What's the verdict for ASUS A8N-SLI and Maxtor Maxline III HD's?

[monkeydust]

I have seen some posts about issues with the ASUS A8N-SLI and the Maxtor Maxline III SATA2 NCQ drives. I already have both items and I want to know if there is anything that I can do when setting them up to prevent issues. From what I gather, I will have better luck with the original mobo BIOS. Do I need to disable NCQ? At what point does NCQ get enabled anyway? Are there people that are running this setup and having no issues? Any precautions I should take when setting my system up on Monday (when my videocards arrive)?

I have a ASUS A8N-SLI, 2xBFG 6800GT's, and 2x300gb Maxtor Maxline III SATA2 drives.

 

[pudds]

running 3 on raid 0 with ncq enabled with no problems. Seems im in the minority though. I didn't notice that sometimes it wont detect the drive if im not running raid.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

My guess is that this is a Maxtor problem and not an ASUS problem. I'm going to put a 7200.8 in and see how it handles NCQ. I try to avoid Maxtor whenever possible.

 

[govern1]

When I installed my 250g Diamondmax 10, XP did not enable NCQ by default. So there were no issues inititially. I enabled it and that is when I had all sorts of problems. I have contacted Maxtor on this and am waiting on another response. Right now they said they sent it to their second level troubleshooting techs, whatever that means. So for now, no issues with it disabled. I would suggest that everyone having problems with their Maxtor's and NCQ contact them as well, maybe it would help them figure this out.
I too think this will turn out to be Maxtor's problem and not Asus'.

Shawn

 

[AlexBmur]

Shawn,

I had the exact same problem, except my Maxtor was my primary drive. So after I enabled NCQ in windows, I couldn't ever get back into windows. I had to reformat my hard drive and reinstall windows. Lets keep this thread going so when Maxtor or Asus comes up with a fix we will know about it.

 

[docshadow]

I'll be running a 300gd Maxtor Diamond Max 10 as soon as I have my system running (waiting on processor to ship). The two drives are pretty much identical so if I have success or issues I'll be sure to post.

 

[monkeydust]

Thanks for replying, guys. I'll keep NCQ disabled until I hear that a problem has been identified and fixed via a driver or BIOS revision.

I don't plan on running RAID this time. I'll just have one 300gb drive for all my software and the second 300gb drive to hold Drive Image images of the first drive.

Please repost when you have heard from Maxtor to see what they have to say about the NCQ issues.

 

[govern1]

I'll keep this thread updated with whatever responses I get from maxtor. Hopefully I hear something soon.

Shawn

 

[TheGeek]

Shawn, I'm hoping to get almost the exact same setup as you. This is kinda off topic, but where did you buy your 6800GT's from? You too, govern. Where'd you get yours?

 

[monkeydust]

I'm not Shawn but...

I ordered two BFG 6800GT's from Chumbo on 12/26/2004 and they just shipped them on Thursday. There were a couple of other people from the Rage3d forums that had theirs shipped on Thursday too.

 

[govern1]

I'm Shawn and govern1 (username, it's easy to use as a login as it is part of my e-mail address!) and I got mine from Chumbo.com as well. I was extremely lucky and got in on the intitial shipment they received from BFG back on the 20th of December. It even came with free overnight shipping from Fedex (what a merry christmas it could've been, but bad weather in MN delayed the cards until the 28th of December!) Both cards work perfectly without a single issue.

Shawn (govern1!)

 

[monkeydust]

Hey, I bet you are shawn1998 over at NV News forums. I was just reading one of your posts there.

 

[orlenfrost]

What is NCQ?

These are the SATA 2 drives. But I am having an issue with the Sata 150's. Can not seem to get windows 2000 to install. Makes it all the way through installation, but then on reboot says, "Disk Error"

Going to take back the Maxtors and try something else.

 

[govern1]

That would be me! You must have been reading about the Refresh Force issue over there.

NCQ = Native Command Queing

 

[govern1]

Update... Maxtor e-mailed tonight and basically said they know there is a problem with NCQ and this motherboard. They also said they are working on a bios fix with Asus, which we should see very soon. Hopefully....

Shawn

 

[monkeydust]

Thanks for following up, Shawn.

I've still probably got another week or more until I get my RMA'd mobo back to get things running myself.

 

[kjackson09]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
My guess is that this is a Maxtor problem and not an ASUS problem. I'm going to put a 7200.8 in and see how it handles NCQ. I try to avoid Maxtor whenever possible.

I am interested in adding the Seagate 160GB HD /w8MB /NCQ. Is this a Maxtor drive only issue? Anyone have luck with any other HD's with NCQ?

Cheers,

Kerry

 

[Smoothe]

I too am interested in adding a seagate 7200.8 drive. I am having trouble finding any information about it combined with the A8N-SLi. If I find anything I will let you know.

 

[govern1]

Here was Maxtor's actual response to this issue:

Dear Shawn,

Thanks for your patience. According to our senior level techs, any brand SATA drive with NCQ is having problems with this particular model motherboard (Asus A8N-SLI). I understand that ASUS is working on a flash update to resolve these types of issues. I would contact ASUS to see if the flash update is available at this point.

Thank you,

Alan TS44
1-800 2MAXTOR (voice)
353 1 204 1111 (International)
http://www.maxtor.com (web)

So, acording to them, all drives with NCQ have this issue. Who knows. All I do know is that Asus hasn't released a bios that addresses any Maxtor or NCQ issues.

Shawn

 

[mikepro]

Just to add another voice, I'm having similar problems with my Maxtor drives.

I moved them on ports 3 and 4, from 1 and 2, because it wasn'ts eeing the drive at port 1. After I went to the 1003 bios, it never saw teh drive at port 1. Reinstalled OS, went back to old bios, moved to ports 3 and 4. So far, I'm running ok.

Sucks....

 

[exohordon]

I have a Seagate 160GB SATA NCQ hdd.
How do i enable NCQ in windows?
Where's the option?

 

[FastEddie]

Originally posted by: exohordon
I have a Seagate 160GB SATA NCQ hdd.
How do i enable NCQ in windows?
Where's the option?

It's found in Device Manager, but don't enable NCQ as it will cause disk corruption at this point. Not may cause, but will cause.

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: FastEddie

Originally posted by: exohordon
I have a Seagate 160GB SATA NCQ hdd.
How do i enable NCQ in windows?
Where's the option?

It's found in Device Manager, but don't enable NCQ as it will cause disk corruption at this point. Not may cause, but will cause.

Assuming you do things at the proper time (for example, when you first install a HD) and that the MB isn't causing any issues (dream on), I'm guessing the following steps are involved in enabling NCQ:

Installing NCQ drivers
Enabling NCQ in BIOS
Enabling NCQ in Windows
Something else??

What is the specific, correct procedure? Can NCQ be enabled for some HDs but not others? Also, is there any way you can determine if the HD is actually using NCQ?

 

[bneiderman]

I am sorry, but I still do not see anything in the device manager regarding this. More specifics please!

 

[xtknight]

I just started having issues tonight after flashing to BIOS 1002. Going back to 1001 wouldn't help either.