Is my MIDIFighter Pro bricked?

After years of searching, I was able to get my hands on a MIDIFighter Pro (Beat Masher configuration, board #2804 if anyone is counting). I anxiously plugged it in, and no "LED snake" light show - the only illumination is the LED of the lower-left arcade button. The MIDIFighter Utility doesn't see it at all. I tried holding down the 4 corners while re-plugging to get into bootloader mode - nothing. I tried holding down the rest button while re-plugging - that makes 15/16 button LEDs light up (the one in the lower right stays off) and as soon as I release the reset button, I'm back to just the lower left button's LED. I've gone through the other button combo bootloader procedures, and there's no joy. I know the chances are slim since the world is a solid decade past this unit, but any advice from anyone is greatly appreciated. If you're a tech that understands the working of the Pro, I'm happy to pay shipping and bench fees if you think you can make it work. Thanks folks.

Dude no worries it's very likely fixable, how much technical knowledge do you have yourself, and are you on Windows or macOS?

As far as technical knowledge, I know how to read the polarity of a LED, I can solder OK, I have spent time computing from the command line, and I'm good at following directions :D I'm on a Mac but with an older version of the OS (10.12) - but I do have another computer with a slightly newer OS (10.13). Thank you for the help!

Ah dude this is deff gonna be doable, I have flashed a MF with custom code before and I know their source code is on GH. Can you check if the mac sees it as a USB device? And if so what kind

Sadly, it looks like the Mac doesn't see it. I can plug in a working MIDIFighter Classic and that shows up on the USB tree, but when the one-light Pro is connected, it's like nothing is there. I'm guessing it's because the Pro isn't completing its startup. :(

If you plug the MF into a charger does it behave exactly the same?

I had not thought to try that! The result was the same - no "light snake" - just that one LED lit.

Here's one other thought -- I have a fully functional MIDI Fighter Classic board (standard MFv1). Can I flash the ROM on that so it sees itself as a Pro, and then swap the board into the Pro case and have that work? I already know I'd need to do a little drilling around at least one of the corner mount holes (It's so funny how many crazy little thing you learn about how these things were built when you tear them apart a bunch of times), but other than that it seems like it should work - I have headers soldered to the expansion ports on the MFv1, so the ribbon connector isn't an issue.

That would definitely work I'd say but It kinda sounds like it could just be a faulty connection of the USB's D- and D+ signals, maybe you could try to debug it with a multimeter?

Excellent thought, and I know how to test continuity with my meter! After looking at the schematic, I see that D- makes its way to pin 30, and D+ makes its way to pin 29 on the AT90USB162 chip. However, when I look at the board IRL, I'm a little disoriented, and I'm not sure which is the right pin. Could you give me some direction? I tried to attach a pic of the board, but it doesn't seem to have made it. :/

Attachment 28821

OK, I've been able to verify with my meter, some magnifying glasses, and steadier hands than I figured I could manage, that I've got proper 22R resistance between D- and pin 30 on the AT90USB162 chip and D+ and pin 29. I think that's a good sign... I hope that's a good sign...
In other news, I tried seeing if MIDI Monitor could "see" the board, and it does not. It's like it's getting stuck in its startup process and just hanging. :/

And after spending a little more time and reading a lot more datasheets, i seem to have good connectivity around all the chips. I think this is a good sign.

And nothing under system information's USB device tree right? I've got this:Attachment 28822 (it got compressed to shit but you get the idea)

Correct - I know exactly what your pic is describing, and yeah, I get nothing showing up there at all.

Are there any programming headers on the MF board (not the daughterboard) you might want to try reflashing the board. Even just to check if that's possible.

Have you tried doing that by using the bootloader switch on the board?

As a last-ditch effort you could try removing the ESD Protection chip, but I'd try everything else before doing this as it likely won't help.

