A desparate cry for help (fixed now)

Ok, I've read the FAQ and I've been an Empeg user for a while, but I'm at my wits end with this one.

I have two empegs. Both were 20G units. I ran out of space. I bought a single 40G IBM Travelstar and formatted it. I also formatted one of the 20G drives (also an IBM Travelstar) and moved it to the other player. So now, I have two players: Player A (20G+20G) and Player B (40G).

Both work just dandy on AC power, and I synchronized the data between them using Mirrordir. It took quite a while, but finally finished.

Player A will work in the car just fine (the one with two drives). But player B, although just fine on AC power, shows "NO HARD DISK FOUND - CONTACT SUPPORT" when in the car.

I thought "Hmm, power?" But I don't think so, because the two drive unit (each drive says (5.0V 500mA) works fine, and the single drive unit (which says 5.0V 1A) does not.

Player B does not display any unusual errors on startup (at least on AC power, I don't have a terminal in the car).

What have I done to deserve this? Please Help!

I might still be a power issue, as the two drive system will stagger the startup of each drive (if I remember my IDE spec correctly), spreading the peak current draw out, whereas the single-drive system would try to draw it all at once.

My guess is that power is your problem. (But I could easily be wrong.)

Greetings!

Something else to try. If you use hijack, try forcing either AC or DC mode, to see if it is something software related. I wouldn't think so, but it would be another thing to test. I assume you tried to reseat the connector, just in case...

Yes, I tried that. AC or DC didn't matter so long as it was on AC power, and I checked the connectors (but would have expected that to cause problems on AC as well).

Wouldn't I get a low-power (battery) icon though? I didn't. I suppose the unit might have been wired into a low-power accessory that wouldn't allow it to draw the extra current, but that seems unlikely in a modern car, doesn't it? Especially since the radio is on a 10A fuse all by itself...

And more importantly, how would I fix it? Try and find someone with two 20G drives who wants to trade? :-P

I don't believ you'd get a low power icon, as I think that that's displayed by the player software, which you haven't yet gotten to when the no-disk message shows up. My guess as to what's happening is that the drive is trying to draw more current than it can get in your car and is failing to start properly.

Assuming that I'm right (and I'm not guaranteeing that I am in any way), I'd guess that the way to fix it would be to find out why it can't get that much power. The obvious answer is that your battery or alternator can't handle it, but I don't know if that makes sense (1A doesn't seem like that much). Have you tried not plugging your empeg into the dash until well after the car has started, so as to not have the ignition and empeg both putting big loads on the electrical system at the same time? Or there might be a problem with your wiring, maybe. I'd guess trying heavier gauge wires for the power and ground might help.

Please note that I'm just guessing; I'm not an electrical expert by any means.

Power would be my guess as well, I haven't gotten around to running a straight power line from my distribution block and I get that sometimes because (I believe) I have the power coming from the factory harness. I found if I pull it out of the sled and slide it back in a few times if finally kicks in, but it's rare that it happens . Also, I never get the low battery indicator til the drives have spun up and everything is loaded.

One other thing to try - swap the single and double drive units to the other player. This would verify that it was the presence of the 40GB drive, and not the body of the player itself.

Thanks everyone for your help.

This turned out to be an incarnation (albeit a strange one) of the bad hard drive cable problem. A coworker of mine who had the traditional bad cable problem was sent an extra 'good' cable (thanks empeg car support!) and I tried it out - it fixed the problem immediately.

Whee!! I'm very happy not to have to tear my dashboard apart again!

Don't forget to contact carsupport for a new cable.