IBM 120 G IDE -- problems

[Andrew L. Gould]

On Sunday 07 September 2003 10:16 pm, Mark Terribile wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to add a 120G IDE drive, and FreeBSD
> hangs during bootstrap.
>
> My current storage configuration is
>      3 SCSI drives on an Adaptec controller
>      2 floppy drives (3+1/2 and 5+1/4 -- yes!) on
>        the controller on the mobo (a Gigabyte
>        GA-SINXP1394)
>      1 Sony CD-ROM on the ATA 0 on the mobo, master
>      1 Artec CD-RW on the ATA 1 on the mobo, master
>
> This configuration works fine.
>
> I tried to add the drive, an IBM (now Hitachi)
> 120G Deskstar, as a slave on the ATA 0 adaptor.
> The BIOS recognizes is, but during bootstrap
> I get a message saying that ATA 0 has timed out
> on some kind of tagged operation, followed by
> a message indicating a reset and three dots, and
> no newline.  The bootstrap stops right here.
>
> I've tried making the new drive the master, with
> and without the CD-ROM, running that cable off the
> other IDE interface, and replacing the cable, all
> with no change.  I've even checked the voltages on
> the board side of the power connector, and felt the
> drive as it powers up (vibration suggests both
> rotation and a few seeks).  I've got an Antec 420W
> power supply, so there should be enough juice.
>
> A drive problem seems unlikely; this was a new disk
> sealed in silver mylar and I expect these drives
> to be rock-solid.  (Should I doubt this?)

Yes, you should doubt this.  I've had new IBM and a Western Digital drives die 
on me this year.  If you can, test the drive in a different computer and/or 
operating system.

For what it's worth, I have 120GB (Maxtor) hard drives in computers running 
FreeBSD 4.8 and 5.1.

>
> I'll be grateful for any help you can offer.  I'm
> not a subscriber to the hardware list (but I did
> search it for likely articles), so please reply
> on freebsd-questions, or reply to me at
>  materribile at yahoo.com  .
>
>                                   Mark Terribile

Best of luck,

Andrew L. Gould