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

[TekNoMancer]

The fact that the NF3 doesnt support SATA2 should have no bearing on that hard drive purchase since that drive isnt actually SATA2. I posted the following in another thread, but it applies to your case as well:

 

"the problem you are having has nothing to do with drivers or the board, you, as well as MANY others, fell for Maxtor's false advertising. Maxtor claims that because the DM10/Maxline3 drives are native SATA and support NCQ, that they are somehow SATA2 drives. None of the Maxtor drives support the SATA300 speed, they are the only company that doesn't support it right now, yet they still claim that their drives are SATA2. I guess the only way they can get away with saying that is because they support the NCQ feature, but it is not mandatory in the SATA2 spec, just like the SATA1 spec, so I have no clue what part of the drive is SATA2. I think that currently, the worst hard drives you can get are the Maxtor DM10/Maxline3 drives because they have massive incompatibilities with all drive controllers (firmware updates are required most of the time to get the drive working at all, trust me, I've had to deal with this problem WAY too much) and because they falsely advertise SATA2, which confuses people."

 

The bottom line is that Maxtor's DM10/Maxline3 series are not SATA2, but that wouldnt matter anyway because SATA2 is backwards compatible with SATA1, so it would work with your NF3 board even if it were a true SATA2 drive.

 

 

 

I was having the same problem with these drives. They would cause the system to lock up in Windows, then upon reboot, the drive would no longer be detected. There is a chance that the firmware update will help, but as I've mentioned in other threads, it doesnt always work.

 

I posted this in the 5/10 BIOS thread about 3 months ago, but I received no response at all:

 

"Does anybody know if any fixes have been implemented for the 2 extremely annoying Maxtor Diamond Max 10s that have the detection issue (models 6B250S0 and 6B300S0)? I know that there is a thread about correcting the problem (I've read it, and many others like it), but the firmware update on the drive does not appear to work every time. I have read on many other forums that both a BIOS update and firmware update are necessary. I was wondering if any steps have been taken by DFI to help remedy Maxtor's fault (which they claim is not an issue). I know that the 1004 BIOS (and above) on the crappy Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe has some sort of fix for this drive (I've tested it A LOT), they claim they updated the SATA bootrom to help detect this drive model. MSI has also claimed that they fixed the issue with their v1.2 BIOS, but I am unable to test that board. If anyone knows if the 5/10 BIOS helps fix this issue, please let me know."

 

Since I posted that, I was able to test an NF4-based MSI board, the combination of new motherboard BIOS and new drive firmware fixed the detection issues on the MSI board. The issue with the drives is not limited to NF4-based boards either (as some people tend to think), I've found that these Maxtor drives have compatibility issues with almost every SATA controller, whether it be onboard or PCI based. An example would be Bushwacka, his Highpoint RocketRAID card constantly loses drives:

 

 

 

The most annoying part about the Maxtor drive problem is that the firmware updates only work with certain SATA controllers, so once you waste your time dealing with tech support and you actually get the firmware updates, you probably wont even be able to update your drives using the computer that they are connected to.

 

I can't believe Maxtor released such a terrible drive, and an even worse fix for the problem. They falsely advertise the interface, confuse people about speeds, blame the lack of features on the chipset (there is another thread on this forum discussing this, Maxtor blames nVidia for it's own false speed advertising), and blame all of the non-detection issues on the motherboard and chipset (nVidia, Silicon Image, Highpoint, Promise, etc.) manucturers. I've been dealing with this problem since January and I think that the only way that Maxtor could possibly make up for their actions would be to make a firmware update that actually fixes the problems, can be used with ALL chipsets, and is publicly available.

 

SAD, you da man! I had been reading up on the SATA spec from http://www.sata-io.org/index.asp and a few other links connected to that site. What an eye-opener! And sure enough, after having read that, I come back to the forum here to find that you have an excellent post already outlining what I would have said. Great summary!

 

I can't believe that Congrees won't pass laws for such blatant false-advertising, and still insist on a, mostly, buyer-beware culture. I've been had, and had for a lot of $$$. First thing tomorrow, I am calling Maxtor Customer Service and demanding a full refund. They will, of course, refuse, tell me to get new firmware, blah, blah, blah, and I tell them that I will never buy another Maxtor drive ever again until they can give me a very good reason to ever trust them again. :mad:

 

Even though it seems that Maxtor is at fault here, I still have a very disappointing experience with DFI customer support throughout this ordeal that I will share in my next post. Although their mistake is far less serious than Maxtor's; it was just a little misinformation from tech-support.

