ECS K7S5A and Maxtor Hard Drive PROBLEM

[Archman]

Okay here is the situation : motherboard will not work with the 60 GB (working) Hard Drive

New System Specs:

ECS K7S5A motherboard (with onboard nic)
60 GB Maxtor Hard Drive
128 MB DDR
32 MB Aopen Geoforce 200MX Video card
Floppy Disk Drive
300 Watt ATX power supply
Liteon CDRW Drive

After using the manufacturer's partition utility, as well as win98 boot
disk, as well as win2000 boot disks I still have had no luck getting the
drive to be recognised. It keeps stating that the drive is not
partitioned.

I went in to the store that I purchased the hard drive from(60 GB
Maxtor). They ran a format of the hard drive on their system, and
formatted the drive without a problem. I told them about the problems. I
was told that the memory could be bad, or that the power supply is not
enough, or that the cpu is bad, or that the motherboard could be
shorting out. I used my main system and swapped each part and tested one
by one and found no problem.

The Hard Drive is recognized in the BIOS and I have made sure that all
of the cables are connected properly, and that nothing is loose or half
connected anywhere on the motherboard(the jumpers are set properly as
well). When I used the win98 boot disk, I choose to load without cd-rom
driver, and it begins to load to ramdrive, but then I get an error
message stating that "Windows has noticed that the C drive is not
partitioned..." and it gives me choices to use fdisk, check for a virus,
etc. I key in fdisk and get and fdisk i/o error message, and nothing
happens except I get "A:" prompt again.

When I use the win2000 boot disks it runs , except for the last boot
disk, I get an error message with an i/o error, again a no go

Here is the funny thing, I decided to take the hard drive out, and
install my main hard drive from my system, as well as a spare drive to
see what would happen. I first put in my spare 5 GB hard drive, and
popped in the win98 boot disk, and it loaded up without a hitch! I could
run fdisk, it asked me for allowing fat32 and I said yes, so it got me
to the partition table selection screen (with the 60 GB HD that would
never happen, kept getting an fdisk error).

I was astounded, so I took that 5 GB out, and put in my 20 GB hard
drive, and that worked to!!! I took the 60 GB hard drive and hooked it
up to my main computer, and I could read and write to it...

Now it seems as though the 60 GB hard drive will not work with the new
(ECS K7S5A) motherboard at all. I could fdisk it when the new HD was in
my computer, but with the new system, it will not allow me to do
anything at all.

Has anyone ever heard of a motherboard being incompatible with a Hard
Drive???

I even tried to upgrade the BIOS following the instructions provided by
the manufacturer, and the new BIOS file, but it would not allow me to
upgrade the BIOS, it failed. I tried all the BIOS files for the new
motherboard, and two BIOS flash utilities, but it would not allow me to.

It simply seems that this motherboard does not like this Hard Drive?! I
read the user's manual and made sure that nothing simple was being
missed. BOTTOM LINE, compatability problem with the new motherboard and
hard drive somehow???

Any input on this is appreciated

Thanks,
Shane

 

[bowie71]

never heard that mobo is incompatible with some Hard drive, I suspect that your problem is just because of the IDE cable and slots misplace, because K7S5A has a common problem for too tight slots, PCI, IDE and AGP especially. Just my $0.2 tho. Mine has Maxtor 80GB and runs without a glitch.

 

[Archman]

nope, i double checked the cables and slots. all i did was swap the hard drives and every time i replaced the 60 gb hard drive it would not allow fdisk to function.

i can say that i did it 8 times, and every time the 60 gb hard drive was put back in it was problematic. every time i put in my 20 gb hard drive no problems what so ever.

i'm lost with that

 

[Buz2b]

