Connect up the serial port and see if the Linux kernel can "see" the drives .. it will print something like this:

Partition check:
hda: hda1 < hda5 hda6 > hda2 hda3 hda4
hdc: hdc1 < hdc5 hdc6 > hdc2 hdc3 hdc4

There should be a line for each of "hda:" and "hdc:". The rest of the stuff on the lines will be bogus until you install the empeg software.