Kemper freezes when formatting USB stick

  • Hi all, I apologize if this has been asked before. I googled around and didn't find anything (at least no on the first page, haha).


    I lost the USB stick I'd been using with my Kemper and used another I had, a Lexar 8 GB stick. Formatted to MS FAT on my MacBook and tried putting it in to the Kemper. It seemed that it didn't want to recognize the way the stick had been formatted, so it prompted me to format it. Now, here lies the problem; when I hit "yes" to format the stick, the Kemper freezes. I can still play through it, on whatever setting it was using at the moment, but none of the controls work. The power knob doesn't do anything and the only way to get it to turn off is by disconnecting it from the power source. Once I do that and plug it back in, it turns on just fine and works regularly. I've tried leaving it for a couple minutes, but I don't remember it taking this long to format on the previous stick that I used. Any ideas as to what might be happening?


    edit: Okay, so I tried one more time and gave the Kemper around 10 minutes to format the drive but it was still frozen. I unplugged and repowered the Kemper and oddly enough, on powering up, the USB stick displayed as external storage, meaning it had been formatted. I'm not too sure what was up with that, but I'm leaving this edit for anyone else that may have the problem.

    Edited once, last by movings: Problemed ceased ().

  • I'm having the same issue. I hit "Yes" to reformat but then nothing happens.

    Right, that's what was happening to me. Like I posted in the edit, I didn't really do anything to get it working, just kept unplugging it every time it would freeze and finally it worked. Someone recommended contacting Kemper support.

  • The problem is still there with latest firmware, i put a usb stick in my Kemper, it ask "are you sure" to format it, but nothing happen when i click on yes or no.
    Shutting it done with the chicken knob resolved it (althought the shutdown screen was also missing), but i think it's a bug.

  • I have to buy a brand new flash drive every time I update my Kemper. It formats o.k., but after getting the update loaded to the flash drive, the Kemper does not see it and no update question appears on the screen of the Kemper.


    Anyone got either a similar situation, or a fix, possibly, please?

  • same issue, just received the kemper, hangs on format. Works fine after restart. Otherwise working great. :thumbup:

    Hi! New kemper owner here as well (had it about 2 weeks now). First time trying a USB import today and had the exact same issue you reported. Here's what I did to "fix" it (or call it a workaround but it seems to work fine now):


    1 - Format your USB stick to Windows FAT32 format first. If you use a Mac, in Disk Utility there is the option for MS-DOS (Fat) format. that's the one you want. Windows user shouldn't have any issues with formatting to FAT32.


    Make sure the USB stick is newly formatted to FAT32 and has nothing else stored on it yet.


    2 - Now eject USB from computer and turn on Kemper to browse mode. Don't insert USB yet. Wait for Kemper to fully boot.


    3 - Now insert USB and wait a short while it should show the soft button "External Storage" in the 3rd slot of the browse mode screen. If you don't see External Storage then browse to and load any profile first so you are on the screen showing the profile, not the main browse screen showing all profiles.


    4 - Press "External Storage" soft button and then "Format Device" soft button and then "yes" when prompted. This seems to work and does not hang like it does when you press yes on a new stick that is not formatted first to FAT32.


    If you get that far, you can then remove the stick and insert into PC/Mac and copy any profiles you want into "Shared" or whatever it is you wanted to do with the USB.


    Hope that works for someone else too!


    PS: was doing this because I bought some cab pack and seems USB is the only way to load Cab presets (can't be done via Rig Manager, strangely...)

  • I have to buy a brand new flash drive every time I update my Kemper. It formats o.k., but after getting the update loaded to the flash drive, the Kemper does not see it and no update question appears on the screen of the Kemper.


    Anyone got either a similar situation, or a fix, possibly, please?


    Hi C-4, just a thought you might try the same workaround that I suggested and used for myself described higher up in this thread. This is for problem getting the kemper to format any USB stick at all - although your problem is different, I think the same solution will work.


    So the trick might be for your existing, already used stick, format it for on your PC or Mac to Windows FAT32 format. then insert into kemper.


    kemper should then recognise it and show the "external storage" soft button. Hope that helps!

  • I don't know if I did a quick format on computer for fat 32. All it said was format and Fat 32.
    I will bring in a flash drive and see if I am able to locate a full format tab.


    Doing it as described above, did not work after downloading the latest approved update.


    I got the screen on the Kemper that said import/export, et. al.
    This never happened before this latest update.

  • I ran into the same problem with 3 different usb drives formatted as exfat I was trying to format them in the kemper. I have one usb that is formated fat32 and the usb works correctly I can backup and transfer rigs but you cant cancel and there is no status indicator. In order to stop the format of the usb if it hangs I had to pull the power plug the chicken head doesn't work.

  • nottoohigh - just wanted to say thanks. Just got mine in today and couldn't update the OS. Everything I tried caused it to hard freeze and I had to keep unplugging the power. Followed your steps and everything worked.

  • nottoohigh - just wanted to say thanks. Just got mine in today and couldn't update the OS. Everything I tried caused it to hard freeze and I had to keep unplugging the power. Followed your steps and everything worked.

    Nice to know thanks! a bit sad that 3 years on these "workarounds" are still needed, but oh well.... Still a great device to have in my rig!

  • As far as inability to update, what version is currently on the KPA and what version are you applying?


    As far as formatting goes - I never format mine with the KPA. I use Sandisk USB sticks and they work out of the box.