A loose IDE cable was the culprit. It works just fine now. So after I fixed the cable connection I ran down to my car to go try it out. Everything fired up and loaded correctly and the player started to do its thing.

Only one problem: NO SOUND!

Seems like another cable has come loose, this time on the back of the sled and it won't play in my car. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.