Do you have any other device attached to IDE 1 other than the HDD? If so, remove it and try again. Second, check the jumpers on the HDD. If they are set to Master (should be), try settig them to Cable Select. BTW, it is very easy to "flip-flop" the jumpers and have them on the wrong pins. You might want to take a good long look at that. Also, try a different power cable from the PS on the drive. You might have one cable/plug that is bad or not connecting properly to the new HDD. If those don't solve it, then you should try taking things down to absolute bare minimum in your system. In other words, unplug all power and data cables from any other IDE devices. Then remove all PCI devices (unless your video card is PCI) from the system; physically take them out of the case. If you have two sticks of RAM, remove one. Just boot with the new HDD, the floppy, CPU w/HSF, video card and RAM; nothing else. See if you can fdisk then. You might also try using your data cable for the secondary IDE devices. I realize it may not be ATA or UDMA 100 spec, but you are on a "fishing expedition" right now. If you try all of the above, starting from scratch and are absolutely sure that the jumpers, cables, etc are correct and it still does not work, then you will need to take a look at your PS being too weak to overcome the requirements of the new drive. What brand and model # is it; all you mentioned was 300 watt. All PS's are not created equal and the K7S5A is very picky about power. There is no reason for the board not to work with that HDD. It absolutely is not incompatible with the drive; that is not the issue. Others have used the same brand and even larger sizes with no trouble. I know you feel as though you have been pretty thorough, but step back and approach it like you are just seeing this for the first time and really take a hard look at the items I mentioned and try the minimal boot method.
Problem # 2 is you attempt at BIOS updates. Most likely what has happened is merely the BIOS update has been disabled (in the BIOS itself) or you might not have keyed in the proper commands to access the new file. That is pretty common. The following is taken directly from the OC Workbench ECS BIOS FAQ page. "Type "aminfxxx xxxxxx.rom" substituting with the BIOS file you wish to flash. Ex: to flash BIOS ver. 011215 using amiflash 3.29, you would type something like "aminf329 011215.rom". The particular files names may vary for different BIOS or amiflash versions. " Please not the space between the "aminfxxx" and the "xxxxxx.rom" file name, or in the second example, the space between "aminf329" and "011215.rom". That is where most make the mistake. You might want to take a look at that Bios FAQ page for additional assistance.

 

[Iron Woode]

It sounds like a BIOS issue rather than an OS issue.

How old is this board? What revision is it?

Flash to the newest BIOS and check to see if the drive is detected correctly in the BIOS.

Some drives have jumpers that set the size of the drive. Like what was stated above: double check the jumpers.

It is possible that the board is having issues with large drives and may need to be checked out.

Have you emailed Maxtor about this problem? Or ECS? Or even the place where you bought the board from?

 

[Smoke]

I just got one of these boards and had a heck of time getting it to recognize the hard drive too. I did not notice it in the manual but after fiddling with it for hours I finally noticed the F3 note in the bottom right of the 1st BIOS screen. I couldn't tell by what is written in this thread if you have been doing the F3 function which searches for hard drives. Once it finds the hard drive you exit/save and boot to floppy. From the floppy I used my Partition Magic disk to format the C: which should be the same (almost) as fdisk, I think.

Everytime I tweaked the BIOS (FSB settings) a little too much and the computer would not boot, I would have to go back through the BOOT TO SETUP and F3 to find the hard drive. Not sure if any of this will be helpful but just in case ............

 

[Archman]

thanks for the replies. I did check everything out, and when I took the system in to the shop where I purchased all of the components the technician there looked at my set up and saw nothing wrong with it either (jumpers set right, cables all hooked up properly) and he just looked at me as though I was smoking crack because of the problems I told him about.

The board recognizes the other hard drives, and every time I switch hard drives I make sure to go into CMOS and hit "F3" so that it auto-detects the new drive, and then it reboots.

I swapped out parts from my machine to test it out piece by piece. One stick of sdram, my power supply which is AMD approved (except it is only 250Watts, but works on my 1 GH athlon system with 512 MB Sdram, 32 MB video card, 2 Hard Drives, Sound blasted sound card, nic card, cpu fan, and 3 case fans) were replaced into the new system piece by piece.

I tried to fdisk the new hard drive but every time, fdisk would give me an error message. I tried to "fdisk/mbr" and again got an error message! I am confuzzled beyond belief with the new system.

It is set up to bare essentials only: Duron 950 CPU w/hsf,128 MB 2100 DDR, 32 MB video card, Floppy Disk Drive, and I have left the CDRW unplugged both for power and IDE cable.

No over clocking, no problems with other drives... power supply is 300 Watt supply that came with the tower. Methinks that it is a generic power supply, but again it should be able to suffice for a Duron system with not a lot of hardware in it, even tested it with my AMD approved 250 Watt PS, but still the new Hard Drive gives fdisk errors.

 

[lsman]

I think some manufacturer's partition utility with not work nicely with windows boot disk. You should read maxtor (blast plus ?) steps to partition the hard drive. (follow the instruction on screen when boot up, then put in the windows boot up disk)

My concern is that you fail to update the BIOS. read the BIOS FAQ and suggestion of Buz2b. Good luck.

 

[Archman]

It ha been formatted and partitioned properly using win98 boot disk when I put it into my other system. It will not allow fdisk to function when I put it back into the new computer at all. For example, I want to view the partition info, so at "A:" i type in fdisk, gets me to the large disk prompt, type in yes, then fdisk gives me an error message and it goes to "A:".

