Hey!

So recently I've been trying to get this old P166 machine going again but I've encountered an issue I've never seen before and that doesn't seem to be documented on here? The computer works perfectly fine at the moment but it's got an old hard drive that I'd like to replace before it dies and that led me to get a cheap CF to IDE adaptor from ebay, with the intention of using a SD to CF adapter with it i had at hand (I read that SD to IDE adaptors are less reliable than doing it this way?).

Today the IDE adaptor arrived and I plugged it in and the computer didn't boot at all, it does one long and two short beeps (video card issue??) and then it keeps beeping until i turn it off. I tried all combinations of unplugging HDD and CD and swapping the IDE port on the mobo and the master/slave setting on the card and I've figured this out: it all works perfectly unless the SD to CF adapter is in, even without the actual SD card. It's not a brand new adaptor but it's basically never been used and i can't fathom why it would act like this, it's not a power issue because it does it regardless of wether the power is plugged in or not. Unfortunately I don't have a CF card reader to know if the adaptor is dead or not and i don't want to get one just for this, at least not before im sure that that's the problem. Could a short on the IDE bus really bring down a computer this badly? Am I missing something critical?