I do not know if this helps, but everytime I start the drive (power up), I get a bit of garbage in Hyperterm at "Starting":

example:
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No secondary hard disk
Press 'q' now to go into development mode. You Have Zero Seconds To Comðÿþÿ÷œ?ûæ
ïæç(ûî! ÃÀ@€`` Starting player
empeg-car 1.02.
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But again, if the drive is not harnested with the 4 little screws (and just sits on top of the frame), it works flawlessly.