My board has the two red buttons soldered on for the Reset and Boot spots, but I can't seem to get the board into bootloader mode, eithber by the old school 4-button method, or using the red buttons. One interesting thing that happens, though, if I hold down the Reset red button and plug in the USB, I get one of 4 different combinations of the button LEDs lit up:

*.**
****
**..
***.

or
*..*
****
**..
*...

or
*.**
****
**.*
***.

or
****
****
****
***.

but then, no matter which one I had, when I hit the boot button I get
....
....
....
*...

just like when I plug in the USB with no buttons pressed.

I don't know if this is going to help me or shed any new light, but I found the "Bricked MIDI Fighter Reset Guide" here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/CGSupport/B...eset+Guide.pdf

Even if it doesn't wind up helping me, having this link in a thread might help someone else in the future... more info on my situation soon...

I followed the Bricked MIDI Fighter Reset Guide and there's still no joy. The old MFUpdate app gives me this response:

Contacting DJTechTools
Unable to open temporary file:
Permisson denied
Flashing the Midifighter...
Midifighter erased.
Failed to send HEX file to the Midifighter.

And the other thing that is interesting now is that instead of the light at button 10 being illuminated when I plug in the USB, all of the LEDs are lit except for 2 and 16:
*.**
****
****
***.

I have no idea what that means. :/

SUCCESS!!! I loaded the midifighter-20110511.hex into the old MFUpdate.app and now I get the snake lights and the LEDs illuminate when the arcade buttons are pressed!!! In addition, it can enter boot loader mode via the 4-button method.

Next step is to see what the new MIDI Fighter Utility (2.85) sees. OK, still no joy here -- the Utility doesn't see squat when the MFpro is plugged in.

Next step is to see what SNOIZE MIDI Monitor (1.41) sees. It sees it! But it lists "Midifighter" with no "Classic" or "Pro" additional designation. All 16 buttons transmit note on and off as appropriate but I'm getting no signal off any of the three analog controls, or the 4 digital buttons.

Next step is to look at the device tree in my OS. I already know it will have it, because MIDI Monitor sees it. It does! Here's what it says:
Midifighter:

Product ID: 0x2048
Vendor ID: 0x03eb (Atmel Corporation)
Version: 0.02
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: www.djtechtools.com powered by Atmel®
Location ID: 0xfa130000 / 11
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 100
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0


So, I know that I can go into the button-and-LED menu structure and activate the digital and analog expansion pins - but I'm not sure if that will make the daughterboard's special effects all work. I'm going to try that next.

Also, if anyone has a hex file of the MIDI Fighter Pro firmware, now's the time to join the discussion. :D

OK, I was able to go in via Menu Mode (https://forum.djtechtools.com/showthread.php?t=9961) and activate Four Banks External mode and turn on the analog inputs. MIDI Monitor verifies signal from the three analog controls. However, when I went in to try to turn on the digital inputs, I was unable. There was no response from the four buttons (or any other buttons except for the escape key) and MIDI Monitor verifies that there is no signal when I push the four "bank" buttons on the MF Pro. So, just a couple of hurdles left to surmount here. I'm open to any suggestions!

OK, I was able to activate the digital inputs from the Menu Mode, however, I do not get any response from the buttons. They do not transmit MIDI and they do not light up. I'm thinking there must be some way to activate this final magical part of the MF Pro daughter board. Someone out there has to have been able to make this work. Help me, MIDI-Juan Kenobi! :D

If you're still using midifighter-20110511.hex, the utility isn't going to work as it was created later that year (August/September 2011, IIRC) so that older firmware (March 2011) won't have the required functionality. The late-2011 firmware also added DJTT's own vendor ID (0x2580) instead of using Atmel's, so we can see from what you posted that this firmware predates that.

