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Maxtor UDMA66 Problems | Windows 2000 | »

General Information - 

Please Note : This information was copied from the Maxtor web site PDF file 21006.pdf and was placed here so that people who do not have a PDF reader can read the file.

This file is found on the Maxtor Support site Library page.

The download link to the file "66UPDATE.EXE" is located on that page along with the PDF file which is shown below.

TECHNICAL NOTE Document #: 21006 Rev. 00 Date: 8/26/99 1 Subject: Using the UDMAUPDT.EXE Utility Summary: To describe potential symptoms that may arise when using UDMA/66 DiamondMax 6800 (and newer) hard drives on older UDMA/33 Motherboards with an older, Award BIOS. Overview: Some older Ultra DMA 33 motherboards that use the Award (revision date 10/28/98 and older) BIOS have exhibited compatibility issues with Maxtor DiamondMax 6800 (5,400 RPM), Ultra DMA/66 drives. This symptom has been identified on motherboards (using the Award BIOS) using (but NOT limited to) the following Chipsets: Intel: 430TX, 440LX, 440BX. VIA: 586A, 586B, 596, 686. SiS: 5598, 5591, 5600, 530, 620. ALi: 1543C, 1533A-J, 1543A1-F. The symptom manifests itself as a system hang at boot. On some motherboards that use older versions of the Award BIOS, the system does not properly check the UDMA setting returned by the drive. This results in the motherboard attempting to set itself up in Ultra DMA mode 4 - a mode that it does not support. These issues arise because of a bug in the system's BIOS, NOT a problem with the Maxtor hard drive. Award is aware of this problem and is working on a fix. To eliminate this problem, Maxtor has developed the UDMAUPDT.EXE utility. This program is designed to change (update) the UDMA Mode that the drive reports to ANY UDMA Mode (0-4). This file can be downloaded from Maxtor’s Website at: http://www.maxtor.com/library/main.html It is contained in the file named 66UPDATE.EXE. NOTE: 66UPDATE.EXE is a self-extracting file containing: UDMAUPDT.EXE - Utility for Updating Maxtor UDMA/66 hard drives UDMAUPDT.TXT - this file Maxtor recommends that you copy 66UPDATE.EXE to a formatted, 3.5-inch floppy diskette. 66UPDATE.EXE must be extracted in order to execute UDMAUPDT.EXE. NOTE: This utility should ONLY be used if: · There is a DiamondMax 6800 (or newer) hard drive physically installed in the system. · The hard drive is attached to an IDE Interface port on the motherboard. · The IDE interface that the drive is connected to does not support Ultra DMA 66. If the interface DOES support Ultra DMA 66 and you are still experiencing problems, please contact Maxtor Technical Assistance. PROCEDURE FOR USING UDMAUPDT.EXE: 1. Clean boot the system to an A: prompt. 2. Insert the diskette containing the UDMAUPDT.EXE. 3. From the A: prompt, type udmaupdt and press [Enter]. The following will be displayed: Select Ultra DMA Mode Utility -- Version 1.4 USAGE: COMMAND LINE INPUTS /dma: DMA Mode ( 0, 1, 2, 3, 4) 0 - UDMA mode 0 = UDMA 16 1 - UDMA mode 1 = UDMA 25 2 - UDMA mode 2 = UDMA 33 3 - UDMA mode 3 = UDMA 50 4 - UDMA mode 4 = UDMA 66 EXAMPLE COMMAND LINE INPUTS UDMAUPDT /dma:3 You will be returned to an A: prompt after the following is displayed. 4. From the A: prompt, type in udmaupdt /dma:x (where x is the UDMA mode you want to set the drive to) and press [Enter]. This will execute the UDMAUPDT.EXE program. Maxtor recommends that you select the HIGHEST DMA Mode that your system can support. For example, if your system could only support DMA Mode 2, you would type: udmaupdt /dma:2 5. Upon successful completion, the message "Ultra DMA Changed to Mode x in this Maxtor Drive" will be displayed. NOTE: Contact Maxtor Technical Assistance if you receive the following message: "Disk Drive Firmware Needs to be Updated"

Notes -

One solution for 27GB drives is to initially format the drive as having a single 8GB partition. After windows 2000 is installed, use the Disk Administrator to format the remaining space.

