I got a new Gigabyte KN8-SLI Motherboard and Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 250GB SATA-II and I am having trouble installing windows. I boot from CD and add the sata drivers from floppy but when I reach the screen "press enter to install windows XP" the PC freezes. I can however see the drive in the BIOS and after a lot of messing I managed to install it as an additional drive in windows, which is located on my old IDE drive, but when I try to move a large a number of files on to the drive the entire machine locks up again. This is the second drive I have had from the retailer could it be the motherboard causing the problems? Thanks in advance.
If you can, use another computer with SATA and see if you can install windows with that. It could be your motherboard, although its best to be sure.
Cheers sadly I don't have easy access to another sata motherboard but I have recently found it could be another problem. Apparently there is a problem with Diamond Max drives and Nforce motherboards which can be fixed with a firmware update to HD but maxtor seem unwilling to release one Heres the link I found http://www.nordichardware.com/news,2571.html
In that, case sice its a problem with Maxtor and they aren't willing to help with a firmware update then try returning your drive and getting a Western Digital, Seagate or Hitachi.
Yes I think thats the best solution thanks for your help and I will certainly be avoiding Maxtor from now on.
