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[phantombox]

Maybe some of you guys had the same problem once:
A friend of mine just gave me a MOTU 282mk3 interface, and asked me to check it.
After an electrical storm hit the area, it won't turn on. The storm also damaged the PSU on his computer (he already got it fixed) and some other stuff...
After I opened it, I first looked for a fuse. There was something like a fuse (at least it says "F1" on the PCB) in a small brown cap, but that isn't burnt.
Next, I meassured the output of the PSU (pins 1/2 to 15/16) as follows:
pins 1/2: 0V,
pins 3/4: -12.56V,
pins 5/6 +5.14V,
pins 7/8: +12.18V,
pins 9/10: 0V,
pins 11/12: 3.3V
pins 13/14: 4.6V
pins 15/16: 0V

I guess these voltages means that the PSU is working allright, but I'm not sure.
Nevertheless, the MOTUs front pannel remains completely dark. If nothing is connected to the interface, at least a few lights should turn on?

Perhaps a failing backlight LED? Maybe there is some other type of fuse on the main PCB?

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

PhantomBox

[phantombox]

Im taking the motu appart, just to check if it is the backlight LED.
If anybody knows how to take off the damn rotating control knobs, feel free to post it.

[Randyman...]

I believe you could shine a light from the FRONT of the LCD screen and at least see if the LCD portion is working.  It will be VERY dim and hard to read, but should at least be a confirmation if the LCD portion is working (and that the Backlight is bad)...

 

[Fletcher]

An electrical storm -- especially if the lightning hit close to the studio can wipe out IC chips... as in entirely erase them.  The nature of lightning is a whole shitload of electricity shooting from the sky to ground... if you think about the voltage it takes to make a spark jump across the probes of a spark plug and then think about the quantity of electricity it takes to get a spark to jump SEVERAL MILES from the sky to ground -- you're talking about a radiated electromagnetic pulse of epic proportions!!!

If you've ever tried to work in a studio that has "high tension" power lines running near it chances are that unless the studio has built a Faraday Cage you're going to have "hummm" in the recording from the electricity radiated from those power lines... now multiply that voltage / current a thousand fold and the electric radiation that emanates from that power source is staggering!!! 

This could be your problem -- though if it were your problem I would suspect that the computer would have other problems besides a fried power supply -- so it may not be your problem... but certainly something to consider in your trouble shooting of the device.

Peace