Rumor has it that Cameron Kaiser may have mentioned these words: Sehr Gute News. ;-) How do you know it's turning off? The blinkenlight is to let you know of 1) low battery, and 2) drive activity. It's normal for the blinkenlight to turn off after a successful powerup, so it sounds like it's working correctly. Impotent question #1: Did you receive the special hookemupper cable that came with the drive? This is *super* important, as a standard RS232 will not work - the cable has internal electronics (read: transistors & stuff) to change the voltage levels to/from the drive. <Emphasis> Do not wire up a straight cable between any computer & the drive - you will fry the electronics in the drive! </Emphasis> Impotent question #2: Is it a Portable disk drive (PDD), or a Portable disk drive 2 (PDD2)? Big difference, in storage space (100K vs. 200K) and startup procedures. Impotent question #3: Did you get a boot disk with the drive? If so, IIRC this is how you get the poor excuse for a DOS into the laptop with a PDD2 (all I've ever owned.): Hook up the cable between computer & floppy drive. Insert the boot floppy into the drive, but do not turn it on yet. Turn on the computer. Go into basic and issue this command: RUN "COM:98N1DNN" ^ If the above command doesn't work, change that D to an E and try again. Turn on the floppy drive. That should start the software download from the boot floppy to the computer. If you don't have a PDD2, read the instructions if you got them, if not, go to http://www.the-dock.com/club100.html. There's a *ton* of info for the Model 100/102/200 series there, and the owner of Club 100, Rick Hanson, has got to be one of the nicest people on the planet. <Shameless Plug> There is also a listserver dedicated to the Model 100/102/200 machines, and to subscribe, send a blank email to: m100-subscribe(a)list.30below.com and you will receive a confirmation message. Reply to that confirmation message, and you're subscribed! There's actually been a fair amount of activity on there lately, and with over 150 subscribers to the list, there's one heckuva lotsa brains there to pick! (I administer the list, that's why it's a </Shameless Plug>) Hope this helps, Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig. If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.