Was trying to trigger the Arps - not working. So I initialized the machine to Factory settings and tried to play the Demo songs. Does not work. After hitting the Seq Play button and hitting SF5 (play) I get the message “Receiving MIDI Bulk....” and the machine hangs up there - it will not play.
There is no extra memory or card installed in this mahcine.
Whats up with this?

If you have anything connected to the S90 via MIDI, disconnect it and try again.

Let us know.

I don’t. I had disconnected the S90 from my XS6.
Thanks - - - oh - hey...that reminds me - - - the Arpeggio On/Off button on my XS is gettingsticky/finnicky from so much use. I suppose it would be really difficult to just replace the button on the board - and I am afraid to squirt WD-40 in there....is this a know issue for Yamaha buttons that end up getting pressed tens of thousands of times? Could I switch the REMOTE On/Off button out (I never use i t) - maybe get a soldering iron out and switch the two on the logic board? (I suppose I should ask this as a stand-alone question on the XS Forum).

kevland1 - 16 May 2015 08:41 PM

I don’t. I had disconnected the S90 from my XS6.

Seems like the S90’s OS might be corrupted, possibly due to failing memory. You could try reloading the OS, which can be downloaded here:
http://download.yamaha.com/search/product/?category_id1=16277&category_id2=16381&product_id=623465

If that doesn’t help, it’s probably time for a qualified technician to look the S90 over.
 

kevland1 -

Thanks - - - oh - hey...that reminds me - - - the Arpeggio On/Off button on my XS is gettingsticky/finnicky from so much use. I suppose it would be really difficult to just replace the button on the board - and I am afraid to squirt WD-40 in there....is this a know issue for Yamaha buttons that end up getting pressed tens of thousands of times? Could I switch the REMOTE On/Off button out (I never use i t) - maybe get a soldering iron out and switch the two on the logic board? (I suppose I should ask this as a stand-alone question on the XS Forum).

If you have good mechanical and soldering skills, you could replace the tact (short for “tactile") switch. I would suggest that you don’t use WD-40, and that you don’t swap switch positions. Replacement tact switches are available online, and don’t cost very much. The original part number for the ARP ON/OFF one is VV439800 - current replacement according to Yamaha is WG31840R, $2.08 each plus shipping, available from:
https://www.yamaha24x7.com/YamahaOMS/EasyOrder/QuickOrder.aspx

Yamaha Corporation of America
6600 Orangethorpe Ave.
Buena Park, CA 90620
1-714-522-9011

This might be another source:
https://syntaur.com/Items/2098.html
Contact them to verify application:
https://syntaur.com/ship-us.html

You can get the XS Service Manual here:
http://elektrotanya.com/yamaha_motif_xs6_xs7_xs8.pdf/download.html

Thanks so much for this reply - I will follow your instructions!

Mr. 5pin

I re-initialized the machine a few more times - on the third try it reacted the way the Owners Manual said it should and now the ARP function is working.

But this leads to another question - you brought up software version number. I went to the manual and checked and I am at V. 1.00.
I did download the latest (as you suggested) and the last update is V. 1.04. The manual does not say how to do the upgrade (via USB). I have not started poking at it yet. Is there a reason to the upgrade? Will it make much of a difference in my S90?

kevland1 - 19 May 2015 09:17 PM

[...]But this leads to another question - you brought up software version number. I went to the manual and checked and I am at V. 1.00.
I did download the latest (as you suggested) and the last update is V. 1.04. The manual does not say how to do the upgrade (via USB). I have not started poking at it yet. Is there a reason to the upgrade? Will it make much of a difference in my S90?

I don’t know which problems the OS update addresses. There should be a Readme file that comes with the update that explains how to install it. The upgrade is done via SmartMedia card, not USB.

By the way, there seems to be some difficulty in downloading files from the Yamaha sites. What’s the name of the file you downloaded, and what size is it?

It downloaded easily for me. File name is S90_V1.04.sea 1.7MB ( I have never seen an .sea file before)

I do not have a SmartMedia card-—or do I? I have an old digital camera that might use them…

kevland1 - 19 May 2015 11:38 PM

It downloaded easily for me. File name is S90_V1.04.sea 1.7MB ( I have never seen an .sea file before)

The files I see on the Yamaha site are:
s90104m.hqx 2.2MB for Mac
s90104w.zip 1.53MB for Windows

I presume you have a Mac, since the .sea file extension is for a Mac archive. Is S90_V1.04.sea inside s90104m.hqx? The Mac unarchiver should be able to deal with .sea files.

Under any circumstance, the goal is to wind up with 0682OS_.PGM, which is the updater file. Can you extract that?

 

kevland1 -

I do not have a SmartMedia card-—or do I? I have an old digital camera that might use them…

You’d need an 8-128MB SmartMedia card and a means of writing the 0682OS_.PGM file to it. That should be explained in the Readme file.

I don’t usually suggest this, but if you aren’t experiencing problems, perhaps you should just continue using the S90 without doing the OS update.

You are right - .sea is a compressed file and my Mac cannot open it. I am on Snow Lepoard still so I thought an extension would have opened up but none is to be found.

I am not going to try to update the OS as the S90 seems to be working again.

When I was very active on this forum, 8 years ago, Athan Billias was doing most of the question answers here - have you taken his place at Yamaha or are you a “civilian” just helping out?

kevland1 - 20 May 2015 02:43 PM

[...]When I was very active on this forum, 8 years ago, Athan Billias was doing most of the question answers here - have you taken his place at Yamaha or are you a “civilian” just helping out?

I’m, as you put it, a “civilian”  :-)  - that is, a Motifator member who is not compensated by either Yamaha or Keyfax - and I prefer it that way.