Drum Fix (w/ pictures)

[Hanover]

This fix helped my blue drum pad that was intermittently not registering and eventually became almost fully non responsive. This probably wont help those who's drums aren't being recognized....

What I suspect is going on is that the plug that connects the pad to the tray is coming loose during shipment. This is the reason why my drum pad was working only half of the time. Once I tightened the connection, my pad started working flawlessly.

Remove the faulting drum pad from the tray. Each pad is being held in place by either three or four rubber "bulbs". You can see them if you look under the drum trays...they provide the springiness that your drums have. Pull the drum pad up...pulling each rubber bulb up one at a time. Just place your fingers between the tray and the pad as close to the bulbs as you can get and pull up. Eventually the bulbs will squeeze through the holes.
You can push the bulb from underneath using something like your drum stick or other blunt instrument.

http://www.totalimmaturity.com/images/drumfix/rubberfoot.jpg
(This is what the rubber bulbs look like that attach the pad to the tray)

After you remove the pad, you will see a wire coming off from the pad with a male jumper plug on the end of it:
http://www.totalimmaturity.com/images/drumfix/drumpadplug.jpg
(The plug connected to the pad with the wire)

That plug should be connected to the female jack in the middle of the tray:
http://www.totalimmaturity.com/images/drumfix/drumtraysocket.jpg
(The plug in the tray)

http://www.totalimmaturity.com/images/drumfix/padtraypluggedin.jpg
(The pad plugged into the tray)

If it was already plugged in, make sure it's secure by pushing down on the plug and tightening the connection. The plug is slotted so it can only fit into the jack one way.

Once you've reconnected/tightened that connection, place the drum pad back on the tray, pushing down on each of the areas where the rubber feet are, popping them back into the holes (be careful to make sure the three-footed drum pads are aligned correctly).

Now turn on Rock Band and test your drums!

[3Dave]

I'm glad you got this working, but this is not the be-all-end-all fix that you claim on so many threads. I wanted to wait to see your pictures, and after doing so, it confirmed what I figured... not all of the drum kits are the same. I don't have the white connectors that you do. I'm not sure if you have the PS3 version (mine is 360), or if they were just made in a different manner, but either way, I have no white connectors to adjust... hence my drums are still borked.

[Schlagwerk]

My box is labeled 17 Oct, '07 and my drum is much different than yours.

1) My plugs (and wires) are color coded to the drums they belong to
2) My boards where the wires plug into are in slightly different locations
3) 3 footed pads? All of mine are 4

Just thought I'd note the differences. I was in my kit today trying to improve their responsiveness (with no luck).. also all my plugs were quite secure.

[Pilsen6]

WEll guys I exchanged my Rock Band from launch day because my guitar broke yes the Downstrum thing. I noticed somethings different with my new box, first it had a yellow sticker on top thta says "If you encounter a problem with any rock Band peripheral, Do Not return to the store contact and EA's website" also at the bottom of the box I have a manufacture date 10/28/07.

My first box did not have any of this on it so what do you guys think? are there more versions of the game?

[webduelist]

lets see here we now have

3 different models of drums
3 different models of the guitar
1 type of mics

well at least they got something some what right, but im starting to think they just put out a bunch of protypes for release day just to make the store date instead of getting good stuff then releaseing it.

well thats what im hoping anyways. also im getting pissed off I have had my pre-orderd for almost 2 months and they wont freaking ship it because they "ran out". grrrrrrrrrr but it might not be a bad thing mine might have everything right in it instead of this stuff.

[Micker]

WEll guys I exchanged my Rock Band from launch day because my guitar broke yes the Downstrum thing. I noticed somethings different with my new box, first it had a yellow sticker on top thta says "If you encounter a problem with any rock Band peripheral, Do Not return to the store contact and EA's website" also at the bottom of the box I have a manufacture date 10/28/07.

My first box did not have any of this on it so what do you guys think? are there more versions of the game?

I bought mine at launch with the date Sept 30. I had a sheet inside that said the same thing about returning to the manufacturer, you probably overlooked it.

