Are NF4 and Diamondmax 10 incompatible?

[gobucks]

Okay, so i recently bought an A8N-SLI mobo and a 300GB SATA Diamondmax 10 hard drive, and when i first set it up, it worked. However, after restarting a few times, the DM10 no longer showed up in the bios, nor could windows detect it. After fiddling around with it, it finally recognized the drive again, but about 2 hours later, when i rebooted, it stopped recognizing it, and would not do it again. The backup SATA silicon image drive's raid utility also seemed to pick up the drive's existence, but that's it. So i called Asus, and they said it was either a grounding issue or a dead SATA controller. So i returned the mobo, and ordered a Chaintech VNF4/Ultra, since it was cheaper, faster than an RMA, and had less extraneous features. It came in yesterday, and started up fine. Then, after a few restarts, it again stopped being recognized, and after a lot of fiddling, it got recognized again, but then after a restart it was gone. So obviously it's not a bad mobo, i assumed. So i checked grounding - thinking that might be the problem, i looked at my case, and saw that some of the standoffs were embedded into the case, and were aluminum, not brass. Thinking this could be the problem, i taped them over, but it didn't help. Then, i placed it in a new case, with all brass standoffs, but that didn't fix it either. Then i figured the HDD wasn't working, so i put it in my friends computer, and it recognized it every time. Also, since whenever the hard drive is recognized, it boots into windows just fine, i figured the drive was functioning correctly. So, at this point, i'm pretty much out of ideas. Has anyone had a similar problem with either the NF4 or the DM10? Is there anything i can do, other than return this HDD for one that isn't so new? My PC's been down for like 3 weeks now, and i need a fix fast!

 

[davidwiz]

Ive had the same HD in my A8N-SLI mobo for a week now: No problems at all, using SATA 1 (NVidia port) and no drivers.

 

[pudds]

got three diamondmax 10's 250gb in raid 0 on nv controller. Im using asus sli no problems at all so far. Been using it for over a week.

 

[mystere]

I've had similar problems with my DiamondMax 10 300GB. If I do a soft reboot, it isn't always recognized, but powerdown/powerup it's always fine.

 

[gate1975mlm]

Is this problem only with A8N-SLI or all Nforce 4 boards?

 

[idioth]

Originally posted by: mystere
I've had similar problems with my DiamondMax 10 300GB. If I do a soft reboot, it isn't always recognized, but powerdown/powerup it's always fine.

this sounds like the problem i was having with my DM10 300GB and my MSI Neo4 Platinum board. before i got windows installed, soft reboots would cause the hard drive to make a repeated beeping noise (i thought it was my floppy at first), but shutting down completely and powering it back on has never caused that problem. plus, ever since i got windows installed, i have never had that problem.

 

[PascalT]

been using my dm10 for a while on my dfi nf4, no problem at all

 

[Whitewolf]

I have my A8N-SLI and the dm10 300GB sata 3 for 3 weeks now, no problems at all even with ncq enabled when using either the 1002 or the 1004 bios and the 6.39 nvidia drivers.
The 1003 bios sometimes failed to recognize it so I didn't use it but I must admit I didn't clear the cmos on it which usually seems to solve a lot of problems with this board. I heard it got something to do with incompatibility between this bios and the drive's firmware which needs updating. I found 2 firmware updaters but I don't trust them. What if the hdd dies with them and since it works absolutely fine with 1002,1004 bios I don't see a need to update the firmware.
Let's hope maxtor will release details on how to officially flash the hdd to solve any issues people like you are having.

 

[joule]

Is this problem only with A8N-SLI or all Nforce 4 boards?

I can't say there is a problem with *all* but there seems to be a pattern developing here. I have a gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 which refuses to see my DiamondMax 10 (6B300S0) at all. I have tried two other SATA drives which work fine (Barracuda 7200.7 160GB and Maxtor Maxline Plus II 250GB). Further, the Diamondmax at least is identified by my K8V SE Deluxe (Via and Promise SATA controllers).

