Four Weeks to Upgrade MB :(

[Bracken]

Hi. Bracken here. I'm a Fantom X6 owner in Utah, US.

I've been reading quietly about the replacements and felt apprehensive to do it at first, but decided I had better do it before the warranty expired.

I called my local authorized Roland service center. A middle aged man answered the service line. You could hear in his voice that he just really has no clue what's going on in life. Really nice guy, though.

I mentioned the problem with the Fantom X6 and provided both fault numbers. He quickly interrupted to inform me that in his umpteen million years as a Roland service center he's never heard of any such recall for a replacement at no charge for any of their products. Further, he told me that I "probably had innacurate information."

It gets better. He tells me in a very honest way, as best that he can, that he'd never even heard of a Fantom (had to ask me twice what the model was) and that I should double check who manufactures it. I practically begged him to call Roland just to double check. He said he would.

Two days later, I had heard nothing back from him. I called him back and he let me know that he'd left a message for Roland to call him back but hadn't heard anything.

Okay, so I basically said "Thanks!" and called Roland up myself. I got the RA number, boxed up ol' trusty Fantom, and shipped it the next day to California for the upgrade.

That was a week ago. I called today just to "check up" on the status, thinking they might actually have already made the repair and it could be back on its way.

Turns out, the mainboard and the wiring assembly are BACKORDERED for FOUR WHOLE WEEKS.

So, for better or worst, I'll keep a little record on this thread of how it goes.

For those looking to get the upgrade, GOOD LUCK!

Hope you have backup plans. I'll be spending much more time with my other workstations it appears.

Pros: Roland acknowledges both problems (even if some of their representatives don't have full information, simply provide the two fault numbers and they can easily access and confirm that they both exist) and they perform the repair at no charge. Outstanding. I still have equipment from other manufacturers that to this very day deny any flaws exist in the design. Congratulations to Roland for being honest and taking responsibility. Cheerful representative (Dave) helped out when I called in to get the RA number.

Cons: My local Roland service center sucks. No support there whatsoever. Had to call Roland on my own dime to send it back. Had to pay shipping to send it back. Second representative I spoke to at Roland to check up on repair (Dena? - pronounced day-nah) was less than cheerful with the bad news (four week backorder) and I felt I was inconveniencing him to ask for information about the backorder (i.e. how long/which parts/when the keyboard was looked at/etc.)

I'm still pleased that they'll fix the problem. It just sucks having to deal with some of the people along the way, as well as the wait time.

[Still Learning]

Sorry to hear of the backorder problem, that is a disappointment to say the least. I hope that your upgrade goes smoothly and that from now on out you only get good news from Roland. You should ask them to install Ver 2.0 operating system for free for your troubles, I would think you'd have a chance at getting it and there is no harm in asking. If they can't install it while they have your Fantom at the factory center in Los Angeles, I'd then ask for a free upgrade to O.S. 2.0 when it becomes available.

---------------------------
Learning to play like Sponge Bob !

[AlManiccia]

Thanks for the info, Bracken.

I live about 20 minutes from Roland here in Los Angeles, and had planned to get an RA#, drive my FX7 down there, and wait while they swapped out the board. Boy, would I have been disappointed!

thanx

Al

[chubbylove]

version 2 software upgrade is free to anyone all you have to do is download it when it becomes available.customer service will send it to you for free on a cd all you have to do is ask. you guys tickle me with all your misinformation.

[Papakeys]

Chubby said - "version 2 software upgrade is free to anyone all you have to do is download it when it becomes available.customer service will send it to you for free on a cd all you have to do is ask. you guys tickle me with all your misinformation."

Unless Bracken bought his Fantom X product since January 1st, IT IS NOT FREE!!!

The V2 upgrade is ONLY free to those that purchased their unit between January 1st and March 31st....as it has been explained since it's release at the NAMM show a week ago Friday.
Roland has yet to "Officially list price for upgrade" but the rumour through the forum, and my personal quote from Roland customer service, is $49.00

So unless Roland has told you differently, don't accuse anyone else of "MISSINFORMATION" as you yourself put it...Please!!!

PapaKeys

[zacko]

chubbylove,

Misinformation is here but not where you think.

Maybe you should have read the thread.

He's talking about a motherboard replacement, not a software upgrade.

