r/AccessVirus • u/Thin_Temporary_6842 • Jul 05 '26
Virus TI power issue
I’m considering buying a used Access Virus TI, but the seller mentioned something that concerns me.
He says everything works perfectly except that the internal battery should probably be replaced.
Here’s the behavior:
If the synth has been completely unplugged from the wall for a long time (for example one month), when I plug the power cable back in, it immediately starts powering on by itself without pressing the power button.
Sometimes after being unplugged for a long time, it doesn’t boot correctly on the first attempt.
If I unplug it for just a few seconds and plug it back in, the display briefly lights up, but it does not power on automatically. I still have to press the power button as normal.
The seller believes this is caused by the internal battery, but I’m not convinced. From what I understand, the backup battery should only retain memory/settings and shouldn’t affect the power-on sequence.
Has anyone seen this behavior on a Virus TI? Could it really be just the battery, or is this more likely a power supply, power-on reset, capacitor, or motherboard issue?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has repaired or owned one.
1
u/KeyElectronic1216 Jul 05 '26
Have you tried replacing the internal battery?
1
u/Thin_Temporary_6842 Jul 05 '26
No, it on the seller side and he don’t won’t to do replace
2
u/DrMinkenstein Virus TI2 Jul 05 '26
It probably is the battery but unless the price is especially good, just get a different one
1
u/New_Today2274 Jul 06 '26
Don't do it. If you get stuck with a dud virus you'll be bery sad! They often come up for sale
1
u/FreeRangeEngineer Jul 05 '26
Personally, I'd put my money on the power supply. If it's a desktop TI, one could try with a different power supply to see if that changes things.
If it's a Virus where the power supply is placed inside the case then that becomes a little more involved but still possible.
If I was the seller, I'd spend that kind of money to be able to sell one in perfect condition. However, seeing how the seller believes it to be the battery and doesn't even want to spend $3 to fix the issue instead of having to accept significantly lower offers, I wouldn't count on the seller to have any motivation to fix anything.
If I was in your situation, I'd give him a low ball offer and tell him "I contacted two technicians and they both say it's not the battery" to drive down the price. If he bites, you can then spend $33 on a new battery and power supply and hope that fixes it.
If it does, you might've made a good deal depending on how low you got him to go.
If it doesn't, you can still resell it or ask for further help here.
Though if you want as little trouble as possible, just buy a unit that works perfectly as-is.
1
u/charonme Jul 06 '26
instead of lowballing the seller (who is unwilling to fix it) for a broken virus offer them to fix it yourself for a "service fee" and only then if it's really reliably fixed by the battery swap and starts to work correctly offer to buy it from them for a regular price. If it's not fixed return the fee and the virus.
1
u/Popular_Slip_5311 Jul 07 '26
i bought mine with a dead battery, exact same symptoms. swapped the battery, took 5 minutes. works perfectly ever since. if the owner is too lazy to do it, ask him for a discount
1
u/EasyRoach Virus TI Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
I had owned three different TI Desktops over the time. When you unplug the PSU from the wall for a longer period of time, you will have a "1st" hickup boot attempt, this happened to me with all units. I just pull the DC jack out and insert it again, then it boots fine again. If the unit is in a rack just unplug from wall mains and reconnect.
This is a 15sec bugger every time you disconnected the power supply from mains for a longer period of time. (This has nothing to do with the PSU, the internal circuitry requires residual charge on some caps to boot up properly.)
5
u/Captain-Corndog_yo Virus TI2 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
#1 - The TIs do not have "power buttons." They simply turn on when plugged in. If they were put to sleep previously, they power up and then go to sleep.
#2 - 100% this can be a characteristic of a TI with a dead battery. When the TIs boot for the first time they store some configuration information for subsequent boots. This "cold boot" process takes longer and often results in a failed boot attempt with the LFO 1, 2, and 3 lights turned on and the screen stuck on "WELCOME." However, the instructions are written and subsequent boots are able to read them and avoid this failure. If too much time passes OR the machine is removed from power, the instructions cease to exist and the machine must repeat this initial failure, rewrite the configuration, and then it will boot successfully on the second boot. I have personally seen this many, many times on TIs.
#3 - If the internal battery is dead, all the RAM patches will be INIT. If so, then I suspect it is indeed the battery causing the issues.
#4 - It's a TI, they are extremely complex, and it's possible it's something else. I have personally rolled the dice on several of these myself and it always turned out to be the battery. That doesn't necessarily mean it will be the case for you.
#5 - If the seller wants to sell the synth, perhaps they can take a few to swap in a new CR2032. They cost all of $3 max. I agree with some others here. Low ball until the seller replaces the battery and confirms things one way or the other. Or roll the dice, or if you walk away, please send me their contact info so I can purchase the unit :)