Look in the FAQ section of this BBS for an entry on how to make Hyperterminal work properly with the Empeg. You have to get the settings right, and the FAQ shows a screen shot with red arrows pointing to everything you need to change. If you're getting garbage on the screen, your player isn't shot, you just don't have the settings in Hyperterminal right.

It sounds like you've got a loose disk drive cable or a loose jumper (if in a two-drive configuration). Check the boot output from Hyperterminal to determine if it's finding the drives or not.

___________
Tony Fabris