I'm a serious amateur photographer living in Long Island, New York. I've bought a used Phototherm SSK-4, it just arrived this morning. I haven't bought any chemistry yet because both B&H and Adorama are closed for the holidays for over a week (How nice is it if somebody works there!!). I tried the processor out with water today and encountered several problems.

1. Many times it can't detect the processing drum. But if I select "FLUSH", then "DRAIN", it then runs normally and I can select E6, C41... afterwards. Does anybody know why? The drum is securely locked in place. Do I have to drain it everytime before processing films?

2. When I turn on the machine, I can select "E6 4S", "C41", "B&W", and so on... But I can't figure out how to choose E6 7-step. Only the "PLUS" and "START" buttons are responding. The purpose of buying this machine is mainly for E6. Can anybody help me on this?

I've read the instruction manual several times and still can't figure that out. And since I work normal hours (9 ~ 5:30), I can't make a phone call to phototherm with the machine in front of me while I'm at home and phototherm's techician is at the office. Can somebody help me?

Actually I've posted these questions on photo.net. I think APUG has more film enthusiasts who may give me a helping hand.