I am starting to get the dreaded "Hard Disc Not Found" display...which is corrected if I give the IDE cable a bit of a nudge through the vent holes on the top on the unit! Apparently there is something not fully functional with this cable...

Question is...where can i find a replacement?

and as a follow up question.....

would a faulty IDE cable in any way affect the grounding of the unit...for I am getting loads of grould loop noise all of a sudden????

Try recrimping the cable yourself (without cruching it totally). There was someone on here who's cable was catching on the lid and gave noise problems.

The cables are custom made and I think the only source is Rob Schofield. He has important family things to deal with just now, so it'd be better to try recrimping first.

My cable was actually worn through from rubbing on the lid... the wires were exposed. Might be what's happening with yours if it stops when you push the cable down through the holes in the lid...

I can report succes in the recrimping method.
My empeg was reporting 'hard disk not found' and 'failed to unmask IDE'. By placing the cable in a vice (surrounding the jaws with fabric) and carefully squeezing it, I haven't has a problem, yet.

It's only day two, but things are fine so far.

Yep. No problems so far with my recrimped cable. I've got an IDC crimping tool but the vice would work just as well.

It's been 5 months and counting so far without any problems.

I gotta add how elated I am with this. I seriously thought my hard drive was dying.
I'm bugucking elated.

Don't forget that the problem might not be down to the cable. Many of these IDE problems are caused by the IDE header on the mainboard working loose from it's solder pads.

well..i took the cable off of the mother board and noticed that one of the little pins was loose..meaning that the solder on the mother board had dried out and thus the contact was not being made.

interestingly enough..this was also the source of a great deal of engine whine..my own personal gremlin!

What i did was bend the pin down so that it was again touching the mother board, then carefully replaced the IDE cable...plugged it in via the a/c adapter and it booted just fine!

put it all back together and slammed it in the sled and it booted fine as well

so i now have to just resolder this pin someday...

but i thought it was very interesting that this loose connection affected the grounding of the unit!

Ed

Gee, just like it showed in the FAQ... Imagine that.

Tony, congratulations, that is a SUPERB FAQ.

The reason I needed it is that, unfortunately, I am starting to get the HDD not found message too. Previous two times that happened, extracting and reinserting the empeg from/into the sled solved the problem; but last time I had to open it. By pressing back the ide cable on the mboard, and on the hdds (I have a 60Gb, 2 HDD empeg), I could access them again and now I'm backing up drive0 and drive1 one last time before I start playing with the ide cable. I noticed the problem always occurred after I had gone on some more bumpy road for a while (for those who know Rome, I am talking about the "sampietrini" on "lungotevere", i.e. the old paving you find in some parts of the riverside streets).
Amogn the possible causes, I really hope the problem is not on the ide connector on the mobo, as described in the faq. I have no soldering skills whasoever.

Tony, congratulations, that is a SUPERB FAQ.

Hey, thanks!

I really hope the problem is not on the ide connector on the mobo, as described in the faq.

Didn't you check it to be sure when you had the player open?

It's important to check it, so that you know.

If I recall correctly, it seems you were asking for another IDE cable elsewhere on the BBS. If your problem is the solder joints on the IDE header, then replacing the cable will not fix the problem.

I have no soldering skills whasoever.

If that turns out to be what the problem is, then you could probably find someone near you who does have soldering skills.

Tony,
Actually my player is still open. I was transferring the files (FTP), still, so I could not check. Now I just removed the HDD cradle completely and after inspecting the ide connector I am afraid that my problem is exactly there. I see that on the side towards the empeg display, on the right eng (that closed to the StrongARM), the solder pads are detached from the motherboard. The soldering pads, in my case, are on the other side than those of the picture on the faq.

I'll have to find some soldering "expert" as you suggested.

Thank you again. The FAQ and the thread mentioned there are an excellent help. It has been saind 1000 times already: this board is an unparalleled source of info, and FAQs are really the best I've ever found anywhere.

Now I'll go to see what I can do, and probably post some pics too...

Oh, btw, the reason I am still getting the IDE cable regardless of this problem is that I have one friend who needs it and will use it in case I solve my problem without replacing my cable.

I arranged already to have a friend and do the soldering for me tonight. I'll post the results...

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I thought I append it to this thread.

I was having all sorts of trouble with the empeg not finding the HD after thinking I had fixed the problem about half a year ago. When winter came again, I had the same problems all over again. I resoldered the IDE header with no luck and tried all kinds of combinations.

My solution was to buy the 44 pin ribbon cableing by the foot and a bunch of connectors I got extra just in case . I probably overpaid, but at least I got my empeg back. I got 5 feet of 44 pin ribbon cable and 9 connectors all for 66 $US.

I was able to crimp put on all 3 connectors with a vice and large pliers in about 5 minutes. It's been solid ever since (a few weeks) and it even seems to not run as hot - might just be my imagination though.

I went to:

mycableshop.com

the part numbers were:
CZ44 - 44 pin laptop IDE ribbon cable by the foot ($6/ft)
ZIDE44-F - 44 pin female Socket Type IDC Connector for 2.5" HD ribbon cable ($4/ea)


Brent

In reply to:

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I probably overpaid

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I should say so! I believe I bought the cable at a dollar a foot and the connectors at a dollar each. Can't remember where now. I'll know when they come in I guess.

Stu

My empeg is working again! I had my installer and friend to resolder the faulty pads and I had all others checked and strengthened. Now it is working perfectly. I know I said it twice already, but let me tell you once more: thank you! The FAQ were super and the threads about this issue was super too!

Too cool! Glad you got it working!