Windows 2000 boot disks will not work either, gets to be 99% done then gives error message at the very end, and states must be re-done. Using the Max Blast partition software from the Maxtor website I read and followed the instructions properly, ran the program but it starts, goes to 99% done in 5 seconds, and then sits there for 2 minutes, then gives an error time out message.

Again, there are no problems when I put this hard drive in another system, and put a different hard drive in this system.

Could there be a huge power difference between a 60 GB hard drive and a 20 GB hard drive? Still I swapped the PS with an AMD approved one, and still got the same problem.

BOIS sees the hard drive there, but it just will not allow fdisk to work with the new hard drive

 

[Smoke]

Here's an idea if I understand your situation correctly. It sounds like you bought the hard drive locally. If that store will take back the hard drive and give you full credit, why don't you try another one ... different size, different manufacturer.

Being that the MB works with your other hard drives, it sure sounds like two items just don't get along. Now if with the "newly" purchased hard drive you still have problems then you will have to continue down this frustrating path.

Or just put the new 60G hard drive in your old computer and use the hard drive from the old computer in the ECS K7S5A (you said it worked when you tried it ... didn't you?).

That may not be what you want but sometimes what we want isn't worth the trouble.

 

[lsman]

i once had a maxtor 80G and the the software come from it is bad. I download it from the web and its ok.
have u try reset the mb's clear and reset jumper?
is the 20G work in your K7S5A?

 

[Archman]

Yes I did purchase it locally. Well the store stands firm with the notion that if the hard drive is not bad, they do not accept returns. They keep telling me that one component after another could be bad, and I ruled that out by physically swapping every piece I could (different: PSU, Memory, Hard Drive, etc.). I keep telling them that the hard drive works in my main computer, but it will not function when installed with that motherboard.

Again, the motherboard works well with other hard drives, I can fdisk, and partition. It seems that this particular Maxtor Hard Drive just does not want to work with this ECS motherbpard. I know that people have the same motherboard, and the same Hard Drive, but mine just will not work.

Can't swap the drives. This is a system that I am assembling for a friend, and he needs the 60 GB of space.

 

[Boonesmi]

i would first update the bios.... i know you already said you tried,

2 things to check
first make sure the bios isnt write protected (this is sometimes done with a jumper on the board itself, and sometimes its a bios setting)

second create a boot disk and throw your new bios file along with the flash utility on the disk... then most importantly make sure the files are "not" read only

if you use winxp you cant just easily create a boot disk so you may need to download one from bootdisk.com

 

[Buz2b]

<< swapped the PS with an AMD approved one >>

The problem is that "AMD approved" can mean it is approved for "up to" a certain processor speed but does not mean that is is approved for all AMD CPU's. You can check yours out on this page.

That being said, I would strongly urge you to try again to update the BIOS. It is sounding more and more like a BIOS restriction; even if the MaxBlast software doesn't work.

If you have checked and tried all I suggested earlier then it will be either the PS or the BIOS.

 

[Iron Woode]

Forget Fdisk!

Try format c: /s

Then let us know if that works. If not, did you try the MaxBlast software that comes with the drive? No floppy disk with the drive? Ask the store where you bought the drive from or download it from Maxtor's website.

Stop trying to partition the drive. Partitions are only recognized under windows, not the BIOS.

Since the BIOS can't even detect the drive then something else is very wrong.

Flash that BIOS already! And then check out Maxtor and ECS to see if anyone else has this problem.

If after all this it still doesn't work then start asking questions to the store that sold you the MB. Get them to test your setup to see if they can explain or repair your problem. Testing the drive seperately is no good when it is your combo that seems the problem.

You still haven't stated what revision this board is or the BIOS date.

 

[Archman]

The board says "ver : 3.1" near the PCI slots. The bios is the latest to date "020206"

 

[Iron Woode]

<<The bios is the latest to date "020206" >>

Does the BIOS detect the drive correctly?

If not, I would take the whole system to get inspected and see what they say then.

 

[Barrei]

Why don't you take your computer to where you got the HDD and tell them to get the darn thing to format if there so sure its one of your other components.

