Virus C restarting
 

so recently my Virus C has been doing some strange stuff..
a few months back, i went to turn it on and it just wouldnt stay running for more than a few seconds..

as i was kind of busy, i just left it for another day.

I just have been looking at it the past few days and found a few things online..
first i replaced the watch battery inside ..

i then upgraded the OS to the OS 6.6 Beta..

anyway.. since then it seemed to be running ok. today i was using it for about an hour or so, and then when i was flipping thru the presets.. it reset itself.. and then got stuck in a loop of loading os, then resetting itself..

i turned it off, turned it back on and it kept doing the same.

i left it for a few hours.. came back, and it seems to be ok again.


one thing i have noticed was before it was reset itself when i was using the controller keyboard which is USB via Ableton.. however when i was just playing around in ableton directly, either sequencing or just playing the keyboard in the channel.. it would be fine.


i guess my question is has anyone had any experiences like this.. or is this virus not long for this earth?

or is it something completely different.

anyway.. if anyone has any ideas.. it would cool to know..


cheers
tom

"You know what old Jack Burton would say at a time like this?

What the hell....."

- just keep doing what you're doing when it works "fine". Unless it seriously interrupts your workflow.

Does it?

This may be a left-field question but then critical thinking lends itself to different perspectives; Since you have the external power supply (I assume) that looks like a snake swallowed a puppy, does it feel unusually warm when this happens? Do you keep things unplugged when not in use or have a conditioned power supply that when it's off, there's absolutely no constant power passing to your Virus C? Do any of your midi lines overtly stay near wiring of power supply where EMI/RFI could be ruled-out?
I asked because ALOT of our 'power-wart-driven' sound units and keyboards' power supplies are really recommended to be unplugged or isolated from power when not in use and although have ot experienced this on my Virus KB or KC, not long ago a person on the "Waldorf List" had exact same issue with their Microwave XT and it ended-up being a power supply issue from the 'brick' because of either being left plugged-in but turned off, when not in use.
This may seem like a far-fetched thing, but a wise friend taught me to use thes $35. usd Furman 15 foot heavy duty line to metal 6 plug box that has not only surge protection but proper power conditioning/protection from EMI/RFI spikes...it's Furman SS-6B.
His advice was taken by me after aquiring some great synth rack units and in each of the instruction manuals they stressed to unplug afterproperly shutting off when not using. Some midi cables are cheap and not shielded enough to where it *could* present problem if laying ove or too close to power supply--learned that from this thick book on midi have been digesting since now out of military and can focus soley on home studio.
Again, this may be a complete 'left-field' input (mind the pun) but have you tried using a different power outlet without changing anything else, to see if it still misbehaves like a bad virus? The aforementioned was another problem a guy had on electro-music.com forum, where simply using a different outlet identified inconsistant power in his old wiring where his set-up was...he identified not all his mains at wall source had proper grounding. Hope this helps at least eliminate one factor and sorry for length.
Robert (the virus C is my most recent wondeful beast)

plaid emu.. when i say it works fine.. i wouldnt really consider not being able to use a simple midi controller to be able to play as fine..


namnibor - i will look into the power situation and see if it makes a difference..
its a strange one though, sometimes it happens just when i am just clicking thru patches.. and other times it when there its receiving data..

its kind of bumming me out a bit as i have only just recently picked up a Doepfer MCV4 and i have been using the Arpeggiator on the Virus to control my SH101.. which has been making the 101 squelch out sounds i have never heard from it before.

its delightful.. thus my concern over the Virus's intermittent restart issues.

Remember, if it happens again, take detective-like note of how any of midi cables are laying and whether they are laying across some OTHER not-so shielded electrical cable AND if say your virus is plugged in to say the same circuit your refrigerator is on or anything that may come on and off on its own. When I say 'circuit', am refering to how you know how if in some dwellings when you run vac and microwave at same time as say the A/C it will only trip the circuit breaker or fuse for that given 'circuit' or room?
Also, yet another cyclic troublemaker can be if you had a change in your set-up controls on your PC's antivirus, needing to just place it back into 'silent mode' or off all together if not on web while working ahyway. Admitedly my experience with my Virus KC is pretty recent, but these kinds of things can affect any of other alien contacting synths, regardless of age. Surely let all of us know when you get it sorted.
Happy Halloween!
Robert

I do not know anything about the proper use of the Doepfer MCV4 you mentioned but could it be you need to have settings in Virus C set to "play nice" with each other? Is your Doepfer MCV4 the only thing "different" in your set-up pre-this problem raising its ugly head? If so, you may have narrowed it down to where to focus on!

Were you ever able to fix this? I am having similar issues with my Virus A.