Problem with new 500GB drive

[mark]

Just bought a new 500GB Maxtor S-ATA 3.5" internal drive. Put it in the my
PC and open up Partition Magic 8.0 to create partition/format etc.

However, as soon as I try to create a partition my system freezes and I have
to shutdown. Any ideas?

 

[Peter]

Just bought a new 500GB Maxtor S-ATA 3.5" internal drive. Put it in the my

PC and open up Partition Magic 8.0 to create partition/format etc.

However, as soon as I try to create a partition my system freezes and I have
to shutdown. Any ideas?

Don't use Partition Magic. Use OS native tools to partition/format. Make
sure your PC/OS can handle 500GB drives properly.

 

[mark]

Don't use Partition Magic. Use OS native tools to partition/format. Make
sure your PC/OS can handle 500GB drives properly.

I've tried the windows disk management, tried MaxBlast. Both produce the
same freeze. Running XP SP2, I have 4 other drives in the same system all
over 200GB

 

[Peter]

I've tried the windows disk management, tried MaxBlast. Both produce the
same freeze. Running XP SP2, I have 4 other drives in the same system all
over 200GB

Whats your motherboard model? BIOS version/date?
Exactly at what point freeze occurs when you try to use disk management in
XP SP2?

 

[User]

I've tried the windows disk management, tried MaxBlast. Both produce the
same freeze. Running XP SP2, I have 4 other drives in the same system all
over 200GB

Are your 4 other drives IDE (PATA) or SATA like your new one? Sounds
like a problem with your SATA controller or SATA to IDE controller if
that's what you have.

 

[mark]

Whats your motherboard model? BIOS version/date?

Motherboard is a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Ultra PCI-E (Socket 939)

Exactly at what point freeze occurs when you try to use disk management in
XP SP2?

It freezes as soon as disk management starts to initialize the disk ready
for partitioning.

 

[mark]

Are your 4 other drives IDE (PATA) or SATA like your new one? Sounds
like a problem with your SATA controller or SATA to IDE controller if
that's what you have.

The other 4 drives are a mixture, 2 S-ATA, 2 IDE. Motherboard has 8 S-ATA
ports, 2 controllers. I connected the new drive to the same controller as
the other 2 S-ATA drives.

 

[Peter]

Whats your motherboard model? BIOS version/date?

Motherboard is a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Ultra PCI-E (Socket 939)


It freezes as soon as disk management starts to initialize the disk ready
for partitioning.

You didn't say what BIOS version/date you have.
I suspect that your BIOS might be too old to handle drives >300GB.
Try newest BIOS.

 

[mark]

You didn't say what BIOS version/date you have.
I suspect that your BIOS might be too old to handle drives >300GB.
Try newest BIOS.

I've updated to the very latest revision 1B and I still get the same :-(

 

[Bob Knowlden]

Here's one idea: some Maxtor 300 Gb (sometimes called SATA II) drives have
had trouble with nForce 4 mainboards. There may be a firmware fix for your
drive.

http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/...2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9bmZvcmNlNA**&p_li=&p_topview=1

(Link may wrap.)


Address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

 

[mark]

Here's one idea: some Maxtor 300 Gb (sometimes called SATA II) drives have
had trouble with nForce 4 mainboards. There may be a firmware fix for your
drive.

http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/...2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9bmZvcmNlNA**&p_li=&p_topview=1

(Link may wrap.)

thanks! the serial number of my drive is listed on that table, however, it's
an OEM drive. they say if you have an OEM drive contact your OEM
manufacturer

 

[Bob Knowlden]

There are a few "reviews" of the drive at www.newegg.com. Newegg sells a
bare (OEM) version. Apparently a couple of the purchasers contacted Maxtor
for the firmware update, and received it.

I think that the wording on the site I provided the link for is misleading.
If you bought a bare (OEM) drive, Maxtor is your only source of support. If
it was OEM as part of a system (such as from Dell), then the PC maker would
be expected to support it. From what you write, you must be in the former
category.