External zip drive problems....

1st I had to buy a zip drive cable to my mpc 2000xl which I did!! Now that I did, it seems like my mpc 2000xl isn't reading my external zip drive. Infact when it try's to read it it saids "WAIT......" And forreals I"m waiting for ever!! So I need to really figure this out and get this fixed!!

make sure the zip drive is turned on. there's a switch on the back. one switch is for the id and one is the on/off. make sure its on. and i usually have my drive set to id 5.

So there should be a switch on the back of the external zip drive??

SCSI ID jumper/switch to 5, just as SMOOVE described.

Also another thing I wanted to ask, is do you need a certain type of zip drive just for the mpc or no?? Cuz basically my brother just gave me this external zip.

Have you even tried the SCSI ID5 thing yet?
Do you even have a Jumper/Switch in the back of the zip drive?
In the load screen did you choose SCSI-5?

yo str8 fire i had the same problem. what i understand is that not all zip drives work. my external zip didn't have a switch in the back, meaning its a parallel zip drive. i was told we need a scsi zip drive and the parallel won't work. unless - there is a way and we just don't know. if there is - SOMEONE SHED SOME LIGHT PLEASE.

one dolla

well of course you'll need an scsi drive because thats how it connects to the mpc. but i dont expect people who are just starting with hardware to know that. but thats what you need

chiZleo wrote:i was told we need a scsi zip drive and the parallel won't work. unless - there is a way and we just don't know. if there is - SOMEONE SHED SOME LIGHT PLEASE.

one dolla

SMOOVE said no parallel, so, no, no parallel. MPC incompatability with parallel drives has been discussed a million and one times here and yet not enough people do a search to read what was written. There's no light to shed at the end of this tunnel.

try usin search. its there.

truuuusstt me

Yes...it is a common problem. SCSI & Parallel use the same type of multi pin connector but are completely different systems.

If your brother was using the zip with an old Windows PC it is more than likely going to be Parallel. If he used it with an old Mac it might be SCSI, but those switches on the back are a clue.