[Resolved] resolution for disappearing Maxtor drives? (post #12)

[BLJ]

HiHo,

 

i've had problems that mostly the controller didn't recognise the HDs - now i've flashed to 1B70 and it seems to work. With 1B10, 19xx, 1E00 it did not work.

 

So i've you're experiencing a similar problem you might want to try 1B70.

 

cya

[michaelng]

Initially, i had problem with the drive disapperaing in windows. After reading more on it, I decided to flash to the newer firmware. I flashed to the E0 SATA.zip that was posted here. However, now windows doesn't even recognize the drive. The bios seems to recognize the drive when I connect it to the SIL sata controller but not the nvidia one. I then tried to flash to other bios mentioned such as the 1b70 but, it won't flash anymore or recognize the drive. I am at a lost as to what happened.

 

Dammmmm MAXTOR Drive. I will never buy this piece of . again. Does anyone know how I can reflash to a different BIOS, do I need a different motherboard?

 

thanks

[Makrolon]

From the beginning,

 

for my old PC I’ve bought on March, 2005 two Maxtor MaXLine III (7B300S0) HDD’s. That two drives came with firmware “BANC1B70”. Now with my newer PC I have some kind of problems. Sometimes my PC would hang while detecting the drive at boot up, sometimes the drives didn’t start with the PC and sometimes the PC has random crashes and lock-ups (take a look at post #101 from AthlonAlien). Then I’ve contacted the Maxtor tech support and I got the firmware “BANC1BY0” from them. But I can’t flash this firmware. I’ve tried the nForce 4 - SLI controller 1/2/3/4 and (I know) it won’t work. I get this error message:

 

- Exit with error code 653:

- NO_MATCHING_DRIVES: No devices of the type specified found

 

Now I’ve tried the onboard Silicon Image Sil 3114 controller (connector 5/6/7/8) and I get this error message when I connect the drive to connector 5 and 6.

 

- Working ON: Sil3114:00:00 Maxtor 7B300S0 (BANC1B70.xxx)

- Exit with error code 147:

- READYTIMEOUT: Time out waiting for ready

 

Did I connect the drive to connector 7 and 8 at the Silicon Image Sil 3114 controller, I get this error message.

 

- Working ON: Sil3114:00:01 Maxtor 7B300S0 (BANC1B70.xxx)

- Exit with error code 145:

- TIMEOUTERROR: Busy time out

 

After this s**t I went to the next PC store and bought a new sata-controller card. A Promise SATAII150 TX2plus controller. But this card had the same symptoms like the nForce 4 controller. When I’ve tried to flash the drive with this controller card I get this error message.

 

- Exit with error code 653:

- NO_MATCHING_DRIVES: No devices of the type specified found

 

After this malfunction I gave the controller card back to the dealer. Back home I’ve downgraded my motherboard bios to version 623-3 and have started from the beginning. And the problems are still the same. Michaelng have you the same hhd (7B300S0) then I? Then can you explain to me how you updated your hhd firmware.

 

Dammmmm MAXTOR Drive. I will never buy this piece of . again.

There I can only agree you!

 

 

Big thanks for your help!!!

(Sorry for my bad english! :eek: )

[GavinCrishan]

Hi there Makrolon,

 

I know exactly what you're going through!

 

Maxtor support also sent me the 1B70 firmware which I am unable to flash

(I am getting the same error codes as you), as their F***ING FLASHER

(DLOAD.EXE) DOES NOT RECOGNIZE THE NFORCE4! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

 

To top that, my messages to them through their online support are not

even answered by competent personnel with even the tinyest command of

the English language. They also seem to be in the habit of not reading

through what their customers write.

 

They non-answered my requests for a complete RMA with some gobbledygook

(in German: unzusammenhängendes Geschreibsel ohne irgendwelchen Satzbau!),

where the support person tried to write something that seemingly was supposed

to say that it was all a matter of the operating system that I could not get

my drive flashed. Well, they ship you a DOS-based flasher and then try to make

it sound like it is your fault that THEIR software will not work on anything other

than Intel hardware?!? WTF???

