@Nick2K4
If it doesn`t work with an IDE drive plugged into the primary channel, then it`s dead.
You only need the software to enable the second channel.
Looking at the second picture,it`s not the wire that worries me, but all the burnt flux around the pins next to it. Looks like someone has seriously shorted something out there.
You may be lucky, and find that it`s just the 2x 74245 chips that have gone, they`re cheap and fairly easy to replace . But if it`s the GAL that`s gone, it`d be easier to buy a new adapter.
