to make them larger so I could have more space for MP3 songs many songs midi songs and text files. So with that said taking out your original USB drive and replacing it with a new USB drive is no problem now will this work I don't know but you can always put the original back in and you're done...

Turning your keyboard over on the left-hand side you will see a square metal plate with about eight screws in it unscrew that take out the USB stick and save it now put a new USB stick in their it only has to be 2GB to 32 GB it needs to be empty clean then try a fresh new install this might work. When you do the new install if you take that you USB sick again and look at it should have these files on it.

DEMOSONG
EDITRES
LOCALE
PCM
PCMIMAGE
STARTUP
Temp
lcd.dat
Updater.mzx
Z102A.mzx

I don't know if the files are different than the Oriental ones, you have nothing to lose you can always put back in your original USB stick and be back to where you are, have you tried finding a Oriental update for your Pa3x..
Let us know how thing are going ,,,

[duby2]

Here is something else I found ,it for the pa500 but it show how to format a nand and the key press might be the same , after format the nand , I do not know if the pa3x will fix or copy new stuff to the nand or not ,,,
I do not know if anything here will work ... it could break you keyboard ,,
here what I found ...
********************************************************
Format pa500
Hello korgkeyboardlover,
do not wait for my answer of your pm - you get it here, as i think it also could be
helpful for some others:
How to FORMAT NAND - INSTALL OS - PA500:
Pressing theISTYLE PLAY% and thelmEDIAt turn the power on, and continue pressing until the ser ce menu is displaye
CONFIRM THAT BIG NOISE IS NOT HEARD WHEN POWER ON.
After the service menu is displayed, press the [PAD 4] to start the Nand Format.
It is recommend not to use other items of the service menu, as checking some more items requires special handlings, like
in testmode where a connection MIDI IN and MIDI OUT by a MIDI cable is necessary.
don't know if Nand-Formatting with button Intro3 is the same procedure as above and never tried it, as in servicemenu
with PAD4 it works well. But it seems to be the same. Always be sure not to interrupt the procedure NAND-formatting before
your get the message "theres no OS".
If procedure NAND-formatting was succesful turn off your keyboard. use a SD card prepared with an unzipped OS, don't use
the Pa500_os_v[nnn].zip-file (where [nnn] is the version number) to copy directly to your SD. After unzipping your
Pa500_os_v[nnn].zip on your computer you obtain the following system file with a name Pa500All.pkg (or similar).
using such an pkg-file for loading like described in loading-OS should be successful. If you get again the message "ERROR
Loading oS Package!" I think there is something wrong with your SD-card (format?) or you did not use a clean pkg-file. Only
use SD-cards with max 2GB (better 500MB).
I don't think there is something wrong with your keyboard, as if you get messages like "if you continue SSD format all the
data in the SSD units will be lost, press MEDIA button to continue" and if you pressed the MEDIA button you get the message
"formatting NAND" is a reliable sign to be ready for receiving a bootable OS.
Follow the intruction in SSD-Format-page, when it is done you will find "THERE IS NO OS" (it really is not, only NAND is
formatted).
Once completed turn off, insert SD-Card with OS, switch on while holding INTRO1 and system will start to be loaded with
"Loading package" - done
Hope to get a positive message!
kind regards Page 1

[halbring]

Thanks so much for your reply, duby2! I truly appreciate you taking the time to help me.

I did try the USB stick drive replacement as you suggested, in the hopes that the region-specific information was stored there. Alas, even with a blank USB drive installed, the system was looking for Pa3X_RES_LEB.pkg, not Pa3X_RES (hence my thinking that this must be stored in NAND or elsewhere).

I have had no success at getting the oriental update as I can't find it anywhere on the web and Korg USA won't respond to my requests for technical support (presumably because I have a keyboard with an unsupported configuration that violates their licensing terms -- I completely understand their position, but it is a bit frustrating as I'm not the one who put the wrong OS on the keyboard).

