Ram holders broke, Memory Problem, and now unknown device..

I'll save you the long story and sum it up for you..

I got a secondhand MPC 500.. It works..

Bought a 4gb Transcend CF card and a 256mb A-tek ram..

Ram wouldn't install, kept giving me Memory errors.. so I took it out and when I did the pins on the sides broke off the mpc.. (returning the a-tek card as it obviously doesn't work)

Now I plugged in the MPC & my computer can't read the MPC/CF card..
Keeps giving me the "USB Device cannot be recognized" crap..

I need help.. im losing patience and I'm getting nervous the unit is defective and ill be out $..

got to a second had pc shop and get a handfull of old memory cards and try them out til you get one that works. there is a sticky thread that has the exact model card you need. they are standard pc sodims but only specific ones will work.

broken clips is a bit of a bummer, but once you find a card that works you could just glue it in place with epoxy putty, you'll never be upgrading anyway.

the good news is that you don't really need all that memory, just go and listen to the stuff people have made with mpc60 or the emu sp1200

also, not all CF cards work, again there are sticky threads here with all the details. the same cards work in the mpc1000 and mpc500
you will have better luck with smaller memory cards, and you can pick them up at fleamarkets for peanuts, i have a stack of about 12 that i picked up for a few euros each.