Dropped Empeg: No Hard Disk Found!

Yup, it happend to me. And just a week after I started using the carrying case my wife bought me for Christmas!

I already send an email to Rob S, but is there anything I can do in the meantime? I'm going to get a serial dump when I get home (no null modem cable here), but I really don't know what I'd be looking for or what I could do if I isolated the problem.

The only thing I have to go on at the moment is the error message (pretty self explanitory, and yes, I did read the FAQ) and the fact that the hard drives don't sound like they're spinning up at all. I opened the unit up, but I didn't see any big "here's your problem" signs giving away what broke!

This totally stinks. I've been in a rent car not even using the empeg, but decided to bring it to work so I could listen to some tunes. Now I'm totally empegless!

All of the cable connections were firmly on the headers? Try pushing them down to make sure they are firmly attached. A drop or shock can jar them loose sometimes - especially from the main board. Do this for both the drive(s) and the main board. For the main board, you would need to remove the drive tray to test this. Check also for dry solder points on the IDE header on the main board as long as the tray is removed.

Good advice. I don't have a small enough screwdriver to lift up the tray, but I did check the cables to the drives and they are still firmly in place. The rest I'll have to look at later (and not this evening as I'm making a long trip ).

I second checking the IDE headers. When mine took an accidental fall, the headers had been pulled up from the mainboard. I hope they are ok! Good luck!

Ahh. Find that screwdriver. I've had the IDE cable pull clean off of its header from a smal knock.

Yes!!!! It was the main board headers! Thank you guys sooo much. I'll rest much easier this weekend knowing that I'll have music to come back to. This board rocks!

I don't have a small enough screwdriver to lift up the tray,

Don't fall into the trap of thinking those tiny little screws need a tiny little screwdriver.

The cross-slots (whater you call them) in those screws is actually quite large compared to the size of the screw itself, and a standard #2 Phillips screwdriver is what you want to use.

Using a smaller screwdriver (like a jewelers screwdriver) will only strip out the heads. On Phillips head screws, always use the largest screwdriver that will seat fully to the bottom of the screw head. The empeg's drive cradle screws take a surprisingly large screwdriver.

tanstaafl.