[chris v]

On a Cube 450- system 9.1

I can't get a disk to mount in my zip drive- I insert one, it makes a few whirring and clicking sounds, then nothing. Iomega Tools says "no disk." Can't get any utility to mount (or even see) a disk.

I updated the drivers from Iomega's web site, double checked the extensions, and everything neccessary seems to be on. No change for the better. Turned off all virus protection, no good there, either.

Here's the weird part-- the drive ejects the disk at startup. If I shove the disk back as soon as it spits it out during start up, it'll mount.

HOWEVER, I get the following message once the system finishes booting:

"The cartridge in the USB device "Iomega USB Zip 250" was ejected because it is password protected and cannot be accessed.
Please contact the vendor of this device for software to allow access to this cartridge."

I clicked okay, and the disk stayed mounted, but locked up the machine after I copied a file to it to see how it worked.

These symptoms are repeatable with 100 and 250 mb zips, both PC and MAC formatted.

I packed up the drive and brought it to work today, and it works fine on my G4 450 tower, so it's not mechanical.

The only thing I can think of that I did between when it worked and now was to update virus definitions for Norton AntiVirus from their website, and installed Iconographer from a Macword freebie CD.

Ideas?

CV

[zigzag]

Whenever my USB Zip 250 starts rejecting discs, I unplug both the power cord and the USB cord, then plug them back in again. This has always solved it, and may explain why it worked on your machine at work. Worth a try.

[chris v]

Forgot to mention that I tried that, too. One time, after unplugging then re-plugging, I got the ol' "disk is unrecognizabe- would you like to reformat?" question and I think the computer froze when I hit Eject.

Thanks, though. Other ideas? Anybody?

CV

[WDL]

Sounds like the USB conflict frequently reported between Iomega's USB software
and the USB software Apple has built into the OS.

Shut down - unplug the Zip - startup, and after startup is fully completed, plug
the Zip back in. How does it work now?

WDL

[chris v]

Sure enough, that's about the only thing I didn't try. (seems like I went through a couple restart-unplug shut-down-replug tries, but they were pretty random-just didn't hit that combo.)

Working fine now, NAV is on, and disks are mounting.
Hadn't read about that conflict- Thanks.

CV

[WDL]

Chris:

What I suggested to you was a test to determine if you had the conflict - and you do.
You can continue operating in this way as a workaround, but the constant wear and tear
on the USB ports is not good.

To eliminate the conflict and avoid the plugging routine, do the following:

1. Open the Extensions folder - inside the System folder - click once on the name of each
Iomega USB extension and insert one space before the start of the name. This makes
the Iomega extensions jump to the head of the line at startup, before the Apple USB software
can take control.

2. Close all windows/quit all apps - shut down - wait a few seconds for the memory to completely clear,
then startup. If it works, you should have no further problem.

Caveat: This worked in OS's up to 9.0.4 - don't know if it works in 9.1 - perhaps you could
post back here and let us know.

WDL