KKS MK3 stuck at "Get latest update" - no firmware updater launching

... and of course it is not updating :-(

First it did nothing, now "error -2"

Wow.

Dear PoorFellow,

first of all, thank you very much for your reply. I apologize for sending multiple mails here, but I could not delete some and due to a browser problem, I could not edit either.

The current situation has frustrated me a lot last night and therefore I was probably not in the right mood and should have refrained from writing.

Owning 4 NI keyboards MK1 and MK2, I was hoping for years that direct Kontakt support would come - which did not. After investing another 900 Euro for the S61 MK3, the experience I had was just bad.

First, the infos on the keyboard (in German) where wrong - at least until later that night, the URL did not work but caused a 404 error. So I had to search for additional setup instructions.

Having a brand new Mac Studio which is capable of providing the required USB-C connection, I finally got the keyboard registered. Installing the required connection software on the Mac made me realise that only parts of the objects had been installed for no appearant reason. So I had to figure out what could potentially be missing.

Then one document said that if I had installed Komplete Kontrol and would launch it standalone, it would immediately update the detected keyboard - which it did not. After half an hour of trying forth and back, I saw that the German mail had no infos whatsoever, but at least there was a video embedded. So I had to actually watch it in order to find out where to download the firmware updater. Why not post a link on the setup page? Too much work? That´s beyond my understanding, really.

Trying to apply the firmware (without which the keyboard would do nothing), the updater did not do anything but asked me to power down everything and restart. The next time, it looked good at first, but then the updater app said that it failed with an "Error -2". No explanation could be found on this, neither online nor offline. The updater said I should power-cycle everything and after doing so, the display came up with a totally white screen. The visual animations during power-up were not visible either.

I have tried at least 20 times to power on the keyboard, but to no avail.

Having a lot of gear here, which all require firmware updates at one point or another, I am always super careful when doing this and never in my life had any failure of any device, neither Macs, nor Routers, nor Keyboards. Up to now.

So I am sitting over the weekend with a bricked MK3 and had to reconfigure everything back to my MK2 Kontrol in order to keep working. At least this still does its job as expected :-)

Again, thank you very much and please - everyone - accept my apologies for my overly frustrated initial mails. After spending almost 1 hour reading and searching for the correct infos and setting up the required services on my Mac, I was simply not in the best mood.

Kind Regards

Tom

@DarkNRG:

100 % exactly the same messages here!

Many thanks for also posting the Firmware Updater screen (which I did unfortunately miss).

@PoorFellow Thank you so much again, I have not found this and will test asap.

@PoorFellow

Thank you for your advice, sadly no luck. I have tried power-cycling as described "endlessly", but no recovery screen. Also, using other USB-C ports or even USB-C to USB-A did not change anything.

What is interesing though: There are small lines appearing on the top of the screen - when power-cycling they get smaller until they are gone. But unfortunately that does not change things.

And NI Support has not gotten back.

@PoorFellow

You won´t believe it, but SUCCESS!!!

I can´t believe it, but after many hours of trying everything, here is what brought my S61 MK3 back to life:

1. I have power-cycled the device a number of times (around 10 - 20), with the white screen appearing every time
2. Then I have connected the keyboard to the USB Charger of my Macbook Pro. After powering it on, the white screen was still there.
3. For the data connection, I have used a USB-C to USB-A adapter and plugged the USB-A cable directly into the USB-A port on the back of my Mac Studio. The display was still white.
4. I then launched the Firmware Updater and started it. The firmware updater got active although the device itself still showed nothing but the white screen. Letting it run for around 5 minutes, the firmware update suddenly reported success and the S61 MK3 lit up again, telling me that it downloads the firmware. Once finished, the screen went on to the "Default MIDI template."

Unbelievable. Now let´s see if it keeps working :-) I am going to post this solution to a separate thread as well in case somebody experiences the same.

Again, many thanks for helping me.