Quick Zip drive ribbon question

Hey fellas, I've got a zip 250 I wanna install in my MPC 2000XL, I recently got some guidance on how to rig power to it, (thanks earwolf!) but I dont see how my ribbon cable will hook into it. I have a normal hard drive ribbon cable and it plugs right into the back of the zip drive no problem. However it will NOT plug into the ribbon port/plug (?) in the XL.

http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/41fa7454_15 ... BBdxgpP1m2

as you can see, the mpc plug has a pin where there is no space for one on the ribbon cable. What kind of ribbon cable are you guys (who already have this done) using? Thanks!

Cant see the image, dont come up..

maybe your putting it in the wrong slot. there is 3 all togther. floppy, scsi and atapi if i'm correct. remeber the side with the red line is the one you put to the right hand side.

http://www.monoxide.co.uk/zip.pdf a picture from another post in pdf.

it also should say INTERNAL ATAPI IDE on the end of the XL motherboard.

Is it a SCSI or ATAPI drive?

dj dcypher wrote:Is it a SCSI or ATAPI drive?

you hit the nail on the head mate!!!

Ok, I dunno why the picture wont show (how do you post pics?) But at the end of the motherboard it does say internal atapi/ide - and for the record it is an atapi drive. Its really weird though, how can i describe it...

The standard hard drive ribbon I am using will not plug into to the atapi slot because the slot has 40 pins in it- whereas the hard drive ribbon only has 39 (!) what throws me off (as to why no one has mentioned this previously, in my searches) is that the atapi zip drive i have only has 39 pins also, so this is why the hard drive cable plugs into the zip but NOT the motherboard...thanks for the pic again penfold - but has no one seen this?

the 40th pin is it filled on the ribbon cable?
this should be somewhere in the middle right?

Yes it is one of the middle rows, that are filled in.

Could somebody please help me here? Penfold, any direction?

Just find another cable that does not have any filled in holes.

Yes an atapi ribbon cable has 40 pins and would fit in the mpc motherboard, however it would not fit in the zip drive itself. I was hoping someone who has done this would point out what ribbon cable they were using, IDE (hard drive type) of ATAPI. Everyone had problems with powering their zip drives but NOBODY seems to have mentioned this ribbon cable discrepancy- anyone know?

Oh goodness, please- anybody who has installed an internal ATAPI zip drive...ANYBODY...what sort of ribbon cable did you use? The motherboard has 40 pins, the normal standard regular old IDE hard drive cable (that I noticed Lampdog once say you were supposed to use, after feverish searching) that I have only has 39. One of the holes in the middle is filled in. Therefore it will NOT fit, this is such a simple question to answer and yet nobody who has done this "simple, easy, do it yourself" swap seems to know offhand. I cannot believe the teeth I have to pull just to get this answer, can someone please take an extra two seconds to answer my stupid newbie question and shut me up?

Here is my (attempt at posting a) picture of what I am talkiung about.

http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/41fa7454_15ece/bc/My+Documents/MPC+problem.jpg?bfTXn_BBK0w_P1m2

According to a few CompUSA associates, that cable does not exist. That does not mean it is true, however- suggestions like the one above dont help much for just that reason. I was hoping someone who has done this before would know the name of the ribbon cable or have a care to just mention it. This simple swap isnt so simple afterall, and the consensus seems to be to run a search. Well I am no novice to forums, only this one- and I have searched very much, and PM'd a lot of people, but no one cares enough. When I find out what the hell to do about this I plan on making a complete do it yourself for folks to make up for those who are stingy with simple info like this. However, once more, does anyone know what to do about this problem? I listed a link with the pic showing the problem I am talking about too.

i feel your pain cesar. i'm only on here trying to find out how to get my friends 2000xl beyond a floppy drive. i tried to figure out the zip install but by the time i finally extracted the info i gave up as all i read was how zip diskd continually cr*p out.

SCSI anything looks like a total nightmare, so now my last hope is an IDE card reader with OS 1.2. Only problems so far are:

I live in the UK and no-one makes IDE readers, none currently on ebay either.
This ribbon connector issue you mention leads me to believe if i do get one, I'll have the exact same issue.
I don't know if the power lead for the reader (if I ever find one) will be the same as the current floppy drive lead.

BUT I promise this, IF i manage to get this sorted, then props to all who took time to help (I could care less if you are a newbie or grandmaster, we're all in this together) AND I will put up a page on monoxide.co.uk with the CLEAREST INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ABSOLUTE NOVICE

good luck to all currently struggling with these retrofit issues

Bro....Have u tried to go to a computer shop and look for urself? Unless Im special, I got loads of them. IDE ribbon cabel 40 pin F(emale) thats what u need. Thats standard....

Theres no need to cry about it. The solution was given to u already (TWICE) but its as if u dont see it - lol Go to the shop and get what u need. With a lil logic, its a quick and easy operation - Not all of us had problems by the way

@earwolf....Have u seen these>

http://www.flash-card-store.co.uk/acata ... aders.html

There UK based. Worth a pop init?!

Ps...Power lead will be the same as the one u made for zip (if u have one installed - If not u can make them real quick.)