PS3 RB2 Drums Drop Connection

[Absydion]

I posted this in another thread, but I think it might merit a thread of its own. My new RB2 Drums have lost connection in the middle of a song several times now. I'll be drumming along when the light on the drums (the one that shows the controller port) begins flashing and none of the drum hits register. The song continues playing without the drums working, and I have to turn the drums off and on by the switch on the bottom for them to reconnect. During all of this, the light on the drum dongle stays solid. Anyone else having this problem?

[SKACMAN]

I am having this very problem, I am about to return them to EA for a new set. I tired just about everything...

[gogostevie]

Same problem here. I tried to get to the RMA page, but it's currently unavailable. Some kind of statement from HMX/EA would be nice, but at least we know we're not the only ones having this issue.

[daegan]

This is the same issue I'm having. I'm going to try the number on the manual I guess. >.>

[natjjohn]

I have been having the reverse problem. Drumming along fine, when the dongle begins flashing. If I turn the drums on and off, I am reconnected.

Problem started happening randomly. Played for a couple hours and no problems. Played again much later, and the problem started happening... a lot to the point the game was unplayable.

Contacted the support line, explained situation with dropped connection, and am receiving a new drum top. I provided a scanned copy of the receipt and now things are a go.

I hope this fixes the issue and it's not the dongle that is the problem. Anybody else having this problem?

[daegan]

Actually, now that I think of it my problem is natjjohn's, although it's probably the same overall issue. FWIW it sounds like something's rattling inside my dongle.

[awest505]

I am having this problem too. New set for PS3 purchased today.

The weird thing is I played the entire first tier challenges and some of the second fine, but now all of a sudden it cuts off literally every other song.

[winseck]

I am having this same problem. But I am also having a problem with random green drum hits. The green drum will act like it's been hit and I won't even be near the drum set. It does it at random times. Sometimes it will have this "pretend" hit 5 times in 30 seconds. Other times it will only do it like once in a 2 minute span. Is anyone else having THIS problem?

[daegan]

Check your batteries, guys. I opened mine up and they had loosened the slightest bit. I popped each out and back in and have been on freestyle in drum trainer for a good ten minutes... so far so good.

I'm still RMAing it tomorrow assuming that my debit card will go through, but this will keep me playing for the night at least.

[Lanceres218]

I am having the connection problem where everything stays on but the drums dont respond. Also i keep getting a bubble on my red pad and my red and yellow pad broke notes or double hit. Anyone having this problem?

[Shelbo]

I am having the connection problem where everything stays on but the drums dont respond. Also i keep getting a bubble on my red pad and my red and yellow pad broke notes or double hit. Anyone having this problem?

People keep talking about a bubble...what bubble? I don't have one. Like a raised bubble in the red pad? Of the rubber??
*crosses fingers that I don't get a..bubble*

Anyway..I'm having trouble with my yellow pad also. It doesn't register as double hits..it just sometimes doesn't register. It drops notes quite frequently.
It REALLY doesn't respond while hitting red and yellow together.
Gah this is agrivating!!!
I just wanna play man!!

[Lanceres218]

thats about the problem i am having. and yes i have a bubble that forms right in the middle of the pad that i can push down and it goes away but then it comes back a couple hits later. i dont know y.

[hardrockfather]

I am super ticked! I have done everything from moving the drums closer to the tv, to replacing the batteries. There is obviously something loose in the unit, and now the drums won't work at all. EA doesn't even provide an 800 number, and this is the release day. We got at best 2 hours of play. This sucks!

[Stizzelkin]

I as well am having issues with the RB2 Drum Kit disconnecting mid gameplay. I'm becoming a professional at noticing the kit is dead, reaching under the kit and turning it off and on, and resuming play as fast as possible. I've done all I can think of as far as troubleshooting is concerned. I'm now waiting on Harmonix to make a statement. Otherwise the kit work(ed) beautifully. Must have jammed euphorically for four hours before my world came crashing down.

All I really have to say is that this hiccup makes surviving Megadeth quite amusing.

[Airek]

I know most of you have tried it, but check your batteries. And I do mean the actual battery life...

I got my bundle early (Thursday) and I have been playing ever since. Just the last two days it has been starting to cut out. I tried all sorts of things, but never replacing the batteries because I thought there was no way they could already be dead...

Played 10 songs tonight online with my brother and didn't drop connectivity once. Not saying it is the fix all, but definitely try some different batteries.

I still plan on doing an RMA for my kit regardless, just in case it's something bigger that I just can't see that will come back and haunt me. Plus, in five days of play, I have already cracked my bass pedal in the exact spot my RB1 pedal broke. Only difference is it's still usable because it's screwed to a piece of metal.

