Roland A90 repair

[Sam Spoons]

My old Roland A90 has died, it started by occasionally switching itself off so I left it unpowered in a corner as the studio rebuild was forced on my shortly afterwards. On Friday I dismantled it and replaced the CMos battery and initially it started boot up and then froze (3 or 4 times) then failed to boot at all.

All is clean inside, no dust or signs of corrosion (it looks like new) and I was going to clean and Deoxit all the ribbon connectors but have not yet done so.

Anybody experienced similar and sorted it?

Alternatively are there any techs around Manchester who would attempt a fix?

[zenguitar]

Roland UK support have a great track record, even for out of warranty gear. Your first port of call should be their web page...

https://www.roland.com/uk/support/

They even provide phone numbers, and my experience is that they have always been really helpful.

Andy

[Sam Spoons]

Thanks Andy, I've emailed them and got a reply with an approved tech just the other side of Manchester. Will contact him tomorrow.

[Martin Walker]

You know, it so often surprises me that folk don't contact the original manufacturers for advice on servicing, repair, and spare parts.

So many of them DO offer help and advice, and are by far the easiest source of spare parts if any are available

Martin

[Sam Spoons]

You're not wrong Martin, and the reason was......... I googled the question and found a post which said Roland has washed their hands of a repair request on the A90 as it's obsolete

I probably would have asked them eventually but, thankfully, Zen made his suggestion and I sent the email sooner rather than later.....

[mackbarrios]

I have the same issue right now. My Roland just don't response. If you push any button it randomly lights another one. Can you tell me what did you do?

[Sam Spoons]

It was a power supply fault, I tried the local 'Roland approved' tech (who is actually a retired Roland tech but still covers a few jobs), he came, gave it a clean bill of health, and left with a (small) wad of cash. The A90 it continued to re-boot randomly so I took it to another local tech who did a proper job and sorted the wayward DC voltages out. It's been great ever since.

So you need a tech who knows what he is doing to check it over, Roland probably won't be interested as the A90 is 'obsolete' but thankfully there are still a decent number of guys/companies who can fix stuff. Funky Junk and Gee Electronics for starters in the UK or if you are in the NW 'The Guitar Amp Doctor' in Oldham, a keyboard player himself, who fixed mine (Thanks Tim).

[jamsong]

Do you know what the technician did exactly?
Did they change some parts (caps/resistors?) or change the whole power supply?
Thx

[Sam Spoons]

It was definitely a component level repair not a complete new PSU but precisely which components I don't know. A quick Google found a US supplier with PSU boards in stock https://syntaur.com/Part-1167-Power-supply-board-Roland

[Cuckooland]

I know this was a while ago, but I thought I’d chip in just in case anyone has a similar problem. I recently bought an A-90 for next to nothing because it had 8 broken hammers. I stripped the keyboard down and repaired the broken hammers with CA glue and bicarb, but the keyboard also kept powering off and on again. This was usually accompanied by the message “Internal battery NONE”, which was nonsense because I’d just replaced it. Anyway, after downloading the service notes and doing a bit of research, I figured that one or more of the electrolytic capacitors on the power supply board, of which there are seven, probably needed replacing. I ordered new capacitors and removed the power supply board, but in doing so noticed that one of the voltage regulator ICs was loose. There are three of these - two 12v and one 5v, and they aren’t visible until the power supply board is removed (they just look like thin black plastic squares stood on end, at the edge of the board). Anyway, I resoldered the loose IC, and lo and behold, it now works.
If anyone has the same issue with the A-90, check the voltage regulator ICs! It’s an easy fix if you can hold a soldering iron

[resistorman]

I know this was a while ago, but I thought I’d chip in just in case anyone has a similar problem. I recently bought an A-90 for next to nothing because it had 8 broken hammers. I stripped the keyboard down and repaired the broken hammers with CA glue and bicarb, but the keyboard also kept powering off and on again. This was usually accompanied by the message “Internal battery NONE”, which was nonsense because I’d just replaced it. Anyway, after downloading the service notes and doing a bit of research, I figured that one or more of the electrolytic capacitors on the power supply board, of which there are seven, probably needed replacing. I ordered new capacitors and removed the power supply board, but in doing so noticed that one of the voltage regulator ICs was loose. There are three of these - two 12v and one 5v, and they aren’t visible until the power supply board is removed (they just look like thin black plastic squares stood on end, at the edge of the board). Anyway, I resoldered the loose IC, and lo and behold, it now works.
If anyone has the same issue with the A-90, check the voltage regulator ICs! It’s an easy fix if you can hold a soldering iron

Yep, power supply parts get warm so solder joints can fail.

[Kwackman]

I know this was a while ago, but I thought I’d chip in just in case anyone has a similar problem....

Thanks for taking the time to share this, someone might find it very useful.