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1994-09-30
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#: 241616 S4/H/W - Platform
17-Sep-94 08:21:57
Sb: Maxtor disc hangs
Fm: Bob Meizlik 72074,3272
To: ALL
Hi, All:
I recently bought a Maxtor MX7546A EIDE disc drive. I installed it as the 1st
drive (the "master" in IDE parlance) to my Maxtor MX7120A IDE disc drive.
I then experienced the following new symptoms:
1) random BIOS hangs on boot
2) random 'D: drive failure' and 'disk controller failure'
message from the BIOS on boot
3) random hangs of os/2 with the ability to do a dump (with PDP v0.5)
4) random hangs of my hardware without the ability to dump
5) system always hung when trying to backup to internal
QIC-80 tape drive using BackMaster 1.01a
6) infrequent (only happened once) hangs in DOS or Windows
After removing everything from the system except the 2 discs, and a 1.44
floppy and still experiencing the problems; I started to suspect various
components, including bad motherboard, OS/2 bugs, bad power supply, and flakey
power connectors. I had also tried 3 different IDE controllers (SMC,
Goldstart Prime-2C and UMC) with no curative effect.
Before replacing parts I decided to call all the Hardware vendors I could. I
succeeded in getting a Maxtor technicion on the line. He told me the
following:
1) in the drive combination I installed the new drive had to be the slave to
have a chance of working. I didn't end up trying this config; so, I don't
know for sure if it would have worked.
2) in general, the newer EIDE drives cannot be configured as a slave on the
same cable run as an older IDE drive.
3) this is not documented with the drive, or on the Maxtor BBS, because
"sometimes it works".
4) if I installed the 2nd drive on a 2nd cable run (like a 2ndary IDE
controller, or a controller that supports 4 drives on 2 cable runs), the
problems would go away.
5) the fundamental problem is a conflict in how reset is handled by the IDE
and EIDE implementations.
I removed the MX7120A from my configuration, reformatted, reinstalled what I
had to (all my drive letters had changed, I had to reinstall OS/2), and I am
now a happy, crashless, camper.
Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT putting down Maxtor. Their tech (Shawn) was very
helpful and informative. And, most importantly, he was there. I applaud
Maxtor for having voice tech support, and will recommend and buy their
products because of my experience here.
All hardware and software has bugs and incompatibilities. Resolving these
issues is what support is all about. If you obtain products without support,
be prepared for the consequences if they don't end up working.
MORALS:
1) before adding hardware or software, call the manufacturer and confirm that
it will operate in your machine.
2) if #1 doesn't work (like with no-name hardware), consider not buying it, or
have a very good backup plan, in case it doesn't work.
The configuration is:
- no-name TI-486DLC40 motherboard with 8mb memory & ami bios
- smc EIDE controller
- Summit SE250 internal QIC-80 tape drive
- Maxtor MX7120A, configured as slave
- Maxtor MX7546A, configured as master
- SoundGalaxy NXpro16
- Mitsumi FX001D CD ROM (connected to the sound card)
- 1.44-A and 1.2-B Mitsumi floppy disc
- no-name tower case
-BOBm