Another solution was found on the Microsoft Newsgroup Forum and we've included it here as a reference but the information was not verified when we looked at the Maxtor Support site.

{ Posting from the Newsgroup } Here is the e-mail I got from Maxtor about the same problem. I followed the outlined steps and it worked. Make sure you don't format anymore that 8GB of your drive before installing Win2K. Once it is installed, go ahead and format the rest using the Win2K disk admin program. Worked for me after having the same problem as you for almost two months and trying just about everything to fix it. Good luck. ****************************************************** Thank you for sending your MAXTOR E-mail inquiry. Dear Maxtor Customer: Subject: Using the SET_GEOM.EXE File Summary: Step by step procedure for extracting and running the SET_GEOM.EXE File Overview: Windows 2000 Professional does not have the ability to translate hard drive capacities greater than 8.4 GB when the drive in question has 15 Heads. Windows 2000 does not calculate LBA directly, as allowed for in the ATA-5 spec, and uses CHS values to determine whether or not use LBA. It works fine for 16 headed drives, but truncates to 8 GB for 15 headed drives. The key to failure appears to be word 54 in the ID drive table (current cylinders) along with word 3 (number of logical heads). If the drive is configured as a 16 head drive, word 54 is 3FFFh (16383d) and word 3 is 0010h (16d). Windows 2000 reports the full capacity on the partition page of the install. If the drive is configured as a 15 head drive, word 54 is 4443h (17475d) and word 3 is 000Fh (15d). In this case, Windows 2000 only reports 8 GB on the partition page of the install and we lose anything over 8 GB. Word 54 is adjusted up to compensate for word 3 going down. CHS capacity between 15 and 16 heads remains the same as it should.   The Solution to this problem is to adjust the hard drive geometry from a 15 head to a 16 head configuration. This can be accomplished via the use of Maxtor's SET_GEOM.EXE program. Obtaining SET_GEOM.EXE Note: 15216HD.EXE is a self-extracting file containing the SET_GEOM.exe file. Prior to extraction, Maxtor recommends that user's copy 15216HD.EXE to a formatted, Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 3.5" floppy diskette. To extract 15216HD.EXE: Insert the floppy disk containing 15216HD.EXE in the appropriate floppy disk drive and establish operations at that drive's command prompt. At the command prompt, type "15216HD" and press [Enter]. At this point, two files will be extracted to the floppy disk: SET_GEOM.EXE - Head count configuration utility SET_GEOM.TXT - Text file giving procedures to run SET_GEOM.EXE Note: SET_GEOM.TXT is this document.   Step by Step Procedure:   The following is Step by Step procedure for running the SET_GEOM.EXE utility:   Clean Boot the system to the "A:\>" prompt with a bootable, Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 system diskette. Insert the diskette containing the extracted files in the appropriate Floppy Disk Drive. Type the following:  SET_GEOM{space}16{space}63 and press [Enter}. NOTE: {space} means to simply press the spacebar on your keyboard. The utility will automatically execute and reconfigure the 15 head drive to now 16 heads. After the utility has finished the system will return to an A: prompt   Clean Boot the system to the "A:\>" prompt with a bootable, Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 system diskette. Perform a Write Scan on the hard drive using MAXDIAG.EXE NOTE: Reference Maxtor Document Number 20007 for information on using the MAXDIAG.EXE Utility. Upon completion of the write scan, partition and format the hard drive via the Operating System   Thank you, Maxtor Technical Assistance TA Number: TS33 800 2MAXTOR (voice) 353 1 204 1111 (International) http://www.maxtor.com (web)   Download the file 15216HD.EXE - { Please Note : We've placed the file on our site for download. Again, since we did not independently verify the source of this file, use it at your own risk. We did check the file for viruses and found none.}

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