Thanks for the link to the PA500 NAND format -- that's very useful information. I wonder if anyone has experience doing this with a Pa3X... while I would prefer an updated North American OS, any functioning OS at all is still preferable to an expensive brick.

Thank you again!

[musiccankill]

This method doesn't work on pa3x and wouldn't solve your problem anyway!
Your problem is that either somebody changed the motherboard of the pa3x with a LEB one or found a way to change the NOR (and NOT NAND) data to convert it to oriental (i highly doubt cause it ll need desoldering of the actual IC and inserting it on an external programmer and then reverse engineer the data to find where and what to change...)
Also @duby2 , public mentioning of service menu and other not designed for the end user menus are violating the forum rules and can be truly dangerous for the end user as a wrong step could brick the arranger...

[halbring]

Thanks, musiccankill.

The seller swears that he performed no hardware modifications but, since the keyboard was misrepresented in the first place, it isn't a stretch to imagine that this was also untruthful.

A motherboard swap seems more likely than hand soldering what I imagine is a SMD ROM... I suppose that if I opened the keyboard, I should be able to see evidence of either modification, though that won't help with a solution.

Is the matter truly hopeless then? There is no alternative short of paying to have a new motherboard installed?

Many thanks for your time and sharing of your expertise.

[duby2]

if you open up your keyboard ,wright down the board number and or take pictures. some place might just sell the one board you need , if it works that way , I think its all in the software,but if you fine the ( SMD ROM ) chip take down the number on it ,and musiccankill is right , you could brick the keyboard ,,or back up to resell the keyboard ,some body want it...
let us know.

[musiccankill]

Unfortunately if it is asking for LEB (oriental) os ,you can't do a lot of things other than feed it with that os to get it working again...
The higher os i found is 1.60 in this link : https://www.4shared.com/rar/6cw__jxG/pa3x_format.html
I HAVEN"T tested it as i don't have a 3x oriental but the files seem ok!So you can give them a try!
Other than that you can only find a new/used pa3x international motherboard and make it international or try to convince korg to make it international for a fee (i doubt they ll do it but you can give it a try).Even if they do it , you would be without a kb for at least a month i suspect as i guess they ll have to sent the motherboard to italy to get it converted...(wish i m wrong)
And yes the NOR IC on the mobo is SMD TSSOP48 package.

[halbring]

Thanks, folks. I'm very grateful for your time and insight.

I'm not interested in throwing further good money after bad, so I think the rational choice at this point is a chargeback and returning the franken-arranger to the seller. While I'm curious how he got the Oriental OS on the keyboard, the price tag on that curiosity is significantly lower than the value of the arranger!

Thank you again.

[musiccankill]

Are you sure it is the standard version and not the oriental one?

[halbring]

Are you sure it is the standard version and not the oriental one?

Fairly sure. Note the absence of the 'Oriental Scale' buttons above the INTRO keys:

http://imgur.com/a/lw8E7

[musiccankill]

oh!!!I see...
I didn't remembered they had added scale keys on OR as 4x OR doesn't have them!!!
I always wanted the quick select screen of the oriental version!!
Still haven't found a way to enable it on standard one...

[fResH_]

Hi, I can confirm for you that the one you have is the pa3x oriental (first generation) without quarter tone scale at the panel. I have the same. He bought it from audiominds back then.
The second generation got the sub scale on the panel.

Are you sure it is the standard version and not the oriental one?

Fairly sure. Note the absence of the 'Oriental Scale' buttons above the INTRO keys:

http://imgur.com/a/lw8E7

[riju]

Dear Mr. halbring,

me also have facing the same issue, if you clear the issue please tell me how you done?

Thank u

[siebenhirter]

... the keyboard is looking for the file Pa3X_OS_LEB.pkg on the USB key, while I only have Pa3X_OS.pkg (the hopelessly optimistic act of simply renaming the file failed, as expected) ..

Does that mean Pa3X_OS.pkg on your USB can not be renamed to Pa3X_OS_LEB.pkg or does it mean your keyboard do not accept that renamed pkg-file?

PS: Sent you a pm