I had my green drum doa right from the start. If I hit it hard on the bottom of the rim, it would sometime work. Getting a new one shipped, hopefully soon. My drums look nothing like your pics underneath, they have color coded wires.

I was pretty upset, between that and the mic delay on 5.1 Now i'm waiting for my guitar to die, which seems inevitable. Only used it a couple songs so far, but from the pics on here it looks so flimsy inside with little foam pieces for springs. Seriously, no way these aren't all going to break eventually.

[Hanover]

I didn't say it was the end-all-be-all...just something to try.

I did get three private messages saying they got it to work, so I'm glad I was able to help someone.

So are your pads wired directly into the tray?


I'm glad you got this working, but this is not the be-all-end-all fix that you claim on so many threads. I wanted to wait to see your pictures, and after doing so, it confirmed what I figured... not all of the drum kits are the same. I don't have the white connectors that you do. I'm not sure if you have the PS3 version (mine is 360), or if they were just made in a different manner, but either way, I have no white connectors to adjust... hence my drums are still borked.

[furbzilla33]

My problem wasn't the same as Hanovers, but his technique helped me identify mine. Once you pop the drum pad off, there's an orange spring mechanism that has two screws holding it down. If you remove that, you can see that there are two wires soddered (sp?) on a "disc" shaped thingy underneath a band-aid type tape. What happened with mine is that one of the wires was disconnected from the disc shaped thing, so I electrical taped the crap out of it and made the connection flush with the disc again. It works just fine now.

Still getting a replacement, though. Cause who knows how long that will really hold up. Shoddy manufacturing, that's for sure. I don't know how they expect that to hold up over time...

[3Dave]

I didn't say it was the end-all-be-all...just something to try.

I did get three private messages saying they got it to work, so I'm glad I was able to help someone.

So are your pads wired directly into the tray?

Yeah, mine are hardwired in. No little white connectors at all. Are you playing the PS3 version or 360?

[Hanover]

I have a 360...but I no longer have the box, so I'm not sure what the manufactured date is.


Yeah, mine are hardwired in. No little white connectors at all. Are you playing the PS3 version or 360?

[SpatCave]

I've been having the same problem with my Blue Pad. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes when I hit the yellow pad, the blue one registers as well. And sometimes it seemed to activate all by iteslf.

But after reading the posts above, I popped the pad off, and found that disc (no white connector on mine). One of the wires on it was barely attached, obviously a very shoddy solder job. So I stuck it to the back of the metal pad with some tape, and put the whole thing back together.

So far, not a missed note or ghost beat!

So, big thanks to you guys for helping me out there. Otherwise I would have been sending it back.

Wow, who knew the internet was good for anything other than downloading porn!

:)

-Spat
www.spatcave.com

[Stevenam81]

I wish I had read this thread before I requested a replacement. Mine also has the disc. Date on the box was 13-Oct-07. Drum model 822149. I'm not going to bother with taking the screws out. Hopefully my replacement will work perfect out of the box. If not, I may try to fix it. I'll patch the solder if need be.

Does anyone know how these pads work? Obviously it has to do with the orange disc. Pressure?

[updog07]

does this void the warranty if you try and do this?

cause if so.. i just want to send it in for replacement..

[Stevenam81]

If you are careful, taking the drum pad off won't void the warranty.there is no seal or anything. Just push in the rubber feet and pull the pad off gently. I'm definately not going to resolder anything since I have a replacement on the way. If my new one does the same thing, I will at least take the screws out to see if the soldering is good. There is no way to prove you've taken the pad off. You would have to do something drastic like cut a wire lol. I say go for it and at least look at it.

[thebrokenlight]

I'm having a different problem with my drum kit and was hoping if anyone knew of a fix. When I hit my yellow pad with reasonable force, it registers as two quick hits in a row. This is irritating, since it makes me lose any combo I have before even reaching 2x, even when playing perfectly.

Anyone know if checking the wiring would be helpful in this case?