[michaelng]

i am in the same boat you guys are in. I was able to flash to 1E00 bios when the maxtor hard drive was connected to the SIL sata controller-but the 1E00 bios made it worst. Now the bios has trouble recognizing it for some reason. It shows up in the SIL sata controller during boot, but when you go into the motherboard setup, it's not even there. Windows doesn't recognize it either. I am trying to flash back to the by70 bios, but get the same type of message you guys are getting.

 

I am not sure what to do now!

 

BLJ - are you able to get yours to work? and with what bios version? From your many posts - I am not sure if you were able to get it resolved and with what bios?

 

Thanks

[BLJ]

Hi there Makrolon,

 

I know exactly what you're going through!

 

[...]

 

To top that, my messages to them through their online support are not

even answered by competent personnel with even the tinyest command of

the English language. They also seem to be in the habit of not reading

through what their customers write.

 

They non-answered my requests for a complete RMA with some gobbledygook

(in German: unzusammenhängendes Geschreibsel ohne irgendwelchen Satzbau!),

where the support person tried to write something that seemingly was supposed

to say that it was all a matter of the operating system that I could not get

my drive flashed. Well, they ship you a DOS-based flasher and then try to make

it sound like it is your fault that THEIR software will not work on anything other

than Intel hardware?!? WTF???

 

i've experienced the same.

I've asked them to send me the newest firmware. Since i know the problem will be saved this way.

They've told me to change / update Controller driver (not Bios/Firmware!) etc.etc.

 

since i've already done all of this sort of crap i've told them straight away that i did everything of that.

 

finally i wrote something like "so as i can see you don't see any other way which could solve the problem, so could you please finally send me the firmware and stop wasting our time?". That helped and they've sent me the firmware with the words "on your own responsibility".

 

anyway, they deny that there are problems with their HDDs and the NF4 controller - altough i know at least 10 persons which went to their tech support with that kind of problem.

 

Conclusion: Maxtor support == no good^^.

 

(i've also gave them links to this and other threads but they've never read it).

 

 

--------------------

 

@michaelng:

 

yes i've resolved my (but i'm probably not having exactly the same problem and HDD) problems by flashing to 1B70.

 

You might want to try to change the settings for 'dload.exe'. i mean the parameters. I think you might be able to force an update. But that often won't end good. So you might try it as last; maybe try RMA them first!

 

 

@michaelng & makrolon:

 

-> deattach all other harddisks / CDRom / PCI Cards etc. (everything you don't need)

-> set bios settings to default and deactivate everything you don't need (like onboard Sound, onboard Serial & Parallel Port, NForce LAN; NForce SATA) and then try flashing again. It might help you, makrolon.

 

and now a different approach:

when i bought the HDDs 2 of them had BANC 19xx and 2 of them BANC 1B10.

When i've started the computer 1 or more of them haven't been recognised by bios. I've had to deattach / reattach them (sometimes several times, and press reset button between etc.) in order to get them recognised.

 

So this was the (only) problem i've experienced. Once they were running it was all fine. (no Bios Version, no Driver version changed anything!).

 

after flashing to 1E00 it got much whorse. Now the HDDs made much noise if they haven't been recognized correctly. A loud 'clack clack clack' (non stopping) or a loud 'clack' followed by softer non stooping 'fiep fiep fiep fiep'.

 

As before, reattaching (the power Cable, not the Data cable!) helped. It took me about 5minutes to get all of them recognized, 30times reattaching and 10times pressing the reset button...

 

it might be that in your case, michaelng, you can't flash because of the same problem i'm experiencing. So try reattaching the power cable of the HDD while booting. (Before the silicon Bios begins to look for SATA HDDs!).

 

my current BIOS version is 702-BTA, if i remember correctly.

 

cya

[BLJ]

btw.:

the next thing i'll do is sell these HDDs and buy some Hitachi T7K250 or Samsung T133...

[Bushwacka]

@Makrolon

Kauf dir im MediaMarkt oder woanders mal einen simplen PCI-Sata Controller, der keinerlei Raid Funktion hat. Damit kannst die Platten bestimmt flashen. Hatte auch erst Probleme, die Platten zu erkennen, aber mit dem billig Controller gings dann. Nach getaner Arbeit hab ich den Controller wieder zurückgegeben und umgetauscht. Es war sogar ein original Maxtor Controller hihi.