 

Oh, and I'll change my sig later! :cool:

[TekNoMancer]

i am using a 250gb diamondmax10 for a storage drive and it would dissapear on me occasionally, my firmware was BANC 1980

 

I called them they sent me out a new drive with new firmware, problem go bye bye, maxtor rules....

 

Perhaps I'll give your path a go before I completely write them off, but Maxtor had better send me the new drive and new firmware, or they'll never see my $ again. I'd gladly go back to WD and get a couple of Raptors.

 

BTW, are you still problem free? I hope. Can you please update us all on your PC health status after some time passes, since others said that the new firmware didn't help?

[placenta]

didnt read all this. just posting my 2 cents. I have a Western Digital 120GB SATA drive that always disappeared. I replaced it with a 74GB raptor.

 

i was gonna throw this drive in the trash.. it also had its folder names turn into garbage characters after a crash. And i could delete the folder after that. Maybe mine is a different problem. But never had an issue w my 2 Raptors. The 74Gb is faster than the 36Gb.

[nailzs]

Hi all! I'm new here and I just ordered a Diamond Max10 300GB SATA today from newegg. After reading this thread about that drive I canceled the order before it was boxed and sent. I suppose I'll try a Samsung SpinPoint 250GB SATA. Hopefully it'll work.

[AthlonAlien]

Greetings all... I have returned!! I had to make a grand entrance on the 100 post :nod:

 

I have finally put my entire DFI nF4 + Maxtor situation into perspective... Originally, I had a DiamondMax 6B300S0 with BANC1B70. That combination wasn't good at all. Sometimes my PC would hang while detecting the drive at bootup, sometimes I would get the "Windows is checking for inconsistency" message, sometimes the PC would lock-up in the middle of booting (near the Windows XP logo), and sometimes I would just experience random crashes/lock-ups. So I dealt with Maxtor tech support and went through 2 firmware upgrades. The second upgrade (to BANC1E00) seemed to fix the problem for the most part, but I still had occassional issues. As it turned out, my new Maxtor hard drive had bad sectors. I guess that's what made it so hard to troubleshoot. Anyways, I convinced Maxtor there was an issue with stock 6B300S0 drives running stock firmware (at least at that time), so they swapped it out for a brand new MaXLine 7B300S0. The stock firmware on it was BANC1E00 (and to this day, it is still the newest firmware). I haven't had any problems with the new drive. I can't say with 100% certainty if it was incompatible hardware or just incompatible firmware with the first drive. Maxtor says the DiamondMax and MaXLine are hardware identical and the only difference is the 3 year warranty vs. the 5 year warranty. So what I would suggest to anyone having problems, would be to first upgrade to firmware BANC1E00... if that doesn't work... see if Maxtor will swap it out with a MaxLine drive (they did it for me). BTW, I always stay up to date with the latest Motherboard firmware also (just in case something strange was going on there, too).

 

I apologize for not returning some of your Private Messages... I have been busy lately (troubleshooting other stuff). I have an e-mail address for Maxtor tech support. You can e-mail this guy and he will send you the newest firmware (still currently BANC1E00)... Here is the address... [email protected]X (you must remove all 8 X's, I did that to help prevent bots)

 

Hopefully this post has helped someone... If you are still having problems after the latest firmware and possibly the MaxLine series, your problem may lie elsewere...

 

-Thanks

 

EDIT: My 'grand post' has been changed from #100 to #101 :shake:

[Bonedoc]

The help you have provided and the addresses, phone numbers etc are GREATLY appreciated. Many thanks ... I'm building a similar machine and wanted Maxtors, my go another way, but we'll see. Thanks for the diligence.

[minchin]

In my case, the latest batch of Maxtor Diamondmax 10 still doesn't fix the compatibility with NF4.

 

I have 2 drives that I just bought, 7L300S0(BANC1G10) and 6L300S0(BANC1E10). Originally, I set up my system with both of them on RAID 0 on NVRAID.... then decide that I need one of the drive in another computer... so I Ghost it and try to restore it on the 6L300S0.... the ghosting back was fine and it survive the first reboot.... next day, the machine goes into the never-ending reboot cycle when started.... complained that lz32.dll was corrupted. Each progressive reboot gets worse till that when I try to ghost again, ghost even refuse to startup correctly.

 

Tried to use the 7L300S0, same kind of issues.... finally, I put the pair back into RAID 0 again.... hacked the Ghost startup CD to incorporate NVRAID driver (I have no floppy drive).... finally got it back to where it was.... It seems that Maxtor Diamondmax 10 works fine in RAID 0 only.....

 

Just my luck... I managed to buy all the wrong component for my NF4 build: first the Seasonic S12 power supply... then this damn Maxtor....

