I recently purchased a used SY77 and have been learning how to operate it, as well as trying to understand MIDI. I successfully played the demo disk twice, and was impressed by it. Today I attempted to play the disk, and the unit is unable to access it. I don't get an error message, but when I try to "load from disk" and choose "all data" the unit makes noise like its accessing the disk-but nothing happens. Whats more, the SY77 does not respond to any commands while this is happening, so I had to power down to avoid ejecting the disk while the red light is on. Has anyone had similar problems? Is there an easy way to fix this? The disk drive will not work for anything now.I just got this thing and it would kill me to send it to the shop right now.
snoids

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snoid

Hi Snoids, It's me again.

Been there, done that. It sounds like the same thing that happened to me. The SY77 has a rubber belt in it that turns the drive reader which allows it to read the disk. I suspect that belt is broke. So the motor is turning and making the appropriate noises but it isn't turning the reader to read the disk so it never finishes. I took the back of the SY77 off myself. Took the drive out and saw the broken belt. I then had to find an electronics specialty type store that told these kinds of belts and I bought a few different sizes. They don't cost a whole lot.
I put it in myself and it works perfect now. I would bet you money that's your problem.
Because everything that is happening to you happened to me. I, too, had to turn the synth off to unlock the drive.

I can also show you a way to use midi so that you never have to do this again. You will never need the disk drive again. I researched and found this technique because if anything ever happens to the disk drive, all my songs would be lost. I understand that Yamaha doesn't support the drive any longer. And a normal disk drive won't replace it.

Well, how did it go snoids?

WhiteNoise
Didn't mean to leave you hanging. Things have been so busy that I have not had a chance to open up the SY77. Is there anything I need to know before I do? What is attached to the back when I remove it? How good is the access to the disk drive? If I break this thing I will kill myself. I love this keyboard, and I don't even know how to play it yet!
snoids

Snoids,

hehe I understand your apprehension. When I do these things, I just tell myself that I won't do anything that I don't know how to do. I do know how to unscrew screws and as long as I can unscrew screws and things just simply lift off after that, then I'm ok.

As background, I am not an engineer or anything like that. I am a finance guy!!! So I hope that makes you feel better.

1. If you flip the 77 over with the back facing up there are quite a few screws to get out. Once you take them all out, the back comes off fairly easy. There is nothing attached to it. It's just a metal shell.

2. You should be able to see and get to the disk drive. I think there are a few screws (4 at most) that you need to unscrew to be able to slide this out. Once you've done that, I remember it sliding out pretty easily.

4. Once you have the drive in your hand you need to do some more unscrewing on the disk drive itself. I think I unscrewed about 4 screws and took the cover off the drive and I could see the disk wheel that turns with the motor and I could see the belt. As a note, there are some wires that attach the drive to the synth. These wires are used to transfer the data to the keyboard and provide power to the drive. You can leave these plugged in if you want. Or you can unplug them to get the drive completely out of the synth. What I actually did was take the cover of the disk drive off with the wires still attached and then I tried to retrieve a file from a disk so I could watch the wheel turn. (Not sure how I retrieved a file with the synth upside down but I must have picked it up enough to work the buttons) I saw that it wasn't turning. It was interesting because I'm remembering now that my belt was not broke. But it had smoothed out on the sides and was now slipping. When the motor was churning (making the noise you described) I put my finger on the big disk wheel and turn it with my finger to help get it started and the belt sometimes would take over and it would actually finish loading up the file. This is what told me the belt was just worn out.

5. I bought several of these belts and tried to find one that didn't apply to much tension (too small) but one that wouldn't pop off because it was too loose. I had a guy at the electronics store help me match them up.

6. After attaching the belt, I held the drive in my hand, put a disk into it, and turned the keyboard on and tried to retrieve a file. I watch the disk wheel turn and made sure the belt was working (without the help of my finger). The I put everything back together.

Sorry for the long message and I hope this helps. The only thing I can say is that while I'm not an engineer, I have tooled around with pc's a little bit. If you have ever installed a component into your pc, like a hard drive, cd-rom, etc. then this is VERY easy. It may seem like a lot but I think the whole thing took me 15-20 minutes and I had never pulled the back of the SY77 off before.

My general rule is that I won't do anything that I can't undo. As long as I can slide something back into place and screw it back in then I'm ok. There is no need to touch or get near any of the electronic boards you will see throughout the rest of the keyboard so you can't really hurt anything.

I will be checking back here frequently so if you have trouble or get the back off and have a question before you proceed then ask away. If I have to I'll go through the motions with you on my 77 so we are looking at the same thing. It really isn't that much work.

Good luck.

WhiteNoise
Thank you so much for that perfect set of instructions. You are very articulate. I have only replaced plug and play cards in my PC, so this is a big step. I am eager to get this fixed and begin learning more about keyboards and midi. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I am a guitar player. I also play bass, and a little drums. This keyboard has changed everything. My first move will be to add the sounds I always wanted on some of my previous songs. I have avoided learning to integrate my music with my PC, but it's time I made the move. I use an Akai DPS 12 and a Plextor CDRW to burn my finished projects. I want to include my PC for midi purposes, and to master my CDs. I am going through midterms this coming week, so I may not be able to fix the 77 until next week. I will post a question if problems arise, and once again, Thanks. You are a lifesaver!
Snoids

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snoid

Sure. Anytime. Putting in plug and play stuff is good. Just knowing enough to do that is enough!

Your setup is similar to mine. I don't consider my self a guitar player but I have guitars that I use in my stuff when I "have" too. I'm pretty good at the rythym parts but not so good at the lead parts. The keyboard is where I started. You will be amazed how it will add to your songs once you get some time to play with it.

Computer and Midi stuff is something that I reluntantly went into as well, and I'm still learning but I have learned some things that are very helpful. (Like using midi to eliminate the need for the disk drive.)

Oh, and I have the Roland VS1680 for my recorder and I too have a Plextor CDR.

Good luck on the midterms. Been there, done that.