Olympus MO drive won't get recognized

Hey there,

I have an MPC 2000 and an Olympus MO drive called "Power MO 230 II", but when I go to the disk menu, the MPC won't recognize the drive, it just shows "Wait...", but nothing happens. I already changed the SCSI ID, but that didn't help either. Termination is set.

I know that the SCSI interface of the MPC works, because I also used a ZIP drive once. I haven't tried the MO drive with a computer yet, but I expect it to work (it makes an almost "new" impression and the eBay seller also said it works).

Could it be that the drive is not compatible with my MPC? Or do you rather think the drive is defect?

Is your drive plugged in and turned on before you turn on your MPC?

If this is the last device in the chain, is the termination set on the external drive?

Even though you've already answered this, have you tested it out on another machine/computer to make sure it works?

Yes
Yes
No

I will try it with a computer maybe tomorrow, I have a PCI SCSI card but it's not installed yet.
One thing I should also mention, the MPC completely hangs during the "Wait..." screen, I can't find a way to return to normal operation other than turning it off and on again. Even when I turn off the MO drive, the MPC still is "Wait..."ing...

Thanks for your help; as I said, I hope I'll find time to install the PCI card tomorrow...

Which SCSI ID number do you have the MO set to?

When I bought it, the ID was set to 3, and when that didn't work, I set it to 0 to see if it works. The ZIP drives only work on 5 and 6 I think, and that worked, maybe I'll try that with the MO drive as well, but normally the MPC should support every ID, or?

You can use any SCSI ID except 6 and that is used by the MPC, so always stay away from ID 6. That is why I asked, because the "Wait" message sounded like you could have an ID conflict.

I have sold a few of those Olympic drives in my time and I do believe it should be compatible with the XL. So it sounds like possibly a hardware problem with the drive and I'd suggest trying it with a PC to be sure it is functioning properly, something it sounds like you are already planning to do. Let us know how that turns out.

Ahhh I am so glad...
Haven't yet installed the PCI SCSI card, but I still have great news - the drive works fine

I was probably a bit too stupid. There was a cable included which wasn't an ordinary cable, it had a third connector in the middle of the cable (there's a printer icon on it). I guess that this cable can only be used if a device is connected to this third connector as well (probably due to termination stuff).

So I tried another cable (at first I thought I haven't got one that fits, because I needed male/male and only had male/female, that's the reason why I didn't try that solution in the first place, but then I noticed I have also a little adapter lying around to invert the gender), and with the other cable, everything works fine!