If that cable works with the hard drive, then it sounds like you’re on the right track, let us know.

Thanks and all the best to you and your ’significant other’. Spend some time with her and your new one and not too much on the computer :)

cheers,
Alex.

Agree… will try a standard CD rom…. I think the slim line ones will work..The ones they use in laptops.

Def not the floppy connector…

The cable i bought from maplins was the the below one

http://www.maplin.co.uk/ide-to-2.5-laptop-ide-cable-28724

Tested it with the hard drive and it worked..

Just had a baby boy ….so i am abit swamped…. but will update you in a week or so..

Hem

I’m wondering if the DVD drive isn’t being recognised as the BIOS in the Beetle is old and maybe it can’t handle them – it wouldn’t surprise me! :) May be worth trying with a bog-standard CD-ROM.

If not, then I’d say your best bet is probably to remove the hard drive, install XP and then try and get it working by installing the drivers, etc.

And cheers for the tip re the IDE cable – unless that is a floppy connector?

Let us know…

cheers,
Alex.

Here’s what i have tried so far… I was reading up on this and someone suggested using the 6 disk install for XP as it would reconise the usb drive after it completed. I tried this and got through to disk 4, before is came back with an error message. After reading up about the error message it suggested that the RAM was faulty so i purchased a new one. Got the same error message…. after i replaced it.

I then got a new ribbon cable from maplins and i borrowered a DVD writer from a old machine that wasnt being used. The motherboard has two IDE connections/Inputs, so i pugged the DVD writer into IDE port 2 (as the hard drive is in port one) and then turned the machine back on. The machine failed to power up. Couldnt understand what was going on… So i checked all the connections and un-plugged the DVD writer from and dis-connected the cable from IDE port 2 and the machine powered up fine.

I am down to two options….

(1) get a twin IDE cable (Master/Slave)
(2) get a IDE to Sata converter…remove the hard drive from the Wincor-Nixdorf and plug into a new model machine i have. Install the operating system from scrach and put the haard drive back into the Wincor-Nixdorf…

what do you think….? These machines are a nightmare…..:(

Also, these machines dont take the standard IDE cables… the connection on the motherboard is a 44 pin one.

Can anyone recomend where i can get a twin IDE cable from with one end which is 44 pin. I beleive these type of connections are used in laptops.

Thanks
Hems

I’ve just replied to Hems above on exactly the same problem. See that reply, but basically try with an internal CD-ROM drive, you should be able to connect to the ribbon cable on the motherboard. Failing that, you can get pretty much anything couriered round the country for £7 these days ;)

Let me know how you get on.
Alex.

I think the best and probably the easiest way to do this is use an internal IDE CD-ROM drive and connect to the ribbon on the motherboard. You’ll have to open the box and connect the drive, boot up and the system should recognise it, you can then install XP from CD. Most links to the drivers are in this article but if you have any probs, let me know. I can’t remember if there’s a spare connection so you might have to arm yourself with a normal ‘twin’ IDE cable (master/slave + mobo cxn) and possibly a molex power socket extension too.

Good luck and let me know how you get on,
Alex.

Wondering if anyone can help? I have just aquired the beetle and i need to install the software. The unit only has the floppy drive although i have a external usb dvd reader. I have attached the dvd drive via the usb ports but it fails to pick it up and the bios dosent reconise it. What would be the best way to install the software?

cheers
Hems

I have the Epson drivers, I will email these to you. For the others, you may have to do a bit of rummaging but most of it (including the Beetle) seems to be at the Wincor-Nixdorf POS download area here:
http://www.wincor-nixdorf.com/internet/site_EN//EN/Support/Downloads/POSLotterySystems/Driver/driver_node.html

cheers,
Alex.