Getting the Maxtor DM 10 to work with the A8N SLI

[mwarner]

I haven't tried this myself, but it might be worth a go!

1. Update the BIOS to the latest version:

A8N SLI 1003.002 Beta

ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/BIOS/S...ipset/nForce4_SLI/A8N-SLI/1003s_02.zip

A8N SLI Deluxe (1006 or 1007.002 Beta)

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download...ModelName=A8N-SLI%20Deluxe&Type=Latest

You can do this by pressing Alt+F2 (I think - it's in the manual) during POST and inserting a disk with the relevant BIOS file on it. Alternatively you can use AWD flash 1.09 through DOS or Asus Update from within Windows.

2. Install the latest nForce drivers (6.53 rather than the previous 6.39). Note you will have to uninstall the current nForce drivers first, or things might mess up:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_winxp2k_6.53.htm

3. Update the latest Maxtor DM10 firmware to your drive. Note that it will NOT work with any native nForce SLI ports, so you will need to find another machine with SATA ports to perform this operation. You will need to create a DOS boot floppy, copy the files into it and perform the install by running the g.bat batch file.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ofj/MSI/Sabre%201B%20code.zip

I believe other nForce4 boards have the same issue, so replacing the Asus BIOS update for the latest update for your board might fix the problem for you too.

Any feedback would be great . Good luck!

 

[sxr7171]

Can I ask where you got this info? That 3rd step is pretty hard to do if you don't anyone with an SATA board. I really want to do it though.

 

[mwarner]

I got the idea from a post on MSI's forum:

It suggested that the problem would be fixed by using the Maxtor firmware alongside revision 1.4 of the MSI firmware. I am aware that new nVidia SATA firmware has been embedded in the later ASUS BIOSes, so I thought it would be worth a go.

I am on holiday all next week, but have an A8N non-Deluxe machine at work that won't recognise a 250GB Maxtor DM 10 drive. I thought I would share my idea before I get the opportunity to verify it myself.

Mike