[Elecraft] K2/KPA100 40M SSB ALC Problem?

[douglas.maxwell at virgin.net]

Hi All,
My K2 ser no. 4688 and KPA100 bought 11/07 work FB on cw.
On 40m SSB I have noticed a fault condition with my KPA100. On power cycle or mode change, if the power control is not set to maximum, but set so the KPA100 is 'in-line' say 20w. The power output by the KPA100 will be the full power output i.e. 100w and not 20w. This is correctly indicated on the K2 power meter accompanied with voice peaks coming through the speaker.
You can imagine the problems this causes if driving an amplifier.
This fault condition can be cured by doing either of the following:
1) Select ALC function on the K2 meter.
2) Whilst talking into the microphone vary the power ctrl to full then back down to the required power level.
In both cases the ALC suddenly wakes up and brings the power down to 20w.
The worrying thing is that I described this fault condition to another similar ser no K2 owner and he tried and found the same thing happening on his. It's early days yet and we have yet to get together and really nail down the similarities, but I ask you what hardware problem could be sorted by a simple front panel key press? I hesitate before suggesting this is a firmware problem as so many owners have not noticed this before. Please could any K2 owners of a similar ser no try this simple test and post their findings?
Doug GM0ELP