Hello,

I've diagnosed my "No Drive Found" problem to a bad cable. I've been trying to get one through Rob for over 2 months now, and cant seem to make it happen. Anyone got extras, or a way for me to get one? The player's been intermittent, but the problem is getting worse and worse.

Thanks
-Ted

Rob shared some support [horror] stories over a couple of beers, and I've got to say I admire him for sticking with it...

Anyway, at the Saturday presentation he stated that he expected things to be back near normal soon, but that he had been essentially swamped with email as he took over support (it was at the time the warranty of the clearance sale Rio Cars was running out, and people wanted to get in their cases before the expiration) - far more mails than David had been experiencing. Basically, he prioritized actual repairs over an ever increasing mail queue.

If you're even just slightly mechanically inclined, I'd say open up your player, undo the drive tray, peel off the hot melt glue from the drive connector(s) and disconnect the wire. Inspect the connectors - if there's even the slightest view of the metal from the connectors between the plastic parts of the connector and the wire, then the cable isn't crimped properly. You'll need a parallell jaw crimp tool or a vice - I did the connectors on my wire almost a year ago in a small vice and it's still working fine. When Tony arrives back to the US you can expect some new photos of a good and a bad wire/connector (taken late Saturday night at the BBQ...) in the FAQ along with a more encouraging view of doing the fix yourself.

If youo only have one hard drive, you might try just moving it to the connector at the end of the IDE wire - bad crimps seem to plague the middle connector the most.

Also inspect the IDE header solder joints (see the FAQ entry linked above) while you have the drive tray out...

/Michael

Equally well, I can get my act together and get started getting a cable to you. Now that the event is over I can actually get on with the business of rounding out outstanding support queries.

Just to let everyone know, I DO read all emails that come in - however, it is not always possible to answer immediately, and I am also not always able to look at the support list for several days at a time on occasions.

Please, please, be a little patient and I will (eventually) get you sorted out.

OK... thanks guys.. I didnt know all that was needed was a recrimp. Rob, when you get around to it, I'd still like the cable: you should still have my info. As I wrote, it hasnt been a major problem up to now since the problem is intermittent and can ususally be fixed by a power cycle. In the interim, I will recrimp the cable.

-Ted

At the BBQ after the meet, I managed to get some good photos of Rob demonstrating a recrimp, including a good "bad/good" photo of a cable. I'll try to get them into the FAQ some time soon.