I already posted this problem to the Removable/Backup device Drivers forum. I hope I'm not breaking any rules against double posting.

I need to run a Syquest EZflyer 230Mb parallel-port cartridge backup unit with my WindowsXP laptop. I have a lot of important files backed up to the Syquest, and my Win98 computer that it was originally connected to isn't working.

I got the last driver files - PHDW2K.inf and EPHDW2K.SYS - written by SCM Micro (who merged with Shuttle, the original driver designer for Syquest) while they were still available. They can also be downloaded from a place called syquestrepair.com. These drivers were written for Win2000 and are supposed to also work with WinXP. However, my computer doesn't recognize the Syquest drive when it's plugged into the parallel port, either on boot or hot plug. Device Manager and the Add New Hardware Wizard can't find it either.

Needless to say, the Syquest unit and the drivers aren't supported any more, as Syquest went out of business long ago and SCM isn't interested. Syquestrepair.com has some setup info on their website, but they don't know what to do if a computer doesn't recognize the hardware.

A fella named Stephen Smith, who has done extensive work with the Shuttle and SCM drivers for parallel port peripherals, especially the card readers, has some info on the HD adapter drivers at http://wa8lmf.net/D700/index.htm; but, once again, his notes aren't much help if the computer can't find the peripheral. He does say that if the usual procedure doesn't work "enter the motherboard BIOS setup utility..., select "Integrated Peripherals" or something similar, and ensure that the built-in LPT port is LPT1 set to an address of 378 with IRQ7.", and SyquestRepair says that the Parallel Printer Port should be set up in BIOS as EPP. Well, I spent the past two days trying every possible combination of BIOS settings for the Parallel Port, and I tried
everything you can do using the Add New Hardware Wizard, but my computer still couldn't find the Syquest device.

In Device Manager, on the Resources tab of Parallel Printer Port properties, there's a checkbox for Legacy Plug And Play. If I check it the computer does find a new hardware device on the next boot, but it calls the Syquest unit an IOmega drive and gives it an error message. Device Manager then lists an IOmega drive under Disk Drives, but says it isn't working because the driver is wrong.

There are a lot of peripheral devices listed in the Add New Hardware Wizard, but the Syquest drives are not among them. However, I did try force loading the ephdw2k.inf and ephdw2k.sys driver files using the Add New Hardware Wizard, which has an entry stored in it for an "SCM PPort CF Adapter", in the section for SCM Micro, so I used that. The files appeared to load alright, and there is now a new entry for "SCM PPort HD Adapter" in the "Manufacturers and Models" list of hardware devices of the Wizard. But for some reason when I get the Wizard to install the files and then check in Device Manager, although there's a listing for "SCM PPort HD Adapter" it has a yellow exclamation mark next to it and the properties popup says "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device." Which is weird, because ephdw2k.sys does seem to be loaded, since it appears on the Driver tab for the device.

It's all extremely frustrating. I can't understand why the plug and play search on boot can't see the Syquest drive. I've tried every combination for the Parallel Port in BIOS. Is it possible that the Parallel Port device in my computer is so configured that it just doesn't see that the Syquest is there? That hardly seems likely with all thoe configuration choices in the BIOS I've tried and all the peripheral devices listed in the Add New Hardware Wizard. I just can't figure it out.

Anybody have an idea?

Mike S.