NOTE: The following instructions will assume that you have the keyboard upside down with the keys furthest from you. Be careful to support the joystick so that no weight is applied to the joystick mechanism.
1. After first disconnecting the unit from the mains supply you can remove the base panel of the M1 by releasing the black or gold screws underneath.
2. Once the base panel is removed you will see the underside of two PCB boards. The larger of the two boards is the main processor board and it is on this board that the battery can be found, albeit at present hidden from view.

3. You will see two cables emanating from the right hand edge of this board. One of these will run to a connector just below the key frame, which is in turn attached to a small PCB board. Remove this connector.

4. The other cable will run to the power supply board. This you will find adjacent to the mains input. Only remove the cable furthest from you on the power supply board.
5. Once these have been removed you can then remove the six gold screws around the perimeter of the main board and the two larger screws positioned below the card slot.


6. You should now be able to pivot the main board so that it rest on top of the smaller board to it's left. At this point you should be able to see the battery in its horseshoe shaped holder.

7. To remove the battery push it carefully towards the back of the holder at which point the battery should come lift out quite easily.

8. Reverse the previous steps making sure that the connectors are positioned correctly and securely
9. Once you have done this you will need to reload the sounds. You’ll need a PC MIDI cable that will connect from your soundcard to the MIDI ports on the Korg. The PC MIDI OUT connector will connect to the MIDI IN on the Korg and vice versa.

10. The MIDI software program (Freeloader or equivalent) will need to run to transfer the

factory.syx file to the Korg. If you have downloaded the file, ensure it is available for the transfer program to use it. This is the original default file to restore 100 prog/comb settings. Ensure all MIDI leads are set up to connect Korg and PC before power is applied.

11. On powering up, after the battery change, the display will show INIT PROG, for all programs and INIT COMBI for all combinations. All the drum settings will also be lost.

12.  To reset the patches:

Press the GLOBAL button

Press the number 5 button

Press the PAGE + button once

Display should read MIDI FILTERING

Press the H button

Press the UP button

Lower right display should read EXCL:ENA

Press the PROG button

13. System Exclusive transfer is now set and the Korg can receive data via the MIDI link from the soundcard (Sysex send from software on PC). Equally, if you have other Korg sysex files, you can transfer them in the same way as para 12. Once the cabling is disconnected, you should have a restored Korg until the battery goes again.

14. My thanks to fellow Korg users and web sites for this information. This procedure should always have been an integral part of the manual.

DS@ tiddles-teasers.com