[nsheldon]

I called my local Roland Authorized Service Center here in Fresno, CA and have had no problems yet. It's a one-man show here in Fresno (the guy works out of his home and has no employees so he and his wife answer phones and he does all repairs). He recognized the problem when I called. He took my serial number, date of purchase, and location where I purchased it and just ordered the mainboard before I had to bring in the Fantom-X8. When it came in (last Thursday), he called me up and I brought the X8 to him for repair. He even showed me the replacement mainbaord. VERY tiny. Like a full-sized PCI card for a computer. In any case, he said it'd be done sometime this Monday so I'll have only been without my X8 for 4 days (including Monday). I must have got the last board before they went on back-order. Sorry about that man. :-\

Regards,

Nathan Sheldon
http://www.nathansheldon.com/

[Bracken]

Roland just confirmed they've got the new main boards in stock, they're now waiting for the wiring assemblies which are about a week away, they say.

Spoke with "Chris" who was super friendly.

Asked about a possible free upgrade to the new OS for the troubles and he was kind enough to transfer me to the service desk where I spoke with "Alan" who was also really friendly, but told me in a very clear way that there's really no chance in hell anybody will get the upgrade free for having the mb replaced.

Which is fine.

Thought I'd update.

Bracken

[jcthemc]

well due to the Misinformation on this site... Heheheheh

I actually called about the motherboard replacement... my tech ordered the motherboard and called me... i told him that i thought there might be a wiring harness that he needed.. and he was like.. huh?.. how you know all this... so he called roland and sure enough... he had to order the wiring harness... called me back and said when it comes in he will do the job while i wait.

Man my life is good...

looking for cheap sound modules/analog synths

JC THE MC...

[Septimo]

jcthemc:

don't u think he would have figured it out ?
or,
do u know if the old wiring harness is compatible with the new board?

the reason is, I don't wanna keep buggin the guy, he seems pretty impatiant and I need him to do a good job.

but if ya don't think the tech's would know or figure this on their own, then maybe I should bug him....for the 3rd time!! |:D

Septimo ,'^)

[jcthemc]

well i got the information from this forum.. and told the tech... he said that it was true that the revision 3 board did need a new wiring harness because the connections on the new motherboard are not the same as the old (the pinout is different i think) so he did have to order some cabling for the job... i was just pleased as punch that i mentioned that to him because roland did not volunteer the info to him when he ordered the new motherboard. he would have found out when he cracked the case and put the new MB in causing me to wait for however long it would take to order and receive the new wiring harness. I would tell your service tech that you are just trying to help and mention that others have dealt with this and it is a known issue, so you are letting him know before he gets into it... it will keep your FX from sitting in the shop for a long time waiting for parts that he didnt know he needed....

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...

looking for cheap sound modules/analog synths

JC THE MC...

[Septimo]

thanx JC, I will print this out and take it to him, in case he doesn't already know. thanx for that info...

Septimo ,'^)

[jcthemc]

no prob buddy anything to help

looking for cheap sound modules/analog synths

JC THE MC...

[madbrain]

I have a Roland VS2400 recorder, and I found a bug in the unit last august. Some projects were impossible to backup to CDR - the unit asked for an infinite amount of CD-R disks (and did I mention it only burns at 4x !) ...

I reported it to Roland support, who wouldn't acknowledge any bug.
In august, they asked me to send my VS2400 hard drive to them for examination - which rendered the recorder useless.

I ended up having to buy another hard drive to use it .

They acknowledged the bug a long time ago (september), but Roland never bothered to send my hard drive back, despite repeated requests, until last week, along with a firmware update CD.

Here is the catch : unlike the previous firmware updates, this one isn't a bootable one . It's a bunch of MIDI files. I have no sequencer to upload them .

The net result is, 6 months later, I still don't have a fix, and I was out of the recorder's hard drive for 6 months. Not to mention all the wasted CD-Rs due to their bug, which I had sent to them along with the hard drive, requesting brand new replacements. They did not provide any, just sent me back the 35 wasted CD-Rs .

See for yourself at :

http://www.vsplanet.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ult ... 7;t=000443

http://www.vsplanet.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ult ... ctu#000014

I'm so upset, I'm considering suing in small claims court. And getting rid of all Roland equipment - that includes Fantom XR, FP3 digital piano, and many older Roland modules ...

[Bracken]

Just checking in with the latest.

Called and spoke with Tim at Roland who informed me that the parts are still backordered and should be in "soon."

Looks like a little bit longer than four weeks.

Has anybody recently had an X6 motherboard replaced in the past couple of weeks?

Bracken