Actually it sounds more like someone is hitting the car with a metal bat, first time I heard it I ducked while driving.It is not corrupt files because the noise is now happening on all tracks randomly. Extremely loud pops/cracks making the empeg unusable. There is a scew loose in the case of the empeg so I was going to attempt to take the case apart and remove it. Would the loose screw have damaged components in the machine?? I just had a new 80g HD installed by M.Lord. Could it be the IDE cable now??? Any ideas? Thanks Mike

A screw loose is bad. I suppose it could possibly be causing that problem. You should definitely not power it back on until you remove the screw.

Pops can be caused by bad IDE cabling (or bad header, bad drive, etc.) if data gets corrupted during transfer. It's been reported before.

What he said. Screw loose inside the case is one of the worst things that can happen to an empeg. There have been people who've completely ruined their units because they kept playing them even with the loose screw. If you short the wrong two contact points with a screw, the expensive blue smoke can be permanently let out of the player.

Make sure it really is a loose screw and not just the standard disk rattle, though. A loose screw should be unmistakable.

Popping noises could be related to loose screw, they could indicate hard disk trouble, they could indicate wires loose on the docking connector, or even a bad amplifier. Check each of these things.

Thanks for the replies. I have just removed the face plate etc and removed not one but two little screws. There are the short little phillips type. I could not see where they went. I am now about to power it up in the car. Hopefully no permanent damage has been done. Mike

Thanks Mark... I took the extra step and it is indeed the hard drive mounting screws. Only two were left holding it on. After watching the videos it was easy to take apart and reassemble. I am now going for a drive and listen. Hopefully no damage was done by the loose screws. Thanks for your reply. Mike