Fix your IDE Cable!

After upgrading the drives in my RioCar, I got the dreaded contact support error message. The problem was with my IDE Cable of course, and it was the middle connector.

I was able to fix the cable my taking a pair of wide pliers and gently squeezing the connector to re-crimp the cable. I was able to get it much tighter, and it works! Viola, my empeg is back is business!

Yeah, but in my experience such a fix won't last very long. I would recommend getting a properly crimped cable as soon as you can.

Yep - we tried doing this when we first found the fault - not only did it not last, but we couldn't really ask customers to attack their cables with pliers.

If done properly, then it can fix the cable - the fault is just a poor crimp, probably because the person operating the crimping tool wasn't trained fully - crimping ribbon cables is a bit of an art form.

Replacement cables are free of charge - just email carsupport@sonicblue.com with your postal address.

In fact the supplier (a sub-sub-contractor) was unapproved and should never have been used. Very annoying.

I have a player in my possession that has a cable with a connector that does not make good contact with the IDE header on the mainboard. It comes off of the header very easily and does not allow the hard drives to be recognized by the player. Have you seen this before?

Stu