 

Nach dem Flashen war bei mir jedoch erst mal alles beim alten, d.h. keine Besserung des Problems in Sicht. Bis ich dann mal aus Reinigungsgründen sämtliche Stromkabel meiner 5 200GB Platten abgenommen habe und wieder anders drangsteckt habe. Seitdem laufen die Platten einwandfrei. Der neue SATA-Stromstecker ist ja eh immer so wackelig finde ich. Ich benutze jetzt die alten 4 Pol Stromstecker, die sitzen bombenfest.

[Paulh]

Hello everyone,

 

I originally had a Maxtor Diamondmax 10 as a system disk with data corruption, I solved this problem by moving it to sata 3/4 on the mb.

But I did not trust this solution so I bought a T7K250 250GB, but was very surprised that this disk also had data corruption problems. So now I have RMA'd my motherboard. I am completely sure that the motherboard was at fault, hope that the new one will be ok.

My nF4 Ultra-D was one of the first ones shipped so that is maybe why it failed.

 

Paul

 

Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D 6/23/2005 BIOS

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Winchester) @ 2250 (Zalman 7000B-Cu )

2x512MB Kingmax Hardcore DDR500 @ 500

Leadtek nVidia 6600GT 128MB @ mem1.11, core 555 (Zalman VF700 vga cooler)

AKASA AK-P460FG Paxpower 460W 24Pin

2x AKASA AK-182-L2B 80mm case fans (very quiet fans)

1x AKASA AK-183-L2B 120mm case fan

Maxtor Diamondmax 10 250GB SATA

Hitachi T7K250 250GB SATA systemdisk

[michaelng]

So I emailed tech support with the email address mentioned on this thread requesting for the firmware and I received this:

 

Sehr geehrte® Kunde(in),

 

vielen Dank fuer Ihr Interesse an unseren Produkten. Um eine Loesung fuer Ihr Problem zu finden, benoetigen wir weitere Informationen. Bitte beantworten Sie die folgenden Fragen so genau wie moeglich.

 

Seriennummer:

Modell/GTLA Nummer:

 

Motherboard Marke/Modellbezeichnung?

Prozessor / Chipsatz?

 

Was fuer einen SATA Controller verwenden Sie (bitte geben Sie auch an, ob es sich um einen auf dem Motherboard befindlichen Controller oder eine zusaetzliche PCI Steckkarte handelt)?

 

etc....

 

WTF??? That is just one fifth of the questions they asked me in German. Maxtor Harddrive not only SUCKS but their tech support/customer service sucks too. Its as if they are not aware of this problem at all. Come on Maxtor, if you sell hard drive in other countries, have the decency to give support in their languages. Not only that, responding back with a thousand questions.

 

I am still getting device not found or timeout errors.

[michaelng]

I tried to do the JBOD in raid on the maxtor drive but can't seem to be able to do either. I tried to use RGone's method mentioned in other threads. I attached the maxtor to SATA 3/4 - but the controller get stuck at ...detecting nvidia raid array... and wouldn't let me press F10 to go into the raid array setup (I enabled raid in all of the SATA channel in bios already). When I attached the maxtor to the SIL controller, it's detected in the bios as well as in the raid setup - but can't do anything in the raid setup. It gives me invalid raid drive or no single drive available....Windows doesn't recognize it either. This didn't work, so I tried to flash to a 1B70 when attached to the sil controller, but I get a timeout errors or sometime device not found.

 

I give up. :tooth: :mad:

[TekNoMancer]

Hello again fellow frustrated Maxtor/DFI owners. I have some pretty good news (although this time my mobo is nF3 250 Gb). I sincerely hope that this helps both nF3 & nF4 owners...

 

So, after almost a year of headaches, I RMA'ed my old Maxtor Drive with old firmware and several flash attempts to get the new 1G10 Firmware. Maxtor support claims this to be the latest to date.

