Well damnit,
I double checked the cable and found nothing wrong.
I had first tried it on the same drive and motor as the first cable I made,(which turned out fine) so I figured the cable had to be the problem. When I couldn't find a problem I decided to try it on a different drive and motor, it worked fine there.
So I put it back where I had it in the first place and it's OK, WTF
Now here is the depressing story. When I installed it the first time I tightened the retaining screws cause I was confident the cable was going to stay there, (first one was fine so this should be too, right?). When I double checked and found nothing I tried it on a different drive and it was ok,(no screws). So I put it back where it was in the first place and it's fine?(still no screws yet). Puzzled over why it didn't work the first time I decide to secure it and move on, as the upper screw is beginning to snug up I hear a "click" and drive alarms with an encoder error.
So I slightly loosen screw and drive resets, encoder error gone.
Now I'm NOT tightening these screws like the lugnuts on a dump truck, just snug. I guess I could just leave the screw a little loose and move on but I'm afraid the board in the drive has a crack and tightening the screw must be warping the board enough to cause the crack to cause an "open" in the encoder circuit.
I got the connectors with the drives and think they have been together since day one. The screws look original to the connectors so I don't think it's a case of wrong screw or screw too long. I've attached a couple pics of the connector for the last cable I have to make yet.
So what ya think? should I leave the screw a little loose and forget it for now or do I need to open the drive and hunt the problem? Seeing how I'm NOT an electronics guy I don't know if I oughtta' open the drive or not.
Rick