I don't think there's much that can be done at this point, having talked this one over with Kemper Support 'n all but I thought I'd document it for discussion.
A while back I noticed that I couldn't update my Kemper with new firmware, something that I wrote off at the time as being possibly due to bad builds/uploads on the server end. I'd load a KAOS.BIN on my stick, let it update, and watch it terminate with an "Update Has Failed" error. Support was very helpful, suggesting several magic dance moves such as - 1) Booting off the USB stick itself without burning new firmware (a temporary solution, but works), 2) Burning directly from USB at boot time (failed - "Error Writing To Nand Memory") 3) Initializing and/or formatting the internal flash and hoping the problem goes away (no luck.)
I know we've all heard about flash memory failures resulting from too many writes, but this is a bit much - I've probably upgraded/downgraded my firmware maybe 25 times or so since I've had my unit. According to Sweetwater, there are no repair facilities in the US which means mailing the amp back to Germany and waiting 4-5 weeks. 5 weeks without an amp in the studio? I don't see how anyone could put up with that - you'd think that Kemper could contract with a tech in each of its major markets for repair issues. Since I have a session coming up next week, this repair is going to have to wait for a bit.
What say you, Kemper Amps? Is there no better option for handling amp repairs in the U.S.?
-djh