New to the forum (and to my 2kxl) with a pesky question

Hey all, a preface - I've tried to be as diligent as I possibly could before making this thread to see if there have been any instances of this before, but it seems like a pretty rare issue. I'll try to make it as clear as I can and if anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'd be totally thrilled. Wish my first post here was something more exciting, but unfortunately it's hardware troubleshooting.

So I bought a used mpc2kxl with 32mb memory and 8 outs from a local seller on craigslist. It came with the floppy drive and I immediately got tired of the limitations with that and looked around for CF options, including the stickied thread in this forum. I looked on ebay, and I found the seller pro_oem_stereo selling this kit:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Akai-MPC2000XL-Internal-SD-Card-reader-writer-disk-drive-kit-upgrade-MPC-2000-XL-/301194736417?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item46209af321

First of all - he's been super helpful, but i've run into issues with the installation, and am wondering if it's possible that any IDE port upgrades might cause snags for me. So here's the issue, I got the reader and attempted to install it. I connected the data and power cables powered up the device and it did not register the reader, so I unplugged it and disconnected and reconnected the cables. Now this time I powered it up and got the blank screen and all LED's on. I did some reading and noticed that one obvious thing I forgot to do (which was also listed in the ebay auction) was to do the 1.2 upgrade. So I re-installed the floppy drive, ran the upgrade, and attempted the CF install again. Unfortunately... Blank screen + LED's again despite the upgrade :/

So I messaged back and forth with the ebay seller (who, again, has been nothing but helpful) and he sent me another reader and data cable to test and see if it was faulty. Again, no luck, blank screen and LED's on.

Things to note:

-The only time I get the blank screen is when the IDE cable is connected to the reader
-The floppy disk drive still works fine
-The first installation (on 1.14) booted up fine, just didn't recognize the drive as should be expected with the older OS
-The CF reader is definitely powering up as the LED on the circuit board turns on when powered
-I've tried 3 separate data cables and two different readers
-I have little to no interest in getting an external drive, as this is part of a larger rig used for live applications where I don't have the real estate for any other devices

Now some questions:

-Is it possible my IDE slot is fried? Is there some kind of fuse that I might have blown on the first try that left it dead?
-Does this likely mean that any IDE device I attempt to connect will fail in a similar way (including hot-swappable drives, zip drives etc.)?
-Are any of the internal SCSI options actually worth it? The internal HD install sounds like kind of a headache, and I really like the idea of being able to back up my samples to a computer with a flash card.
-Is it worth it to keep spending time on this one, or should I chock it up to the gods and get a MCD version with it already installed and sell my current one to someone who doesn't mind the limitations of floppy only?
-I've seen other posts about blank screening on startup, but has anyone ever had the blank screen issue with this upgrade in particular?

I appreciate you reading, again, apologies if this is redundant, I tried my best!

You got the right IDE cable? 40 wire instead of 80
You got the IDE cable connected in the right slot? Not the 8out, or the floppy one?

Yeah, definitely 40pin, and in the IDE slot right next to the floppy slot.

Have you definitely got the data ribbon plugged in the right way round?
I know they have a notch to make sure it only goes in one way but I have heard of people having to cut the tongue off to insert it "backwards".

The fact that you say all the LEDs are on. sounds suspiciously like wrongly polarised ide cable.

Hope you get it sorted anyway.

Oh cool, I'll give that a shot tonight and see if it does anything. I would be surprised though cause this guy sells these kits all the time with these ribbon cables and didn't even mention that being an issue.

What you bought is a IDE SD card reader. I have IDE installed Compact Flash card reader on 2000XL, which works well.

Non-swappable (A CF card must be connected when 2000XL is on, just like PC's internal hard drive) but it is definitely better than using floppy drive.
I have feeling that the SD card reader may not be compatible with 2000XL. I'm just guessing, but many ATAPI card readers do not work with 2000XL.

Other possibility is that, the SD card you are trying to use with 2000XL is not compatible. I recommend Sandisk brand memory cards to use with 2000XL.

Here's explanation (if you are interested)
http://www.mpchunter.com/compact-flash- ... eshooting/

Good luck!

troubleshootingI unplugged the power to the cf card reader, turning it on and off with just the mpc 2000 xl logo showing up, then I plunged the power cable back in the cf card reader and powered it back on. And everything was fine.