I wonder if the keyboard is trying to tell me something...

I've now got a dead key, stripped it down, the membrane thing is distorted. Oh well, first key failure ever since I got my PSR 630 quite some time ago.

Anyway, e-mailed Yamaha UK support this morning 10.30, got a response at 16.00 giving me the part number(s) and cost so I've rung the spares department and ordered a full set of keyboard contact strips.

I asked about the cost of the LCD as well, and as advised above it sure ain't cheap...

Heres the bits of their e-mail that matter:

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For UK Customer's: Yamaha UK Spares - 0844 811 1116 (Option 4) or via your local Yamaha Music Dealer.

For Republic Of Ireland Customer's - Yamaha UK Spares - (0) 15262449 (Option 4) or via your local Yamaha Music Dealer.

The parts you have requested - Rubber contact octave - VU32840R in stock and a retail price of �4.31 each inc VAT

Rubber contact single C - VU32850R in stock and a retail price of �1.54 each inc VAT

LCD - WK381700 in stock and a retail price of �333.25 inc VAT
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THey reckon the bits will arrive in 5 to 8 days; note that they are being posted from Germany.

Also can I add that I've tried driving an external display from the video out - but it seems my video out is dead (and it's not a loose connector inside as I've checked that whilst looking at the keybed).

Compared to buying a "NEW" keyboard that's a pretty cheap repair doing it yourself..

good luck

John,

The actual display itself may be just fine, and it could be that just a chip or two has fried. What leads me to this conclusion is that not only is the display dead, but the auxiliary video output is dead as well. There is a video board, but I don't recall exactly where it is located. If you have access to the block diagram and associated schematics you can find the video card and its part number.

Gary

I forgot to mention that I actually removed the LCD module completely whilst keeping the pcb cable and inverter supply wired up. I then replaced and reattached the LCD "frame" so that I could use all the buttons if required, although in the event there was no need to do so.

With the LCD in my hands I can make the fault appear and disappear by applying a very slight twisting force to the module. This could well be a loose joint somewhere but I'm very unsure about dismantling the unit any further even though it looks like the thing is held together by high strength adhesive backed felt tape. I dare say duct tape would hold at a pinch when reassembling but I have no idea what lurks within so for now I can live with the fault.

The pcb cable seems secure at both end, I've given it a waggle and the display is unaffected.

The video is output from the right hand part of the main motherboard that occupies the shielded frame which is the top of the pcb stack once you get the bottom off the keyboard. There's no sign of any electrical stress in there, you'd think it was fresh from the factory to be honest.

Having the schematics would help, could I get these off Yamaha?

John, I have sent you a Private Message.

Ian

John,

Sounds like a cold solder joint to me. I would get out the magnifing glass and look at those solder joints very closely.

Tom

John,

I have the repair CD, but it is much too large to email. I could send it to you via Snail Mail, though. Just need your mailing address in the UK.

Gary

good news, mostly.

Firstly, new keyboard strips fitted, working fine.

Secondly. video output fixed. Whilst I can't see a visible break, the pcb track feeding the output connector centre pin was totally open circuit, so a quick bridge with a short piece of wire has done the trick.

Thirdly, the 5" monitor that I got locally either shows a 2/3 size version of the full display, when the 3k is told to feed a PAL signal, or full width chopped slightly at the bottom if I feed NTSC. I think I'll be running the latter for a bit because...

Fourthly, having now disassembled the LCD module completely I'm certain the fault is in final bit of PCB that connects to the lcd module itself. Can't do a thing about it, in fact based on it's behavior whilst I was re-assembling I think it's going to get worse.

I'll investigate the external monitor situation further. The 5" thing I have is merely adequate. Something a bit bigger is needed but I'd also like more control over the video scaling - the current thing has no control over scaling.

Thanks again to you all for your help here!

Well... whilst my main board is now a T3 having the 3000 with a working internal LCD has become a useful thing, so I bit the bullet and bought a replacement from China on eBay, there are a number being sold by various vendors although the descriptions look very similar and the same picture is used so they could all come from the same place.

Anyhow I placed an order. The LCD arrived within 2 weeks and was very well packaged.

And now it is installed and working so I'm a happy bunny. You cannot tell it is not the original.

For others contemplating this be aware that the replacement is not quite mechanically identical in that it doesn't mount totally flush on it's mounting as the back is not quite as flat as the original. The ribbon cable interface connector is bottom right rather than centre right. Neither of these issues are show stoppers.

Biggest issue is that the backlight connector is an 8 way standard block with just 2 pins used which are in the same place as the pins on the original Yamaha connector. It might be possible to badge the connector to fit but all I did was splice the wire.

I've just upgraded the firmware to v1.80 and as a result I have formatted and am using a 32gb small format thumb drive. Whilst I'm never going to use even 1% of the available space it was the smallest capacity drive I had going spare.

If you are still on an early firmware version (I was on v1.04) I'd suggest you upgrade a.s.a.p. because it is also hard to find smaller usb thumb drives that are compatible with the early firmware. Also I don't think you can upgrade the firmware from the usb drive on early firmware versions, a smartmedia failure could be tricky to resolve as that is also getting scarce.

Thanks again to you all for your help with this problem.