Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By drewmin Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:59 am
ok. i got the drive the card and the 1.2 os on a floppy from mpcstuff. i upgraded the os. plugged in the new drive. it says no f;rom. the dude from mpc stuff stopped emailing me back ...which i assume means he has no idea how to fix this issue. i saw a couple other posts about this topic but they dont seem to help. i thought the mac editor i had was faulty but i tried the pc one as well and it still dosnt see atapi device. i read somewhere that it should show atapi device even if no disk is in, sooooooo. i guess the editor or the disk format isnt the cause of this "no f-rom " hell ive been stuck in for months. i need this fixed or else i have a 700$ midi controller. im sick of performing with computers. do i need to get a floppy with the 1.14 os and start over? does the whole install happen in 1.14 and then once its working i upgrade the os? please help me.this shit is getting old.i like the sound of the 2000xl. i dont want another. drewmin
By Phulk Mon Aug 23, 2010 10:48 am
the cf card reader doesn't appear under "F-ROM", it will be shown as "ATAPI" which replaces the floppy. for IDE/ATAPI readers you need OS 1.20. check the 40pin cable..
the computer should recognize the device when there is a card inserted.
By drewmin Mon Aug 30, 2010 1:32 am
the flash card reader i bought from mpc stuff is a 39 pin reader. i emailed the dude from mpc stuff.com and he said the 39 pin ones work. i told him that i read it had to be 40 pin. he denied this vehemently but shortly after he stopped responding to my emails. i payed way to much money for it. i feel like a dumb ass. so can you please post me a link to what specific drive i can buy for this that will work for sure. there must be tons of other people with this problem because i bought it from "the mpc" website or whatever. thank you for your help. drewmin
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By mr_debauch Mon Aug 30, 2010 1:38 am
it does not need to be a 40 pin.... 39 does work. the one he sold you should work.


You did correct by installing the OS 1.20 first. The symptoms you describe sound like you have 1.14 installed.


The reason you need to upgrade the OS before installing the OS 1.20 is because if you put a card reader in with 1.14 how is it going to see the new OS?



insert the compact flash card, power on the MPC... then check in the load/save screen for the device. push open window and look to see if atapi is available and make it the default device. Then format the card if you can.
By scsiforsamplers.com Mon Aug 30, 2010 4:08 am
drewmin, if you still need help, please contact me through the email link on my website and I'll be glad to help you get your card reader drive working.

For those of you who want to avoid these kinds of problems, please check out our XL Flash drive here:

http://scsiforsamplers.com/cf-mpc.asp

This $55.00 IDE Card Reader drive comes with everything you'll need to install it and the installation is super easy. Takes about 15 minutes and requires no soldering or wire cutting. We have very detailed instructions as well as phone and email support. We even include the 1.2 upgrade on floppy disk.

We also have 100MB and 250MB internal drive kits that include the drive, install kit and installation instructions. Those are $29.00 for the 100MB and $44.00 for the 250MB. They feature quality Zip drives in great shape and they have been tested thoroughly.
By misteraok Tue Sep 14, 2010 11:59 pm
Mr. debauch,

I'm having *EXACTLY* the same problem as drewmin. Purchased a MCD card reader from MPCstuff, upgraded to software v 1.20 (i checked version and it says "Operating system: 1.2 Jul. 15, 2004).

Basically what happens is that the MCD powers up and the green light goes on but when I try to load or save, ATAPI doesn't even show up. It just goes from floppy (not recognized) to SCSI to F-ROM. I tried the jumper in both positions + totally off. I tried flipping the SCSI cable both ways. I tried three different Flash Drives (all 1GB). The current one I'm working with is a 1GB compactflash I received from MPCstuff that they say they had successfully tested in a working MCD.

I've been going back and forth with MPCstuff but they can't really offer any answers and I'm basically at my wits end with this. Have spent countless hours and i'm rrrreally going crazy at this point. Any suggestions at all would be appreciated.
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By mr_debauch Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:02 am
well I dont know, I only personally saw that problem before installing the version 1.20 with the reader I had... wait, is yours scsi or IDE? cause you said you tried flipping the scsi cable.
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By mr_debauch Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:37 pm
Hey did you make sure the compact flash card was inserted while powering on the device? Also, the mini molex power cable was properly plugged onto the card reader? On the ribbon cable itself pin 1 (wire one) should have a stripe on it, just make sure it is plugged onto pin one on both sides. The jumpers should be set to master if I remember correctly.

I dont see why the machine is not recognizing the device.
By misteraok Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:51 pm
Yes, the CF card is definitely inserted while powering the device on. The card reader seems to be properly connected and getting power, as the green light on the face of it lights up when I turn the MPC on.

Yes, the jumpers are set to master. Just to double check I tried all the settings available and none of them worked. Might be worth pointing out that if the jumper is not set to master the green AND red lights on the face of the MCD light up when the MPC is turned on..... ???