From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 16 00:49:39 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B1DB616A416 for ; Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:49:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jdc@koitsu.dyndns.org) Received: from sccrmhc14.comcast.net (sccrmhc14.comcast.net [204.127.200.84]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4EB0D43D5C for ; Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:49:36 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jdc@koitsu.dyndns.org) Received: from icarus.home.lan (failure[67.174.220.97]) by comcast.net (sccrmhc14) with ESMTP id <2006111600493601400mf0ese>; Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:49:36 +0000 Received: by icarus.home.lan (Postfix, from userid 1000) id AC1FC1FA01D; Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:49:25 -0800 (PST) Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:49:25 -0800 From: Jeremy Chadwick To: George Hartzell Message-ID: <20061116004925.GA63607@icarus.home.lan> Mail-Followup-To: George Hartzell , freebsd-stable@freebsd.org References: <17754.8258.37357.575054@satchel.alerce.com> <455A2C21.9020304@quip.cz> <17755.35310.250336.672952@satchel.alerce.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <17755.35310.250336.672952@satchel.alerce.com> X-PGP-Key: http://jdc.parodius.com/pubkey.asc User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.13 (2006-08-11) Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: help identifying gmirror, ata, or motherboard problem (Tyan S2865G2NR) X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:49:39 -0000 On Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 01:43:10PM -0800, George Hartzell wrote: > Just to follow up on this, Maxtor asked if the board used an Nvidia > controller (it does...) and then claimed that a newer rev. of their > firmware for these drives would work better. > > They're shipping a replacement drive. We'll see.... > > Thanks for all the feedback. I can confirm this problem, and it's documented all over the web, from forums to blogs to Maxtor's own site. Maxtor won't admit to it being a "bug", instead stating it's a "compatibility issue" with nVidia chipsets. They will only replace a drive with this firmware if the customer calls and complains about the exact issue and knows of the nVidia compatibility problem. It also helps to refer to the support ID# (or whatever it's called) when calling them, otherwise they claim they have no knowledge of it. Maxtor would not send me a firmware, nor an updater application, for the drive. I got Maxtor to send me a replacement drive, and it did fix the problem. However, the NCQ feature of the drive is essentially disabled (not like it matters much; read StorageReview's review of NCQ/TCQ for details). This problem (amongst many others) have pretty much put me off of ever buying another Maxtor drive as long as I live, and have made me extra wary of nVidia's SB (southbridge) chipsets. I expect a drive manufacturer + ATA interface company to test their drives thoroughly on all mainstream vendors' southbridges. Test means weeks upon weeks of constant pounding, in RAID arrays and in single systems. This kind-of bug should've been caught immediately, and never made it to the consumer market. -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc at parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP: 4BD6C0CB |