201 not powering on / red lights and clicking sound

Powering on my 201 after a few months of not using it, have it plugged in via USBC cable. The lights continue to glow red/pink/white, glowing for a few seconds then turning off and repeating again. I left it plugged in for about 15 minutes to see if it needed some battery power but it is stuck on this cycle and nothing else can be done. There is also a clicking sound coming out of the speaker (single “click” sound as the lights turn off every few seconds). I tried resetting the device, removing and reinserting the SD card, and using batteries instead but am getting the same results.

Can this be resolved or do I have a lemon? Does anyone have any additional troubleshooting tips I can try out?

So the LED pattern keep cycling over and over? It sounds like an issue starting up… Usually the SD card popping out causes something like this. But if the LED pattern is cycling over and over that is strange (if it was just SD card it would cycle once then stop). Try holding the power button for 5 seconds, it should trigger a hard shutdown and lights should turn off, then restart. You could also try burning the SD card disk image in case it got corrupted somehow:

https://www.critterandguitari.com/manual?m=201_Pocket_Piano_Manual#9.1_Burning_SD_Card_Disk_Image

Thanks for the response! I completed the steps to burn the new SD image and reinserting it. But now when I power on the device it goes through just one cycle of lights then the lights turn off. From there I’m not able to make any sound or do anything else with the device. I tried doing a full restart a few times but am getting the same results.

If you are powering it with the 201’s USB-C port, where is the power coming from?..a wall wart with a USB-A port? A computer’s USB-A port? something else?


Batteries are not charged by the 201. If you try fresh batteries without the USB-C cable connected, what happens?

So far I have tried a USB-C cable to a computer’s USB port and a different USB-C to a wall USB-A adaptor. I did try batteries also initially, but I now realize the ones I have are duds so I’ll need to get some new ones. I can follow up here once I’ve tested with the AA batteries.

Thank you for the update.

Were either of these the cables that came with your 201?

Yes the included cable and wall adaptor/block are being used to plug into the wall.

Thank you for confirming this. Please contact us directly about this: support @ critterandguitari . com

i have a similar problem. suddenly the pocket piano won’t power on after a week or so that it worked fine. when i power it on, the leds cycle through different colors, then turn dim white for a second and then turn off completely. no sound comes out of the pp and i have to power it off by holding the power-key for at least 5 seconds. also there is no led activity when powering it off.
haven’t changed anything on the sd card in a week or so and have been using it daily.

i had the same thing when i just got it and changed lots of stuff on the sd, like install different synths and arps, and uploading the new firmware that was posted in this forum. wouldn’t turn on, but when i tried again after a day, it worked again…

Are you powering with batteries? If so, can you try new batteries?

I did. Also tried usb.

Have you tried reseating the microSD card? (remove power & batteries first)

Reseating means taking it out and back in again? If so, yes.

Can you send a video showing the issue to support @ critterandguitari . com ?