 

Here's an IMPORTANT quote from Maxtor support out of my e-mail:

 

Hi, we have a 6B300S0, same model as you currently have, but it has the G1 firmware which is the most up to date version we have. Please let me know ASAP if that will work. If you want to process the Advanced RMA please call me directly at xxx-xxx-xxxx [i can't give out her private number. Sorry! ] so I can take care of that for you.

 

Cheryl Morgan

Maxtor Technical Support

Lead/2nd Level Tech

 

 

So, everyone, they will send you a new drive with the new firmware if you bug them enough. Also, our conversation was quite nice and courteous (I know that a lot of you think their support sux, so I just thought I'd put that out there as another experience/perspective). I pretty much just asked for a new drive...flat out.

 

 

Okay, so I did the ARMA for my drive and here's my experience so far:

1. Installed new HDD into nVidia SATA contoller ports (3 & 4 on nF3 250Gb). The drive had same recognition issues as before (no recognition when forcing detection in BIOS either). This lead to fuming, swearing, and drinking. :mad:

2. Changed over to internal SATA ports (1 & 2 on nF3) with SMART enabled. Drive went through complete install of (in order): Win-blows XP SP2 on 100GB partition, mobo drivers (except IDE software drivers, kept Windows since nVidia IDE drivers seem to cause problems? :confused: ), Windows Updates, disabled Windows and nVidia Firewalls, "EDIT: MaxBlast3", ATI GFX drivers in Safe Mode, Updated ATI GFX drivers, Symantec AV, Symatec Live Update, games/apps, enabled Firewalls. The system ran fine, until I decided to do a simple OC of FSB 200 -> 225 (no LDT/FSB ratio or CPU/FSB ratio changes [both on Auto]; should be stable Athlon64 3000+, I thought :nod: ). Eventually I got a "Disk Read Error" on boot :eek: , which "fixed itself" after I came home from work and booted up. But then a couple of days later it got worse: BSOD when I tried to load Neverwinter Nights (friggin' resource hog! :spam: ). :sad: I didn't even get a chance to read the BSOD screen before the system crapped out on its own and attempted an automatic restart. Several minutes of swearing and cursing Maxtor/DFI/the-day-I-was-born ensued.

3. Wiped partition, did new XP install on 8GB partition, drivers/updates/etc in same order again. Kept SMART enabled and changed Access Mode to Large. Set up with no OC and it seems to be working fine, thus far (four days). Will eventually try to do simple OC of FSB 200 -> 220 (again, no ratio changes) and pray :angel: that it stays stable. I probably should outright define the CPU/FSB to 10, but oh well. BTW, when it comes to settings and such, I don't know much about OCing, so if anyone has tips for my rig then please PM/e-mail me. I'd really appreciate the chat!

 

NOTE: FYI everyone! :cool: Maxtor told me that the 1G10 Firmware is a hardware change, as well as a firmware change. Because it is a hardware change, you cannot just flash to it, unfortunately.

 

I will try to send an update of how things are going next week. Hopefully my system still sings to me. I'm quite scared of flashing to the latest BIOS and updating nVidia drivers. Flashing seems kind of complicated and problematic for a lot of people, and nVidia's site does not state very cleary what is the latest set of updates for their drivers.

 

Summary (sorry for the long msg)? Well, I guess it's this:

300GB SATA with 1G10 firmware works so far with nF3 mobo on mostly stock settings and stock BIOS. Maxtor drives still tank on nVidia SATA controller ports and most of us are not at all happy about it. Oh yeah, and I won't rule out that a problem could still exist with my mobo.

 

If anyone here has a similar system as me then I would enjoy sharing our thoughts about what we can do to get full, perpetual, problem-free operation--meaning all SATA ports and IDE drivers--with all the details about BIOS settings, BIOS version, drivers, et cetera. Then hopefully we can post a summary of said changes from stock BIOS settings, BIOS updates, driver updates, et cetera that could help everyone out.

 

EDIT: For MaxBlast3, does anyone know why this pgm says that it enables support for large drives? What exactly does it change? Is the change done somewhere in Windows that I can see?

 

Happy Holidays everyone, and good luck with your builds!