Since you're able to update now, I would suggest trying to update with the latest firmware (or at least one from late 2011/early 2012) and seeing does it now work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uncle Noah

OK, I was able to activate the digital inputs from the Menu Mode, however, I do not get any response from the buttons. They do not transmit MIDI and they do not light up. I'm thinking there must be some way to activate this final magical part of the MF Pro daughter board. Someone out there has to have been able to make this work. Help me, MIDI-Juan Kenobi! :D

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Dude so cool that you've made some progress here, keep it on! And indeed, updating to a newer version now does seem like a smart idea.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uncle Noah

Also, if anyone has a hex file of the MIDI Fighter Pro firmware, now's the time to join the discussion. :D

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I guess this is what you need. I would contact DJTT to ask for a copy as I have no idea where you might otherwise get it, unless you find one linked here in the forums somewhere.

Big thanks to @guywithknife and @DJDoubleYou -- I've dropped a trouble ticket to DJTT support to see if they can dig up a firmware that can help me out - I'll report on how that works out. I should probably email Mad Zach and ill.GATES and see if they've got the files in case support can't find 'em. :D

SUCCESS!!!! Huge thanks to @guywithknife and @DJDoubleYou - I was able to interact reasonably with DJTT support and got a firmware update that got my MF Utility to see the board. DJTT Support also provided me with the firmware for the MIDI Fighter Pro, and with the utility now seeing the board, I was able to upload that firmware, and now the Pro is back to life!!! I've wanted one of these for so long and I'm extremely excited to learn it and do some fun stuff. I've saved all of my notes and files from this effort, so if anyone ever runs into this kind of situation, please do not hesitate to contact me, as I'll be happy to share everything I've got to help you through the process. Thanks again, everyone!

One last thing -- I sat down with my MIDI Fighter Pro and MIDI Monitor and drew up a MIDI map in case anyone is looking for one. You can grab it here: http://www.abductionproductions.com/...on-Mapping.pdf

enjoy!

This thread has been a life saver! I have a MF Pro Cue Master that out of nowhere started having the same issue (All or almost all lights lit up and no computer recognizing it as a device). I've gotten the sliders and faders working using the midifighter-20110511.hex but my four buttons next to the arcade grid don't work. I was wondering @Uncle Noah if you still have access to the hex file for the pro? I'm going to email them as well but just in case you have it and see this sooner I would love to put it somewhere public for easy access! It took a little digging to find the old firmware files but in case anyone else needs them they're here https://sourceforge.net/projects/mid...er%20Firmware/

Just wanted to follow up that I messaged DJTT on their support site (Zendesk) and got the Cue Master hex file! Here's the ticket for reference https://techtools.zendesk.com/hc/en-.../106334?page=1 and the link to the Cue Master hex file https://techtools.zendesk.com/attach...TER_RESCUE.zip
I asked them if they keep the MF Pro hex files somewhere public and if not to share them in hopes that anyone else running into this can fix theirs in the future! I'm still amazed at how well this thing runs for being so old now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by atesija

I'm still amazed at how well this thing runs for being so old now.

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Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner -- I'm glad they were able to get you that hex file! I have the one I used if you need it. DJTT really should have a public repository of stuff for the original MIDI Fighter and the MIDI Fighter Pros. The hex files, circuit diagrams, mapping sheets, 3D printer files for the front and back plates, those vids of Ean wiring the BPM strobe LED into the board, a reliable source for the threaded spacers from the original design, Gerber files for the Pro daughter boards along with Mouser project part lists, etc. It would just be incredible for the 10-15 of us out here still infatuated with these dinosaurs :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by atesija

Just wanted to follow up that I messaged DJTT on their support site (Zendesk) and got the Cue Master hex file! Here's the ticket for reference https://techtools.zendesk.com/hc/en-.../106334?page=1 and the link to the Cue Master hex file https://techtools.zendesk.com/attach...TER_RESCUE.zip
I asked them if they keep the MF Pro hex files somewhere public and if not to share them in hopes that anyone else running into this can fix theirs in the future! I'm still amazed at how well this thing runs for being so old now.

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Yo! big shout out and big love to you for posting this. I found your post about the MFPro Cuemaster Hex file. Did the bootloader mode from the instructions and then was able to load the firmware using the MF_Utility.exe.

I love the midifighter. its so bad!