FWIW, my diamondmax 10 has a manufacture date of 18 Aug 2004 (seems a bit old but I just got it from newegg a few days ago). Maybe there is some correlation between manufacture date and people's positive or negative experiences with this drive.

 

[Promethply]

Maybe one possible reason is that certain NF4 mobos' BIOS revisions have trouble reading certain firmware revisions (if any) of the Diamondmax10.

If this is the case, then future revisions of these mobos' BIOS may solve the problem.

 

[joule]

One solution is to contact Maxtor and get updated firmware for your drive. Call, with the drive in your hand. Maybe I was lucky but it took me about 5-10 minutes to get thru to a senior level tech and have her send me the firmware. Obviously you'll need a machine that can actually see the drive to update the firmware which may be a problem for some.

Worked for me.

 

[chilled]

No problems with 2 x DM10 200GB's in nv raid 0, ports 1,2. Oh yeah, on a MSI K8N Diamond board (SLI).

 

[gate1975mlm]

Originally posted by: joule

One solution is to contact Maxtor and get updated firmware for your drive. Call, with the drive in your hand. Maybe I was lucky but it took me about 5-10 minutes to get thru to a senior level tech and have her send me the firmware. Obviously you'll need a machine that can actually see the drive to update the firmware which may be a problem for some.

Worked for me.

How do you flash firmware for a hard drive? Is it hard to do?

 

[joule]

It is as easy as flashing your mobo BIOS. Generally you disconnect all but the drive you want to flash, boot to DOS on a floppy or flash drive, run a program provided by your drive manufacturer and your done.


I must say though that the BIOS might not be the magic fix. I flashed my drive, things seemd to be working fine. Installed OS, drievers, software... A few days later I flashed the mobo BIOS. Again things seemed ok. Then I had a bunch of small problems. A lockup on boot. Then the mobo failed to see the drive. After a few resets it saw the drive and booted but applications started failing to start. I gave up. Too flakey. I had a MaxLine II sitting around that I installed and it has been perfect.

I am starting to think that some of the Diamondmax 10 drives will never work, regardless of firmware with the NF4. The Maxtor tech did say that there are multiple hardware versions of the drive. Maybe the earlier revisions are the problem.

-j

 

[MildSalsa]

i just started having this problem today. during boot-up i get a INVALID BOOT DRIVE message and my DM10 isn't recognized in the BIOS.
my computer was working fine, i rebooted, then got that message. fiddled around in the bios to no avail. i thought it may have been a heat issue, as it's been getting pretty hot lately, and this is the first warm weather the box has dealt with.

things i should mention that may be noteworthy-
i flashed the bios to 1011 a few days ago. i can't remember how many times, if any besides the initial post-flash boot, i've booted to this new bios. but like i said, everything was working fine, till today.
i replaced that god-awful whining chipset fan with a passive Zalman ZM-NB57J. i think i remembered someone saying they had problems with either SATA or RAID, after replacing the fan, but i chalked that up to inexperience/clumsyness, as no one else had had the same problem.

i'm really hoping i dont' have to replace the mobo, at this point i don't even care about the cost, i don't wanna go thru the same teardown i just did 2 months ago to replace that heatsink.

also, joule, was your problem compatility based or did your drive just go? if all i had to do was buy a new drive, that'd be the easiest(hardware replacement) solution, i'd just be tweaked about losing all my data.
thanks- Mark

:Edit: forgot to mention i'm using a Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe. the HDD is the 300gigger

 

[F4810]

The A8N-SLI has probs with bios 1011 and diamondmax 10. maxtor confirmed this. go to lower bios. last i used was 1008 and it was fine.

 

[MildSalsa]

yep, went back to 1008 and have had no problems since.

 

[R3MF]

my shuttle sn25p and 200gb maxtor dm10 drive get along very nicely.