Slow boot at "Verifying DMI pool data..." - Is HDD damaged?

[river_kwai]

Each time I start the PC, the system spend a long time at "Verifyin
DMI
pool data..."

Windows hasn't loaded at that point, so it has nothing to do wit
Windows.

I have done a series of test to investigate this symptom.

I have stripped all the peripherals (network card, USB heade
connections at
the motherboard, CR-ROMs and left the system with just the graphic
card and hard disk connected) and the system still spend a long time a
"Verifying
DMI pool data..."

I then compared the Maxtor Hard Disk and my Fujitsu Hard Disk (Model
MPE3173AE) on two different PCs.

Specification of PC1:
Athlon 2000+
256 DDR PC3200
Motherboard GA-7VA

Specification of PC2:
AMD K6(III)
256 SD-RAM
Motherboard FIC PA-2013

Maxtor HDD 5T040H4:
Windows ME version 4.90.3000
ATA-100
3 partitions at 5Gb, 18Gb and 17Gb

Fujitsu MPE3173AE
Windows ME version 4.90.3000
ATA-33
1 single 17Gb partition

These are the test results:
1) Maxtor HDD took 4min 30s to boot up into Windows in PC1 (BIOS showe
HDD correctly and configured as ATA-100)
2) Fujitsu HDD took just under 40s to boot up in Windows in PC1 (BIO
showed HDD correctly and configured as ATA-33)
3) Maxtor HDD took 6min 30s to boot into Windows in PC2
4) Fujitsu HDD took 1min 30s to boot into Windows in PC2

Note: By booting into Windows I mean the time when transition fro
BIOS
screen to you see the Windows Wallpaper Background.

The fact that an older ATA-33 HDD boots faster then the Maxtor ATA-100
drive despite all other parameters being kept the same shows that the
problem lies with the Maxtor HDD. The Maxtor HDD spent a long time in
"Verifying DMI pool data..." but the Fujitsu HDD spent considerabl
less
time despite the same system set up, i.e. all I did was to swap th
HDD
while keeping all other components un-touched.

Can I conclude that my Maxtor HDD is damaged? I have done the Powerma
4.09 test and made sure that it is the only device on the cable and th
cable is a Ultra DMA cable. In its quick 90s test, it recommends ful
test when it stumbled upon SMART test. However, it passed al
subsequent test!

How can I convince Maxtor for an RMA?

Thank you.

Regards,
river_kwa

 

[kony]

Each time I start the PC, the system spend a long time at "Verifying
DMI
pool data..."

Windows hasn't loaded at that point, so it has nothing to do with
Windows.

I have done a series of test to investigate this symptom.

I have stripped all the peripherals (network card, USB header
connections at
the motherboard, CR-ROMs and left the system with just the graphics
card and hard disk connected) and the system still spend a long time at
"Verifying
DMI pool data..."

I then compared the Maxtor Hard Disk and my Fujitsu Hard Disk (Model
MPE3173AE) on two different PCs.

Specification of PC1:
Athlon 2000+
256 DDR PC3200
Motherboard GA-7VA

Specification of PC2:
AMD K6(III)
256 SD-RAM
Motherboard FIC PA-2013

Maxtor HDD 5T040H4:
Windows ME version 4.90.3000
ATA-100
3 partitions at 5Gb, 18Gb and 17Gb

Fujitsu MPE3173AE
Windows ME version 4.90.3000
ATA-33
1 single 17Gb partition

These are the test results:
1) Maxtor HDD took 4min 30s to boot up into Windows in PC1 (BIOS showed
HDD correctly and configured as ATA-100)
2) Fujitsu HDD took just under 40s to boot up in Windows in PC1 (BIOS
showed HDD correctly and configured as ATA-33)
3) Maxtor HDD took 6min 30s to boot into Windows in PC2
4) Fujitsu HDD took 1min 30s to boot into Windows in PC2

Note: By booting into Windows I mean the time when transition from
BIOS
screen to you see the Windows Wallpaper Background.

The fact that an older ATA-33 HDD boots faster then the Maxtor ATA-100
drive despite all other parameters being kept the same shows that the
problem lies with the Maxtor HDD. The Maxtor HDD spent a long time in
"Verifying DMI pool data..." but the Fujitsu HDD spent considerable
less
time despite the same system set up, i.e. all I did was to swap the
HDD
while keeping all other components un-touched.

Can I conclude that my Maxtor HDD is damaged? I have done the Powermax
4.09 test and made sure that it is the only device on the cable and the
cable is a Ultra DMA cable. In its quick 90s test, it recommends full
test when it stumbled upon SMART test. However, it passed all
subsequent test!

How can I convince Maxtor for an RMA?

Double-check the drive jumpers and try different cables.

If that doesn't help then simply explain the situation to them (Maxtor).

 

[Apollo]

Double-check the drive jumpers and try different cables.

That's what I'd think too, setting cable select can produce the symptom
described in some systems. I've also had slow-downs with maxtor drives when
they're connected to the slave ide plug, (the middle plug on the cable), but
set as master.

IMHO it's a configuration / compatibility(maybe) problem, check jumper is
correct, swap cable and go through the dmi hang page below step by step. If
you have altered any bios settings, write them down before you load bios
defaults or you'll loose your changes.


Have you tried the Maxtor support pages?
General for your model - http://snipurl.com/673a
DMI hang - http://snipurl.com/6730

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Charles]

Sometimes it is a cable not plugged in right or something like the
jumpers. Try it in a different position. One hard drive could go bad
but not likely two unless you had a short or the IDE port went bad.
Make sure you unplug your computer when you unplug the IDE drives.