 

Min

[doze]

I gave up and returned the drive

 

Doze

[using_e]

Can someone please send me these new firmwares also?

I have a Maxtor Maxline III 7L300S0 with the old BANC1B70 firmware. With this firmware I am unable to start Windows XP without switching the Harddisk to PIO mode.

 

I want to resolve it this weekend and the Maxtor tech support is unwilling to send me the firmwares. I already got very very angry with them but still no willingness for support!

 

Please someone send the firmwares to [email protected] (remove XX's )

 

Thanx

 

using_e

[kuniva]

bit late now but, my maxtor DM10 w16mb & NCQ has worked perfectly since ive had it on both a dfi and asus board, had the drive since the beginning of the year too.

[xelz]

The fact that the NF3 doesnt support SATA2 should have no bearing on that hard drive purchase since that drive isnt actually SATA2. I posted the following in another thread, but it applies to your case as well:

 

"the problem you are having has nothing to do with drivers or the board, you, as well as MANY others, fell for Maxtor's false advertising. Maxtor claims that because the DM10/Maxline3 drives are native SATA and support NCQ, that they are somehow SATA2 drives. None of the Maxtor drives support the SATA300 speed, they are the only company that doesn't support it right now, yet they still claim that their drives are SATA2. I guess the only way they can get away with saying that is because they support the NCQ feature, but it is not mandatory in the SATA2 spec, just like the SATA1 spec, so I have no clue what part of the drive is SATA2. I think that currently, the worst hard drives you can get are the Maxtor DM10/Maxline3 drives because they have massive incompatibilities with all drive controllers (firmware updates are required most of the time to get the drive working at all, trust me, I've had to deal with this problem WAY too much) and because they falsely advertise SATA2, which confuses people."

 

The bottom line is that Maxtor's DM10/Maxline3 series are not SATA2, but that wouldnt matter anyway because SATA2 is backwards compatible with SATA1, so it would work with your NF3 board even if it were a true SATA2 drive.

 

 

 

I was having the same problem with these drives. They would cause the system to lock up in Windows, then upon reboot, the drive would no longer be detected. There is a chance that the firmware update will help, but as I've mentioned in other threads, it doesnt always work.

 

I posted this in the 5/10 BIOS thread about 3 months ago, but I received no response at all:

 

"Does anybody know if any fixes have been implemented for the 2 extremely annoying Maxtor Diamond Max 10s that have the detection issue (models 6B250S0 and 6B300S0)? I know that there is a thread about correcting the problem (I've read it, and many others like it), but the firmware update on the drive does not appear to work every time. I have read on many other forums that both a BIOS update and firmware update are necessary. I was wondering if any steps have been taken by DFI to help remedy Maxtor's fault (which they claim is not an issue). I know that the 1004 BIOS (and above) on the crappy Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe has some sort of fix for this drive (I've tested it A LOT), they claim they updated the SATA bootrom to help detect this drive model. MSI has also claimed that they fixed the issue with their v1.2 BIOS, but I am unable to test that board. If anyone knows if the 5/10 BIOS helps fix this issue, please let me know."

 

Since I posted that, I was able to test an NF4-based MSI board, the combination of new motherboard BIOS and new drive firmware fixed the detection issues on the MSI board. The issue with the drives is not limited to NF4-based boards either (as some people tend to think), I've found that these Maxtor drives have compatibility issues with almost every SATA controller, whether it be onboard or PCI based. An example would be Bushwacka, his Highpoint RocketRAID card constantly loses drives:

 

 

 

The most annoying part about the Maxtor drive problem is that the firmware updates only work with certain SATA controllers, so once you waste your time dealing with tech support and you actually get the firmware updates, you probably wont even be able to update your drives using the computer that they are connected to.

 

I can't believe Maxtor released such a terrible drive, and an even worse fix for the problem. They falsely advertise the interface, confuse people about speeds, blame the lack of features on the chipset (there is another thread on this forum discussing this, Maxtor blames nVidia for it's own false speed advertising), and blame all of the non-detection issues on the motherboard and chipset (nVidia, Silicon Image, Highpoint, Promise, etc.) manucturers. I've been dealing with this problem since January and I think that the only way that Maxtor could possibly make up for their actions would be to make a firmware update that actually fixes the problems, can be used with ALL chipsets, and is publicly available.

 

I completely agree with you. After working with Maxtor, how they wasted my valuable time, epsecially when money counts onto it, they gave me some worthless solution that can't be fixed on the comp.

[masterk]

Arghh, guys any chance of emailing this firmware to me?

 

[email protected]

 

If not i cant play any games :drool: