First, I would say that firmware update issues are common with Montage - which has been around longer (more firmware updates) and is related to MODX in how the update works. Same general mechanism and code. So looking at what worked for people who reported the same exact issue with their Montage firmware updates should help you as well.

https://www.yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/error-message-ng-when-loading-firmware

https://www.yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/montage-won-t-update-to-version-2

https://www.yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/problems-loading-montage-version-2-0-it-does-not-load

... it seems like every firmware update there's a new round of messages with the same issues.

BTW: I found these by typing the following into google search:

site:yamahasynth.com firmware update failed NG

It's relatively easy to find things using google since this message forum is well indexed on google.

... if I take away "NG" I can find more - this time also narrowing down to only Montage

site:yamahasynth.com firmware update failed montage

such as:
https://www.yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/problems-downloading-montage-os-updater-v1-51-from-1-02-0

Summary would be to try a different USB stick. It should be empty - meaning no fancy partitions like Sandisk tends to do putting backup software there. Once you find a USB stick that works - keep it marked and preserved for only firmware updates. Also, if all else fails - try again. And try after unplugging the power from the wall for 20 seconds which would tend to reset "everything".

Before doing anything - make sure you have an "All" backup file. X8A for MODX.

Don't give up - it'll work. It's just finicky.

It's been like this for 20 minutes and the screen doesn't change, how long does it supposed to take to update ?
What should I do ? Should I leave it on for hours or what ? If I turn it off I am going to lose everything.

If it reports NG, this means it has searched for and did not find the Updater file on your USB stick.

There is no need to wait... it reports this when it has COMPLETED its search. It is no longer searching. If you wait you are wasting your time.

Make sure you are using a usb stick you use with the MODX.
Make sure you UNZIP the download on your computer and move just the updater program file to the root directory of the USB stick.

If you are unsure of how to unzip or what constitutes the root directory, let us know.

When you power up the MODX/Montage with Up Arrow+Utility pressed it will boot up into a firmware update mode, and it will search the inserted USB stick for a firmware update.

If it finds it, it will start updating. While updating, the Super Knob will pulse RED, and when complete, it will then pulse BLUE (and you'll see a prompt to power off).

If it doesn't find a valid firmware update on the stick, you'll get the "NG" message in red and the message to press INC/Yes to retry. If this happens, it's waiting for you to do something (the super knob will be dark). If this happens, make sure your USB stick is formatted as FAT32 and there is a firmware file in the root folder of the stick. Try another stick if you can't make it work.

I've had no problem using Sandisk sticks myself, though I do reformat them first to get rid of their security utility they include.

... the ones with the utility are just more difficult to deal with since you cannot "format" inside MODX. It doesn't wipe away partitions - it just formats one of the multiple partitions on the stick. You have to use your computer and get rid of extra partitions if they exist. Unless your format utility also wipes away all partitions (which isn't typical). Usually removing partitions is its own step.

Not to say that all Sandisks have multiple partitions - but some do and those are more problematic. 9 times out of 10 users elect to find a different stick that starts closer to the state that MODX/Montage expects.

I was able to turn off and turn on the unit back again and didn't lose any information. I believe the problem might be the USB memory stick that might be damage (and yes, it is a SanDisk). Today I will go buy a new USB stick and try again.

Lucky for me, I had trouble finding an empty USB drive in my currently chaotic house. I formated an old Kingston drive to FAT32 using a Windows PC. I unzipped the download file from Yamaha, then copied the updater (file extension PRG) to the USB drive. From there, I followed the rest of the instructions in the included installation guide/read me.

As mentioned above and in the directions, the updater should be the only file on the USB drive. No extraneous directories, nada.

"NG" is engineer-ese for "No Good." The Yamaha self-tests display "NG" when a test fails. The installer is written by the same firmware folks...

Hang in there -- it's worth it!

-- pj

http://sandsoftwaresound.net/update-about-the-updates/

SUCCESS SUCCESS, I was able to update the OS to version 2.00 I bought a Verbatim USB Memory Stick and it worked perfectly.

Thank you very much to all of you for your help.

FYI - I updated my related synth - the Montage to v3.0. I used a Sandisk Ultra Fit USB 3.1 32GB stick. It only had one partition and did have some PDFs, a directory, and an EXE for some kind of software pre-populated on the Sandisk. I formatted in the PC to wipe all of that out and it defaulted to FAT - which is how it came (and is right for the keyboard). Copied the firmware image to the root of the USB stick.

I updated just fine. No error messages or problems. Worked first try.

I did loose all of my user content. The keyboard was initialized with only the default Live Sets and cleared out user bank.

No problem however - since I followed the rules of updating. Backup first. I had first invested the 30 minutes or so it takes to create a backup file (X?A) and also created a copy of my user bank for good measure (X?U).

Having restored the backup (X?A) - I'm back in business.

When I updated firmware - I did have my backups on the same USB stick. The updater didn't have a problem finding the firmware file. Before update I made sure to copy these backup/user files to my computer's hard disk and "looked" at the files to be sure the sizes made sense. They did. One was over a GB one was 400ish MB. I copied the file to a second backup hard drive just in case. I don't want to loose anything.

Post firmware update - my original files are still on the USB stick and I have the two other copies of each on two different drives. Not recommended to have a "dirty" USB stick with other files on it - so not advocating to do this. If I had any problems I would have deleted those files first leaving only the firmware image file.

My keyboard is stuck in the this loop what do i do? Should I turn off the keyboard or should I remove the USB Stick?

My keyboard is stuck in the this loop what do i do?

This is not a very detailed description of what's going on. I know it's doing the same thing over and over ("loop" ) - but not what exactly it's doing during each loop. What's being reported - what you're doing - etc. I'm assuming you're updating firmware which would make sense posting here.

Going out on a limb, I'm going to guess you keep seeing the "NG" message. More often than not this would mean there's a problem with your USB stick (from the keyboard's perspective). Something that's not going to change by retrying. And, at this point, it's likely that the update process never started past just checking the source (USB stick) is "good" for an update.

I would say turn off your keyboard, remove the USB stick (in any order would be fine - take out the USB stick first if you want) and try to change your USB stick.

Either by placing it in your computer and being sure all partitions are wiped and, as a 2nd step, adding a single (only) partition formatted with FAT. Or, easier to do, just dig around for a better USB stick that already starts off as one your keyboard "likes" and will not get an "NG" error. Make sure it's wiped clean too first before copying the single firmware file (*.PGM) to the root directory of the stick.

I had issues getting my update to work but had a different solution that I haven't seen in these forums - I'm using a Mac on Big Sur (OSX 11.3.1) and after creating a USB stick with only the one 8Q86OS_.PGM file, the update would fail to start, saying 'NG' (?) every time.

On the mac after copying the 8Q86OS_.PGM file to the USB stick, OSX also added a file "._8Q86OS_.PGM" - when I left that file in place, together with the original .PGM file, removed the .Spotlight-V100/ and .fseventsd/ directories - the update worked.

So go figure - for OSX I needed to have two files on the USB stick - the file from the zip, and the automatically created file. I have no idea why but I'm happy as I finally managed to update my MODX 6. Hope this helps someone else.

You think it was the extra .XXXX file - or deleting the extra directories that did the trick? Because reportedly, you did both and it was fixed.

OSX also added a file "._8Q86OS_.PGM" ... , removed the .Spotlight-V100/ and .fseventsd/ directories - the update worked.

I had issues getting my update to work but had a different solution that I haven't seen in these forums - I'm using a Mac on Big Sur (OSX 11.3.1) and after creating a USB stick with only the one 8Q86OS_.PGM file, the update would fail to start, saying 'NG' (?) every time.

On the mac after copying the 8Q86OS_.PGM file to the USB stick, OSX also added a file "._8Q86OS_.PGM" - when I left that file in place, together with the original .PGM file, removed the .Spotlight-V100/ and .fseventsd/ directories - the update worked.

So go figure - for OSX I needed to have two files on the USB stick - the file from the zip, and the automatically created file. I have no idea why but I'm happy as I finally managed to update my MODX 6. Hope this helps someone else.

Firstly, glad you were eventually successful in your firmware update.

But, just FYI, it is highly unlikely that the ‘hidden’ or invisible’ file named ._8Q86OS_.PGM had anything to do with the success — as that is a ghost file created by your Macintosh computer and deals with how Macs catalog files/folders on storage media, and is read only by the Mac. If you were to erase it, the Mac would just create another next time it saw that usb stick.

The synth does not manage, view or even deal with this Mac cataloging protocol (as it has its own method).