SyQuest EZ135 External HD

Ok, first post...I promise I searched for about a week first.

So I got a 2000xl a couple of weeks ago. My first MPC. Everything checked out fine to my knowledge, wrote some beats on it, got stoked, all was good. It came with a card-reader mod, it takes ATAPI and CF. The dude i bought it from had been using SanDisk II Ultra 2 GB cards, and gave me one to keep.

So, as I was starting to load my own sample banks onto the CF card, I pulled a noob and grabbed the 1.2 OS thinking it was a smart idea too. Loaded that onto the MPC, and now it won't recognize my CF at all.

My 2 questions would be:

1- if i just reinstall OS 1.14, then will that take care of the problem? It was reading the CF card fine before, and it was definitely right after the OS update that it stopped.

2- since it won't read the card, I'm going to buy a cheap SCSI External HD just to load the OS with. However, reading some posts, it seems like the 2000xl's are pretty picky about specific cards and drives and things in general. So, does anyone have a confirmation that the Syquest EZ135 is going to be compatible? Found a cheap one on craigslist, and read a good review (from 1996) about the HD on Sound on Sound.

sorry for the length, & thanks for any help.

fl

What you are saying about loading 1.2 and then the card reader stops working doesn't really make sense, not if the card reader is an IDE/ATAPI card reader. Those require 1.2 in order to work - they do not work on os 1.14.

How did you access the card reader when it worked - by selecting the ATAPI device or by selecting one of the SCSI ID numbers?

Yes, the EZ135 is compatible with the MPC2000XL (I sell those also on my website) but how are you palnning to get the os loaded onto the 135MB cartridge? I can load it onto one for you and send it, if you need me to.

hm...that is strange, i talked to the dude i bought it from, and he told me that it had 1.14 on it as i got it...but yeah it's an IDE/ATAPI/CF mod that was working. misinformation from him?

as far as the loading process, i don't quite remember if there was a seperate CF option on the load screen, but I remember there definitely being an ATAPI option that is no longer there, now the only options the load screen gives me are F-ROM, FLOPPY, and several SCSI's...

i was looking at usb-scsi adaptors for loading the os...

There is not a separate loading option - when you are using an ATAPI/IDE card reader, the "Floppy" device option goes away and instead, you see "ATAPI" beside the "Device:" prompt. If you are seeing "Floppy" again and not "ATAPI", then you have something wrong and the MPC doesn't realize there is a card reader installed. You'll have the same problem when you are using an incompatible CF card in an ATAPI card reader drive but I assume that you are using the same CF card that worked before you changed the os.

Can you tell us more about the card reader - does it have a logo or company name or a part number you can see?

scsicardreaders.com wrote:Those require 1.2 in order to work - they do not work on os 1.14.

Not trying to add to the confusion, but as I've said before, I use an ATAPI multi-card reader with OS 1.14c for about 5 years now.

I have never needed 1.2.

Dude could have had '1.14'.
Just as easily though, the person who he got it from might not have known for sure.

Yes, you are right - I always forget about that 1.14c version - my bad.

Nogginj, do you remember where that version came from? Was it developed by Akai or do you know? I have never known of an ATAPI drive that specifically that requires it but maybe faceless has a drive that does. Maybe you could send it to him and he could try loading that version, since 1.2 doesn't seem to be cutting it.

I use an internal Atapi card drive with v 1.14
Never had a problem or seen any need to update it.
I've never had v 1.14c or v 1.20

Okay, you guys sure have me beat. I've used and sold several different ATAPI card readers and none of them worked unless my MPC was running 1.2. But I won't argue with your success.

ok, word about 1.14.

something that did grab my attention about the IDE-ATAPI drive is that, while researching card reader mods in general, I did notice that most of them had brand names printed on the face of the drive...mine does not have any brand or model name/number at all. the only writing on the drive is simply the labels ATA and CF. I/II. sketch??

fl

My card reader has ZERO identifying information as well, so don't be worried.

I think os 1.14c was developed by VST service when they were selling card readers, around 2005/6...I am totally going on memory though and as I was very new to MPC card reader mods at that time, my memory could be wrong. Seems to make sense though...

so usb to scsi cables are way more pricey than i thought...

would this be easily solved by just grabbing an external scsi cd-rom drive and just loading 1.14 on to a cd?

fl