[daegan]

Specifically, if you take the battery cover off and tap the batteries lightly and feel/hear it go in a bit and then come back out, you need to make sure it's in there STURDY. This has fixed the drop issue for me.

[mug23beer]

We're having the same issue. Played fine for a while. Got it at midnight, so it hasn't undergone any real abuse yet. I have changed the batteries 3 times. Ugh. I knew these wireless drums would be crappy. Bad idea. If the issue is the batteries coming loose during play, then a replacement won't solve the problem. Gonna try tape or something.

[daegan]

All they'd really need to do is replace the battery cover with one that fits the form of AAs EXACTLY as opposed to foam.

[SKACMAN]

All they'd really need to do is replace the battery cover with one that fits the form of AAs EXACTLY as opposed to foam.

After reading this and other peoples issues with the batteries... I decided to cut out a piece of foam the size of the back plate, replace the batteries with brand new ones and see how it works. Maybe hard drumming is knocking them ajar who knows.

Now I can not play a lot this week since I am working a lot, but I did just play expert a solid hour on the drums with no drops. I will keep you guys updated on my situation as it goes. You may want to give it a try for yourselves.

Oh one a side note for some reason I can't check the charge of my batteries when I hit the PS Button. It does not give me the typical battery bars, just a horizontal line. I hope this is not the same issue I had with a RB1 Guitar where it just sucked battery life out of it so fast it was not worth playing it.

Anyways good luck guys/gals.

[Dawgies]

Purchased ours yesterday. Played a couple songs fine and then the problem started. Song started and drums dropped. Fix and repeat several times. Replaced batteries, changed ports, changed locations and same results. Replaced batteries again and placed addional piece of foam in battery case. Drums recognized and played for 1/2 sond then dropped. Fixing to try 2 pieces of foam. Maybe they'll put us on payroll? I'll be back.....

[Dawgies]

Well the two foams didn't work.
Waiting for tech support reply now.

[Hacksaw907]

So I don't have the same problem with you guys, considering the fact that I was able to play the drums for more than 2 hours straight without a drop in connection, but two other issues came up for me. The first one is that if I don't sync an instrument before the game is fully loaded, I cannot get any response from that instrument controller until I restart the game with it connected. Secondly, if the instrument goes to sleep (the light goes off) I can't get a response from it if it's been asleep for more than 5 minutes. Any idea of how I can fix this? I was thinking it's the Power Saver function, but I don't know.

[eisbrecher03]

I was having connection issues with both drums and guitar and nothing seems to help... (my RB1 guitar would do this when it ran low on batteries, but doesn't seem to be the case here...)

[Kilmer]

I am having the exact same problem with my drums just cutting off right in the middle of songs. This couldn't be more annoying...hopefully there is a reasonable fix for this soon...

[camco71]

Same problem here, but it developed a bit differently. After about an hour of play, the battery compartment opened and the batteries just fell out. We chalked it up as playing the drums "too hard" (which annoyed us because nobody felt like we were... and why no screw to secure the battery compartment lid like on RB1 guitars?). This happened again about a half-hour later. Again, we just tried to make sure the lid was snapped closed and we played on. Then we started losing connection with the batteries staying put. We figured out the OFF/ON got us reconnected, but the frequency increased to the point where we had to stop. So frustrating.

[Sebrun]

I posted a fix to this issue about the batteries. They just loose connection from drumming tape them together and put a piece of folded paper on the top of the plastic door so it holds them snug then it will work fine

[Dawgies]

Annoying, Yes, but they're working on it I guess.
Here's my reply from them.

*******************************

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your Rock Band purchase. It is always a pleasure to assist our customers in any way that we can.

Due to the nature of your issue, more time is required for investigation. I apologize for any prolonged delays this might cause, but please rest assured that we are trying to handle your issue in a timely manner. During this time, you may still update your incident with additional information that might help us resolve your issue without causing any additional delay. To update your incident click the link that says, “To view or update your question from our support site, click here."
We appreciate the opportunity to assist you and look forward to getting you back in the game!

[Hacksaw907]

Btw, if anyone else had the same problem I said I had in my previous post, it seems turning off the power saver function for controllers fixed it for me. And yeah, stuffing another piece of cardboard/thick piece of paper between the cover and the batteries fixes the problem. I started having the problem too today, and just jammed a folded-up variation of the receipt in there. Works like a charm :P

[daegan]

Will try the paper thing tomorrow, but I'm totally RMA'ing these anyway.

[El-Bastardo]

Had similar problem to what many others are saying.

Brought the kit home on Saturday night (like 1:30am Sunday morning actually) and set it up and played with my girlfriend for about an hour and a half or so. Drums worked fine as did everything else.

