Nord User Forum

Hello!

I've seen all the other threads on this forum regarding Nord booting and power up problems but I haven't seen one that matches mine. I've emailed Clavia directly to ask for a diagnosis but I am yet to receive a reply and am desperate for a solution, I work abroad in a hotel as a house musician so use my Nord for work every day.

So I was playing a song the other day and it just died on me. The power just cut out and naturally I assumed it was a power outage in the outlet I was using, but it was fine because other appliances were still being powered. I turned off the Nord and waited a minute, turned on again and it booted up fine. That was weird. Started playing again and 30 seconds later it died again. Just fully switched off. I turned the power off and waited again, but when I turned it on the next time, the LCD barely lit up as if it wasn't drawing enough voltage and no other lights came on. No wiring came up nothing..... its just bricked.
I've opened it up and nothing is loose, broken, fried, burnt, the fuse is fully intact..... I have no idea why its dead. I am using it in 220-230v mode as I bought it in Europe and live there. I am wondering if changing changing fuse and switching to 110-115v power will fix it because the hotel has both types of outlets, but I don't see why it would make a difference. If anyone knows anything I'd be most grateful. It's just so strange, it literally seems to have just died for no apparent reason and I don't I've the thought of owning a brick I paid £2899 for a few years ago......

If we solve this I hope it helps someone else in the future!

Thanks everyone

Is there any visual change on the capacitors of the power unit? That would be the 'easiest' fault apart from the fuse. Only change the latter for the same type!

If you are not an electronics repair guy on your own, I'd give the unit to a repair center. As far as Clavia is concerned, they will forward your support request to the national distributor of your country. You could directly contact them through the address list on nordkeyboards.com. Which makes some sense between the years.

I bought my Nord Stage 3 because those instruments seemed to be reasonably repairable - Pablo Mastodon who worked for American Sound & Music (but is retired from the job) often directly helped on the forum or by telephone instructions.

Have you only visually inspected the fuse or also tested with a multimeter? Sometimes a fuse may look intact but it is not, so I'd give it a try. Check also that all internal connectors are properly seated.

If confrmed the fuse and all the rest is OK, then I second Fziegler suggestions.

As the LCD barely lit up the fuse must be ok.
Looks to me like a problem with the power supply itself.

FZiegler wrote:Is there any visual change on the capacitors of the power unit? That would be the 'easiest' fault apart from the fuse. Only change the latter for the same type!

If you are not an electronics repair guy on your own, I'd give the unit to a repair center. As far as Clavia is concerned, they will forward your support request to the national distributor of your country. You could directly contact them through the address list on nordkeyboards.com. Which makes some sense between the years.

I bought my Nord Stage 3 because those instruments seemed to be reasonably repairable - Pablo Mastodon who worked for American Sound & Music (but is retired from the job) often directly helped on the forum or by telephone instructions.

Everything looks visually fine, I've opened it up before for minor repairs and everything looks the same. No signs of damage or burns, all ribbon cables seated correctly, all connections free of dust and cleaned. As I said, there seems to be no obvious reason for the fault.

Nord have actually got back to me now but all they said was "this type of fault usually requires the instrument to be opened up on a bench to be diagnosed. Here are a list of recognised partners in your area."

The problem is I don't have time to get to the nearest one, especially since I use the board for work every day too and would need it back. Its just so strange to have a fault like this. I'm wondering if it's anything to do with the transformer or even a dead motherboard/GPU or something?

Thanks for the replies so far guys

st2ex wrote:As the LCD barely lit up the fuse must be ok.
Looks to me like a problem with the power supply itself.

Yes I thought this to in regards to the fuse, but I've cleaned all connectors to the power supply and tried different power outlets and cables with no change, so it is definitely something internal in the keyboard.

Maybe you can get a rental instrument for a week or so. It just will cost some money.

Trevorlahey wrote:

st2ex wrote:As the LCD barely lit up the fuse must be ok.
Looks to me like a problem with the power supply itself.

Yes I thought this to in regards to the fuse, but I've cleaned all connectors to the power supply and tried different power outlets and cables with no change, so it is definitely something internal in the keyboard.

I missed the fact that LCD would lit anyway, this means main fuse is OK as some voltage is being delivered by the PSU, but leaves all other options open (other voltages not provided by the PSU, e.g. the 3.3V for ICs, but also the worst case of a fault at main board level), I am also afraid that you have no other option but taking it to assistance and maybe rent a substitute meantime.

Hello everyone.

I wanted to update this thread for anyone else that has this issue in the future.

I managed to get the keyboard fixed and the issue was that the 3.3v digital line was shorted and the U6 chip was overheating. The solution was having a whole new main board put in.

So if anyone else has these symptoms in the future, this is likely your problem!

Thank you everyone for your help on this!

Hello @Trevorlahey,
where did you get the new motherboard? Thanks!