Seems pretty sketchy that two of your units has failed in a way that I've never heard of any unit failing. Not to say it can't have happened, but seems unlikely. Either that, or you've got the mother of all ground loops or something frying ports!
One quick thing you can do is run a MIDI diagnostics test. If you boot up in diagnostics (something I almost never recommend) by holding both cursor keys and booting the unit, you can run the diagnostics. You'll need to loop a cable from MIDI out to MIDI in so that the unit can check itself. If it succeeds, it's something else.
Did you try reseting the factory multisetup? Whatever you do, DO NOT do a factory restore in the diagnostics - you'll lose all user data, including presets and sequences.
The factory multisetup in the regular menus does just as much without trashing your user data (but will reset global settings). The MIDI light being on constantly sounds like you've enabled MIDI clock transmit.
-Aaron
From: Andrew
To: xl7@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 7:59:47 AM
Subject: [xl7] Short lived MIDI ports/e-mu repair
I have (had?) an MK-6 and an XL-7 that both developed problems with their MIDI ports in what I would consider a very short period of time. (less than two weeks with the MK-6) The XL-7 I've have for 5 or 6 months, with a quirky but working MIDI connection.... until last night. I don't really care about the MK-6, since I only bought it for the ROM and it happened to be cheaper to just buy the whole unit... but I just HAVE to have my XL-7 running tip-top... it's the main control for everything. For the last several months the green light signaling MIDI OUT has been continuously blinking so fast that it almost looks to be solid... but the unit still sends MIDI and CC data no problem... last night, I'm working on something, and all of a sudden nothing... no red light light, no MIDI being received by the XL-7. The cables/connections are all secure, and the MIDI controller that sends to the XL-7 is working fine... it's gotta be the ports. Anyway, for you tech guys, is this the kind of repair that I could have someone local do, or do I have to send it off to E-mu? (wherever that is) I need to get this fixed ASAP, I don't care about any warranty, I just need the quickest fix.
I appreciate the help!
Andrew
It’s the same Hotmail®. If by “same” you mean up to 70% faster. Get your account now.
To: xl7@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 7:59:47 AM
Subject: [xl7] Short lived MIDI ports/e-mu repair
I have (had?) an MK-6 and an XL-7 that both developed problems with their MIDI ports in what I would consider a very short period of time. (less than two weeks with the MK-6) The XL-7 I've have for 5 or 6 months, with a quirky but working MIDI connection.... until last night. I don't really care about the MK-6, since I only bought it for the ROM and it happened to be cheaper to just buy the whole unit... but I just HAVE to have my XL-7 running tip-top... it's the main control for everything. For the last several months the green light signaling MIDI OUT has been continuously blinking so fast that it almost looks to be solid... but the unit still sends MIDI and CC data no problem... last night, I'm working on something, and all of a sudden nothing... no red light light, no MIDI being received by the XL-7. The cables/connections are all secure, and the MIDI controller that sends to the XL-7 is working fine... it's gotta be the ports. Anyway, for you tech guys, is this the kind of repair that I could have someone local do, or do I have to send it off to E-mu? (wherever that is) I need to get this fixed ASAP, I don't care about any warranty, I just need the quickest fix.
I appreciate the help!
Andrew
It’s the same Hotmail®. If by “same” you mean up to 70% faster. Get your account now.