Nord Stage 3 power issues

[Stokely]

Hello,

Love my Stage 3 compact, it's the heart of my live rig and a perfect fit for what I do.

Unfortunately I've been in an "adventure" with it not powering on reliably. I've spent too much money taking it to a tech an hour away (finding keyboard techs is not easy), replaced the (very expensive) power supply which worked for a few months...and now the issue is back. According to him, he contacted Nord and found that some early stage 3s had a defective power supply.

I'm not particularly happy with the tech, though to be fair sometimes it powers right up. He said he had problems reproducing the issue. At first, I did as well, the problem has progressively gotten worse the longer I've had the board. He also said he found a bad capacitor in the old power supply, which leads me to ask...why am I now again having issues? He said all along it could be the mainboard, and if so I'm probably ****ed.

I've had it fire up right away. I've had it take 10-15 minutes of plugging in/hitting the button. Two gigs last month I didn't think it was going to ultimately turn on, told our singer to scratch a few specific songs that my other keyboard couldn't do and then it finally turned on by the start of the show...not good.

Anyway, I'm still gigging it for now because I can always (so far) get it to power on by re-plugging it in. Seems like a physical connection problem--giving a bit of wiggle on the cord when I plug in will eventually work. Needless to say, this is not the kind of uncertainty I want to have at live gigs. I bring a Yamaha MODX as a backup keyboard (I have any song-specific patches programmed on it) and usually have a simpler piano-centric keyboard in the rig (Now a Yamaha YC73) so I can get through a gig if this won't turn on. I'm getting pretty close to going with an all-Yamaha rig with the Modx either using an ipad for organ or using the YC organ via midi...but man I'd miss the NS3c.

I'm looking for another tech but I hate to throw good money after bad. I'm very non-technical myself, even opening a keyboard (which I've done once or twice through the years to clean key contacts) is a stressful thing. I'd consider just selling this for parts and getting a Nord Stage 4 compact but the prices are ludicrous. Does the behavior of inconsistent powering on suggest any culprit to anyone? There is no common factor of power or cable (the issue may or may not happen with any power outlet at home or at a gig, and with any of the IEC power cables I've tried). The only reproducible thing I can note, is that as mentioned giving some "wiggle" to the cable as I plug it in will often cause it to come on (either that, or it's random coincidence).

Thanks for any info!

[tuejan]

Hi there, sorry to hear of your woes. So a few years ago I posted about my stage 3 88 being reluctant to power up. I thought it was the power supply but it was the main board (CDN$1500 fitted by nightlife in Vancouver). All was well for a couple of years until we had another power cut (Vancouver downtown still has power on telegraph style poles above ground like in the Edison era?) and it failed to boot a few times them wouldn’t boot at all . I tried everything including opening up and reseating the power cables. Leaving it plugged in for a day with power button on etc. So, back to nightlife (great folks there) . It sat fir a couple of weeks awaiting tech bench space, I am expecting another $1500 and they called and said “it booted first time and every time”

Puzzled, I brought it back home but just in case swapped to another power cable that I know is fine. And it just booted. That was June, I still haven’t turned it off- the OLEDs are burned in like crazy.

If it goes again I’ll replace the power supply first. Last time I checked they were $160. I’ll probably replacecthe OLEDs at the same time. I love my Stage, and I’ll never be able to afford another one.