Arcade1Up Killer Instinct Loading Repair

PLEASE READ: Who is this for?

  On February 1, 2023, an online incident crippled a number of Killer Instinct Arcade1Up machines. After the incident, these machines were either stuck on the loading screen, would not launch games as long as they were connected to the Internet, or other similar difficulties. These instructions will repair the problem.

If you are experiencing problems with Arcade1Up cabinets other than Killer Instinct, or with Killer Instinct but unrelated to the incident of February 1, 2023, these steps will not help. For these other issues, you should contact Arcade1Up Customer Service.

Two Methods

If you have a 3/4 scale Killer Instinct cabinet, a microSD card, and your computer has an SD card drive, use the Self-Service Method below.

For everyone else, including Killer Instinct Pro cabinets (which lack an SD card port), contact Arcade1Up Customer Support, identify your model (3/4 or Pro) and serial number, and reference the "Feb 1 incident."

Self-Service Method: Repair using microSD card

For this method you will need:

  • A spare microSD card (it will be erased!) that can hold at least 256MB (that's MB, not GB)
  • A computer with an SD card drive
  • In some cases, you will need a microSD card adapter that allows you to plug microSD cards into a regular SD card drive

Steps:

1. Download KI_Recovery_2023Feb01Incident.zip

2. Extract the file KI_Recovery_2023Feb01Incident.img within the downloaded .zip

(For those who want to know, the MD5 hash of KI_Recovery_2023Feb01Incident.img is 7e20a26bbcb3952705cf9add02435b02.)

3. Download the Rufus bootable USB drive tool to your computer, from rufus.ie:

(We used the Rufus 3.21 version, but other versions should likely work equally well.)

4. Insert your microSD card into your computer

5. Launch Rufus

6. When prompted, allow Rufus to make changes to your computer. (Don't worry, it's only asking for permission to be able to modify the contents of the drive you select.)

7. In the Device box, select the drive that contains your microSD card. (Be careful to select the right drive! It's going to erase it!)

(Note: greyed out options may differ on your card. This is OK.)

8. Click "SELECT" and browse to where you extracted KI_Recovery_2023Feb01Incident.img in Step 2, and select it.

9. Click "START".

10. Confirm you have selected the right drive before proceeding! Once confirmed, click "OK"

11. Wait until the progress bar fills green and Rufus returns to the "READY" state

12. You may see multiple errors at this point about being unable to read the microSD. This is OK; the drive now contains data that is not readable by Windows. Cancel these errors. Do NOT format the drive if offered.

13. Eject the microSD card.

14. With your KI cabinet off, open the back and locate the microSD card slot. It is on the bottom edge of the PCB box on the back of the monitor.

15. With the metal pins facing up and out on the microSD card, gently insert the card into the slot. The slot is spring loaded, you should push the card in until it clicks and locks in place.

16. Turn on the power.

17. After a few seconds you should see this message:

18. After a few more seconds you should see this message:

19. Turn off the cabinet again. (You may need to hold the Power switch in the Off position for 4 seconds to power off the cabinet.)

20. Push in on the microSD card to unlock it. It will spring out and then can be removed.

21. Turn your cabinet back on.

You should now be able to boot properly and play again, with all your data intact!