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Epox 8RDA+ Won't recognize Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9-80 gb

C

CTMorseJr

Junior Member
System:
Epox 8RDA+ Bios=06/11/2003
XP2600+ 333 fsb
Kingston HyperX 512 mb x2
Antec 1240 with 400 watt PS
Gainward GF4 TI4200
BusLink 52X CD-RW
Maxtor 30 gb 7200 rpm DiamonMax 8

When I have the Maxtor 80 gb attatched to either IDE channel as master or slave (or CS) it is not regognized by the board at all. I've tried Auto detect and manually configuring the HD parameters with no luck. I swapped RAM (Mushkin and Crucial PC2700) and tried single sticks and doubles in every configuration, and even tried a XP1600+ with the same results. I tried the cylinder limitation jumper and several different types of IDE cables with no luck either. This HD is instantly recognized on 3 other sustems I've tried it in. I'm having the same problem with a Kenwood True-X 40X but it's always been problematic. The 30 gb Maxtor is recognized without any problems. Any ideas?
 
You may need to change the hard drive jumper(s). I find that sometimes cable select causes problems, and have had better luck making one master, and a 2nd, if present, slave.

I've also had problems when not using one of the newer 80pin ribbon cables on a new drive, or not using an old 40pin cable with an old drive. This is usually specific to a particular m/b, but can be quite difficult to fix.
 
Your trouble-shooting seems to have eliminated all possibilities. 🙂

There have been lots of reports of nForce not recognizing a certain WD HD (and possibly others) that sounds like this. It had something to do with not waiting long enough after a hardware HD reset (and WD has fixed it with later drives.) The work-around was to cut onewire on the HD cable (which does the reset), which I forget the details, if you want to try that. Somebody that knows about the fix may jump in to explain it, or you might try the WD site. Other than that, I think Maxtor owes you a HD replacement.

BTW, you don't really need the hardware reset. The HD can be software reset by sending an ATA command, and HDs automatically reset on power-up.

There is a lot of finger-pointing about whose problem this is. No mobo maker offered to replace the mobo. Nvidia offered nothing. Western Digital went out of their way to find a fix, up to and including replacing the HD if desired. IMO there is something slightly out of spec with the Nvidia HD controller which just doesn't happen to be bad enough to often cause a problem.
 
I had this exact problem last night with an older 20 gig maxtor and a newer 80 gig Maxtor on a nForce2 mobo! I ended up having to connect the old drive to the 2nd IDE chain with the CD-RW, and putting the DVD on as Slave on the primary IDE.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, but I tried master, slave, CS, alone on both channels, as slave on both channels, and alone altogether. I'm sorry for not being more specific in my original post, but that's what I meant when I said "When I have the Maxtor 80 gb attatched to either IDE channel as master or slave (or CS)" I should have added that I changed the jumpers accordingly.
 
KF,
This is the 2nd Maxtor I've tried with the same result (same model both times). The drive works fine in 3 other PCs I've tried it in (one of the benefits of being a network admin, many machines to test in). I tried it in KT266A, BX, and AMD chipset mobos and it worked fine in all 3. I'm gonna research the WD suggestion you made. I really appreciate it, thanks.
 
Here is what I found out about the WD issue:

Hard drive not detected - (Western Digital especially)

The first thing you should do to try and fix this problem is set the drive's jumpers to "cable select". If this doesn't work, you might have to perform a bit of magic with some scissors. Grab the IDE cable that you use for your hard drive, and cut the wire going to pin1 (which is the red wire on most older cables.) If you have a newer 80 wire cable, you will have to find both of the wires going to pin 1 and cut them. They are almost always the first two on the ribbon. I will add pictures if someone who has done this can send them in 🙂

http://www.8rdafaq.com/Epox_nForce2/file.php?file=issues.html

For the all suggestions listed.

I don't have the time to try it now, but will later today and post my results. Thanks again for all of the suggestions.
 
Well I tried cutting wires 1-2 on an 80 conducter cable and als cutting wire 1 on a 40 conducter cable and still no recognition. The only difference is that the system would hang at detecting the IDE devices (code 75) with the 80 conducter and would pass right through the detection with the 40 conducter (but still not recognize the drive). I remembered that I had a Promise Ultra 66 controller card hanging around and tried that with the same results, which would lead one to believe that the HD is bad, but it still works fine in other systems (maybe the Promise card can't handle 80 gb drives? I checked their website but couldn't find any specs on the Ultra66). When I connected it as slave on the primary channel, it caused errors on the other drive and I had to reinstall Windows. This exact same thing happened to me on an Iwill XP333 when I had a WD 9gb (7200 rpm) drive go bad as slave. This is a 8mb cache model, is anyone using a 8mb cache Maxtor out there?
 
I have the 120gig 8mb cache version on my 8RDA+, working fine. I just installed the 80gig 8mb cache version into a client's machine containing a FIC AN19E m/b, and it appears to work just fine.
 
Can you tell for sure if the HD is spinning up? You didn't say you tried a different power connector or supply.

I once had a flakey HD power connector. The little tang that holds the female pin in the plastic shell didn't quite work for one pin, and the pin slipped back in the shell so it hardly made contact with the male side. The only time it failed was when I was about 20 minutes into a certain game. (Who knows?) Then the computer black-screened and froze up. It took me a long time to get around to suspecting the HD power connector. Connector problems can be the flakiest.

Other than that, you have tried everything else, and you will be forced to try a new mobo even though the mobo works with other drives.
 
Yes, I did try other connectors with no luck. I think you're right, I'm gonna have to get another board. I will say that Epox's customer service response time is the best I've ever dealt with. I've gotten a reply in less than 24 hours each time (unlike never responding like Asus). Thanks again
 
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