 

[Buz2b]

You seem to be inconsistant in your answers and in your information. I highly suspect there is more to this than you are letting on. Case in point:


<< I even tried to upgrade the BIOS following the instructions provided bythe manufacturer, and the new BIOS file, but it would not allow me to
upgrade the BIOS, it failed. I tried all the BIOS files for the new motherboard, and two BIOS flash utilities, but it would not allow me to. >>


Then you say:


<< The bios is the latest to date "020206 >>

That would not be correct. It is very seldom indeed that a MB comes with the latest updated BIOS, unless it is a first release. I and others have given good suggestions which you seem to ignore or selectively disregard. If you want assistance fine. If not then return the drive and demand your money back. They have to take it; defective or not.
BTW, the latest Official BIOS is: Version 020112- Release Date: 01/12/2002

 

[Archman]

Well, the Bios was in a string that I did not recognize, and when I asked the question of how to tell what my BIOS version was, they pointed out that the BIOS was the latest.


Originally I was told by the local store where I purchased this system to flash to the latest BIOS, and when I ran into problems I tried that.

The inconsistent answer is a result of 4 days of attempting to get this to work, and having numerous replies about making sure the small things are set properly (ie, cables, jumpers, memory, etc.).

You would be frustrated to if it were to happen to you

It can be frustrating because in some newsgroups I keep getting the same replies. I know that 99% of the time, it is human error, not bad components. This time there is something funky going on.

The Bios would not let me flash when I attempted to flash it, so that is something strange. Regardless of what version of the BIOS the motherboard currently has, it should allow a flash with no problem.

Anyways, I've taken the whole system back to the shop, and they are going to get it to work.


And, just so everyone knows, I am not the only one with this problem, someone else posted a similar problem:

"Because I'm having a similar
problem. I have a Maxtor 8.4gig (Model#: 90845D4) hard drive and a
Generic 60gig hard drive. Both of these already had windows XP on
them and were running fine on my original system. I bought a ECS
K7S5A and I first tried to boot up my existing XP installation. The
8.4gig hard drive was recognized, but before I get the black screen
that says windows xp please wait it gives me a blue screen instead
saying to check for hard drive corruption, but when I put it in my
original system it works fine. I then tried to boot up my 60gig XP
installation only to get the exact same error. I looked everywhere
else the ram, the power supply, the processor and even the IDE cable,
it still didn't work. Then I tried to reinstall XP. Windows XP setup
formated the partition and it started copying files, but while it's
doing that it'll stop and say that a file that was copied to the hard
drive was corrupted I hit retry and it goes through and then after
it's done copying I get some fastfat.sys error. I then changed to an
older 3.2gig western digital hard drive. I proceeded to install
windows XP and it was fine. Everything went smoothly. I'm starting
to think this motherboard doesn't like Maxtor's, but there's also my
60 gig which is generic, so I don't really know what the problem is.
So if you finally did find a solution please post it. Thanx"


I thank everyone for their help and information, but the system is at the shop now, and I told them to get that hard drive to work in that machine, not to test that hard drive in another machine.


Thanks,

post scriptum,
will let you know what the problem is once they get it sorted out.

 

[Barrei]

:disgust: I agree sometimes these damned computrers can be very frustrating , you did the right thing taking it into the shop.

 

[Archman]

Okay, I am looking at their download page with all of the BIOS files, but the latest one I see is this one

V.02/02/06 Release Date: 02/27/2002

now correct me if I am wrong, but this seems to be a later date than

Version 020112- Release Date: 01/12/2002


This is where I found the BIOS files http://www.ecs.com.tw/download/k7s5a.htm


Anyways, thanks for EVERYONES help, and we shall see what is wrong

 

[Smoke]

I believe you are right about the latest BIOS, Archman.

http://www.ecsusa.com/ecsusa/www.ecs.com.tw/download/k7s5a.htm

 

[Peter]

Nope, the true latest BIOS is on www.pcchips.com.tw, but not yet on www.ecs.com.tw - so download the M830 or M830LR BIOS 2002/03/25, the latter being for boards with LAN. This one is much better, mostly in the area of PCI cards, boot drive handling, and SDRAM compatibility. I needed the former two to get mine to work at all, and after the BIOS update it does.

Fear not, it's the exact same product, except for the paint job and name badge.

regards, Peter

 

[Archman]

Problem Solved

Okay, well I went into the computer shop where I purchased the computer components to assemble the computer, and it turns out that I am not crazy!

The tech noticed the same problems that I was having while the hard drive was in the system. They spent the whole day trying to find the problem, and they have found out that the IDE Controller is faulty!

They do not have a replacement board for me today, but Monday they will provide me with a replacement motherboard

Thank you everyone for your input and suggestions, it was all valid.

It turns out that the Motherboard is at fault, and was from day one!