i had exactly the same issue
the following fixed mine the cf card must contain the following
The control panel will not recognize the Conductor until you have created:
1) at least one *.seq and/or *.mp3 file on the compact flash (CF) card,
2) created a password, which will create a password.dat file on the CF card,
3) create at least one show, which will create a file *.sho on the CF card, and
4) schedule a show to run, which will create a playlist.dat file on the CF card.
All four of these must be met before the control panel will see the Conductor.
the above has to be performed with cf card in computer card reader not the conductor
once i performed the above it worked fine