Next day, hooked it back up in preparation for some friends coming over in the evening and the drums would not pair up with the PS3 at all. Turn them on and the channel indicators flash until the drums automatically shut off. Tried the synch button on the drum receiver (my friend hates the word "dongle") with no luck either.

Tonight I tried folding a piece of cardboard in half and cutting it to size to fit in the battery compartment. The door to the compartment just barely snapped into place with it in there. Good news is the drums seem to work fine now. It was like 5am, so I didn't hit them hard (neighbors downstairs and upstairs no doubt sleeping), but had no disconnects at all and the drums seemed to be working fine...I just suck at playing them.

[Absydion]

Yeah I think I got it backwards. It happened again last night and it was the dongle that was flashing. Regardless, it KEEPS HAPPENING and it's VERY frustrating. They should have play-tested these better; we shouldn't have to be stuffing the battery compartments to make the drums work.

[BooZer666]

Ya what the F^@% i go out and spend my money on this game get home and now my drums are doing the same thing why didn't they just keep it where you just plug it in and there you go...Is there a power cord you can buy ?? and has anyone sent there drums back to get new ones ??

[xd00d5]

I am having this same problem. But I am also having a problem with random green drum hits. The green drum will act like it's been hit and I won't even be near the drum set. It does it at random times. Sometimes it will have this "pretend" hit 5 times in 30 seconds. Other times it will only do it like once in a 2 minute span. Is anyone else having THIS problem?This was the first problem I had with my drums, before the random-disconnection problem.

[amavit]

The first problem i had with my drums was the red "bubble". I thought okay I can deal with it and I let it go, but the more I kept playing it continued to annoy me. And then to make things worse when my drums go into "hibernation" like if I stop playing for a while and they turn off and I have to reconnect them, they never do. I turn them on, hit the dongle thing, hit the reconnect button, change the setting to the controler i last had it as and the only thing that works is the ps button. I litterally have to turn on another instrument to even navigate my screen. i don't know if i'm the only one with this specific problem, but i'm taking mine back today and getting a new set none the less.:confused:

Edit: So i called and issued my RMA today. I told the guy about the "bubble" and he didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. It was strange. :eek: But I should have my drums in the next few days. Hopefully these work better than the other ones

[Dawgies]

Well, after a few days of talking with various techs they finally agreed to send me the replacement drums. A quick couple days turn around was only going to cost me $ 135.00 that they would refund once I sent my drums in. The other option was a 21 day turn around in which they would send me a box, I would send my drums, and they would send me the replacement. Since I didn't want to tie up more money I told them to send the box. Well, the box came in today, delivered by UPS, and it was delivered destroyed and I was going to have to order another box. Knowing that Target had a 30 day return policy in Texas, and that EA had already wasted several days of that, I opted for for the 3rd choice.... I took the entire bundle to Target and made a complete exchange without any hassel at all. Hopefully I won't have the same problem this time, but if I do I know where to go!

We LUV Rock Band but the bugs tend to BUG me!

EA needs to speed up the bug repair process and take care of its customers.

[Dawgies]

Today was going to be a good day..... Put the Rock Band 2 together last night. Had everything set to try it out 1st thing this morning. Turned the PS3 on, put the game in the system and nothing. Tried again and nothing. Tried other games and nothing. Put a movie in the drive and nothing. Called Sony and was advised that the laser was out. 2nd time in a month that the PS3 has taken a nose dive. They're sending me another box to return it for repair or replacement. Soooo, in about 2 weeks I'll let ya know if the new Rock Band 2 drums works.

[Headshotgaming]

I have found that after about 20-25 songs my drum set starts dropping connection to the dongle. Replacing my batteries with a new set will let me play again until I hit that 20-25 song limit.

I tried the batteries in other things and they work fine, so I know they aren't dead. It seems that the wireless connection between the drums and the dongle is transmitting a LOT and requires a fair amount of juice to run it.

To save myself the money on the batteries I went to my local toy store and bought a Sony charger along with 4 NiMH 2500 mAh batteries. It doesnt seem to give me more songs than the Alkaline I was using but 15 minutes in the charger gets me another 20-25 songs.

Even though this is workable, I am still going to RMA the drums and I am seriously pissed that this is what I have to do to get the drum peripheral to work....why isn't it just rechargable like the PS3 controllers????

[shanerg17]

I think after all the trouble I have had with the RB drum kits I am skipping all the RMAing and complaining about them! I'll just wait until ION's Drum Rocker is out for the PS3 and see if I have any better luck! I know it's a pricey solution but I just don't have the patience to go through this over drums again (I had MAJOR problems with the kit for RB1 also)

[Tomsushi]

Hey i'm also getting the deadly red bubble has anyone found a solution or DIY fix?

[ByH20]

First, find the battery.batteries that are causing the problem and "FIX IT!" by putting as many cotton balls over it as you can.