Ut oh, you ruined it.

http://ftp.roland.co.jp/support/en/downloads/res/1812370/readme105.pdf

"Do not power-off the SP-404 while the update is in progress. If the power should accidentally fail during the update, the SP-404 system will be damaged, and the unit may become inoperable."

"7. Power-on the SP-404, and the update will begin automatically. (During the update, the pads will light consecutively, and the display will count-down the processing time.)
8. When the display indication reaches "000" the update has been completed. (The processing time will be approximately 30 seconds.)
Power-off the SP-404 and remove the memory card."

That countdown was completely normal. You should have read the update instructions; because you didn't, you have ruined your machine I'm afraid.

LOL...why did you shut it down? What, did you think it was going to blow up or something? (- good thing you didn't snip the blue wire)

General rule of thumb is while it is "thinking" in any situation, NEVER shut it off.

I doubt the machine is destroyed, but it may require shipping it to Roland to get it fixed.

gah! whoever let you borrow that will kill ya. sorry buddy just keep messing with it.

I'm sorry to laugh, but this is so much of a "textbook scenario" that it feels like an inside joke among SP nerds. I just keep picturing the countdown and a dude scrambling like "wait wait wait...no" like his ass was about to have a McGruber moment...I know it's sad when an SP dies, but sometimes it's kind of funny too.

I killed and resurected my 202 twice, so I beleive they can be fixed, but yeah there is certainly a chance you may have to replace a small part in the circuitry somewhere.

My instict would tell me to attempt to restore the factory settings, and reformat the card if the card is not blown (it is probabaly shot).

lol pull a drewdank hand it back broken deny deny deny. also delete this thread cuz when he gets it back most likely hell come here.

That sucks, man. Jokes aside, I was rooting for you. You'd think that there would be some way to resurrect it considering no hardware was damaged.

Reading is fundamental, not just a PSA on Saturday morning cartoons. If all the guy is going to do is initialize the memory, you can try that your self. Just download and read the .pdf manual from Roland's site, it'll tell you how to initialize the machine and re-install the OS. Don't load samples with the OS update/install either.....might confuse it as machines are DUMB. When you do it correctly you'll see the same image that's in my avatar thing on the side of this post flashing, then you hit the REC button and pray for mercy.

That's terrible buddy, that's all I have to suggest. I'm sure Roland could fix it, but the amount of time in shipping back and forth, coupled with the fact that a repair can cost more than a used 404 on craigslist or ebay means you might just have to look for a good deal and buy you're friend another 404.