No , the hard drive/CF card was fdisk wiped and formatted when I did the install .
Ensure that the card / configuration boots in another system if you have access to one for testing. If you follow the links on CF cards; I believe some have to be set to boot / fixed disk mode somehow but it's always just worked for me.
My only thoughts are a bad CF card/adapter. I would do a visual inspection for damage on the CF card, adapter and the hd sled/flex cable.
I'm afraid to say that does happen sometimes(A Sinloon adapter [all ide pins soldered on one side of the board] that I bought for this system had to be returned to Amazon for non-working/incompatibility - I don't know why it didnt' work - just refused; a subsequent Trand brand CF-IDE worked [circuit board is sandwiched by ide connector pins]). The I got the Syba adapter and other than requiring the pin removal mod; that has worked in subsequent testing on this system and others (toshiba pentium class laptops).
When playing with these retro systems, you really do need both a) luck; b) knowledge and c) an inventory of parts to try.
I have bought at least 3 non-compatible CF-IDE adapters (40 pin desktop) in the past. It's quirky.
BTW - if ANYONE is reading this and decides to buy the Syba CF-IDE adapter; please note that the models I received had an extra pin on it (read the reviews on amazon) and I had to clip off the pin. Since it's a big deal, make sure to measure thrice, cut once and make sure you have the right pin to remove. This only applies if your female/ide connector has a block on one of the pins (for orientation); not all systems did that.