about that bug with WinME and hard drives (IBM 75's) and fast cpu's...

[jonnyjack]

here's the original thread

there was like 7 pages to that thread for me so i didn't really want to read it all, i just want one simple question answered...

Does that bug only affect IBM hard drives? if not, then what else causes that bug?

sorry if this was answered in the original thread, i just don't have the time or patience to read such a long thread...TIA

 

[chiwawa626]

I think its ONLY the ibm Deskstar 75's

 

[DioCassius]

actually i think it is caused by the combination of larges caches and fast processors...windows would shut down too fast for the cache to clear or something.
Microsoft released a fix at their update site.

 

[Rudee]

I'm running WinME with a IBM 75GXP HDD with no problems at all.

 

[Possum]

You may not have a problem now, but it potentially can occur in the future. I believe in the original thread, it was mentioned that someone's drive suddenly stopped working properly, due to the problem, ~2 months after he bought it.

 

[Maniac9127]

Like DioCassius said, it happenes with drives with large caches (I think ~2MB) and faster processors (something like 933 or 733 or something).

If you save something and shut down really quick the HDD won't have time to write the cache to the HDD and when the power goes out you lose the data, and potentially currupt your HDD.

So it's not a major bug, it's a potential problem.

 

[X14]

If you go to windows update, Microsoft has recently posted an automatic update to fix this problem.

 

[jonnyjack]

i have a AMD K6-3 350mhz, i shouldn't have a problem right? i don't plan on upgrading cpu for awhile, but i need a new hard drive, that's why i'm asking...

 

[XeonTux]

If you save something and shut down really quick the HDD won't have time to write the cache to the HDD and when the power goes out you lose the data, and potentially currupt your HDD

This makes sense as far as loosing whatever was sitting in the cache, but how can this cause the drive to become noisy and eventually crash?!

I am slightly worried because I just bought a IBM 75GXP before I heard anything about this. Are you guys SURE that this is A WINDOZE PROBLEM and not a hardware problem? If it's a windows problem I couldn't give 2 sh!ts because I use linux, but a potential hardware problem would scare me.

 

[oldfart]

Its a Windoze problem. Not just IBM drives either.

 

[culex]

The only reason alot of people think its ONLY the 75GXPs is because we had that huge thread which specifically was related to a 75GXP.

Unfortunately (for the most part), it's basically affecting all ATA100 drives with certain speeds and Windows 98/ME. I'm not gonna say high speeds since I've heard of reports happening at 500 - 900 range.

Windows KB, online articles, etc etc, does not specifically mention a brand of hard drives and even some PC manufacturers who shipped ATA100 drives (not 75GXP) posted their own patches for this... but generally its the same patch from Microsoft.

So bottom line if you're not aware:

If you have a pc ranging of 500+ mhz, with Windows 98/ME and an ATA100 drive... usually with 2MB cache, theres a strange bug where Windows shuts down or reboots the system before the hard drive cache can be flushed. Over time this causes drive failure and needs a whole wipeout.

I dont have the link to the MSKB Article with the patch but if you want to be on the safe side, I suggest you install that thing.

Once again, this bug is NOT only limited to the IBM75GXP.

The basic bug factor is:

Windows 98/ME, ATA100 drive with around 2MB cache, 500+mhz CPU speed

 

[jonnyjack]

alright, even though i'm only running at 350mhz, i'm going to install the patch anyway...just to be on the safe side...man this whole tihng was giving me a headache...i blame Microsoft!

 

[Jeff H]

I just got off the phone w/ IBM tech support, and here's what they had to say re this issue:

1) it's all versions of Windows 98 and ME, not just SE and ME.
2) it's any of the following conditions: ATA100 drive (not just 75GXP's), ATA100 controller, fast cpu. I asked this because I was wondering if it's the combination of all three that cause the problem, or any of the three.
3) the patch is the Windows IDE Hard Drive Cache Package, file 273017usa8.exe, KB article Q273017.

 

[yuckck]

so if there's this microsoft patch, what's all that talk about having to low level format the drive and then apply some other patch?

my old 75gxp was rma'ed a week ago, and i just received the replacement today, so definitely want to make sure that i have done my part to avoid any potential problems, although the problems with my rma'ed 75gxp wasn't necessarily caused by the shutdown problem.

 

[Jeff H]

It appears to be extract the foot from the mouth time, as I tried the patch shortly after I posted my last message in this thread, and Windows 98 (original version, not SE) said the patch does not apply to my version of Windows. So, I guess one could extrapolate that the problem is w/ Win98 SE and Win ME. Does anyone have any experiences to contradict this?

 

[jonnyjack]

i ended up getting a maxtor 20gb...its a ATA66 drive...so it shouldn't be affected right?

also i'm running a K6-3 350mhz cpu...

 

[heng1028]

i have 75GXP and not a problem for me to run ME

 

[McMadman]

Can someone give me a direct link to the file? I can't run windowsupdate under win98se

 

[? (=Þ)]

uh, is there a specific patch for win98 first edition? url?

I only can find the ME and SE patches, which dont work for the first edition.... Thanks