Factory-resetting an Electro 2 that keeps restarting

[Sigurd]

Hello all. We bought an Electro 2 about 5 years ago and it has suddenly developed a problem with restarting at random or when selecting one of the program buttons. Please see the video:



I sent a request to the Nord Tech Support and they responded that I should be updating the OS and performing a factory reset. This is where I'm completely lost, and struggling to understand how things are supposed to work with this instrument.

From the Downloads page, I downloaded the OS update ZIP file, but it doesn't appear to run. Is this something that needs to be sent to the keyboard? Do I need a USB to MIDI cable?

Also on the Downloads page, Nord Electro USB Driver setup says it's only compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8. I'm on Windows 11 here. Am I stuck?

I have downloaded Nord Sound Manager. Every single button is grayed-out.

I'm hoping you folks can help me understand what's going on here and how to proceed. Thank you very much.

[FZiegler]

I'm not experienced in things like that. There are two things that come to my mind:

1) If the Nord Tech Support tells you to update your OS and perform a factory reset, it is only to rule out it could be a software instability. It may or may not solve your problem. It could as well be a hardware issue with a power stability problem: e.g. an electrolytic capacitor that is defective due to age. Which would probably be the next step for the tech support to check. So that software reset might save you money and save time for the techs. But of course, it costs your time.

2) What the download page for your USB driver says in the first place is that it is meant for 32-bit Windows systems only. Such systems are gone for quite a time. You would need to find someone with an older computer that still runs under 32-bit architecture. A Windows XP (64-bit) wouldn't help anything.
I don't think the Nord Sound Manager will help - it's not compatible with the Electro 2, and it only organises sounds (it doesn't perform full factory resets). Instead, the Nord Electro Tool would do the same for your instrument - but only on 32-bit computers as well. Things have changed substantially in the way downloads to a Nord instrument are handled.

So that might help you to understand what's going on. But it doesn't necessarily help much to understand how to proceed.