Samsung HD103UJ problem with SATA

[cmjrees]

Turns out both chipsets, VT8237 & VT6421, have issues with SATA2 drives as they can't automatically step them down to 150Gb/s. Typical that I should have both!

Just need to find a suitable replacement SATA PCI card now!

What? Just put a jumper on the limiting terminals, all SATA 300 drives have them. They work fine then. I had a VT8237 and it was fine like that. Take a look at the label on the drives.

Edit: Sorry... just noticed you've already tried that. I thought I'd read all the posts

[jimsmith]

Didn't notice if anyone posted that they called Samsung. I decided to call Samsung. They don't have a clue. They even act surprised when when they find out the drive only has 4 jumper pins as opposed to 8. I've also sent them an email, maybe someone who knows something will respond. I'll post any good news here.

[jimsmith]

What? Just put a jumper on the limiting terminals, all SATA 300 drives have them. They work fine then. I had a VT8237 and it was fine like that. Take a look at the label on the drives.

Would be a good idea cmjrees, but the pins on this particular drive are not labeled.

[jimsmith]

well Samsung sent me this generic email:

•The jumper settings on a Serial ATA hard drive are configured to control the transfer speeds of the hard drive either the 1.5 Gbit/s or 3 Gbit/s and only should be used if the motherboard does not support the 3 Gbit/s transfer speed.
•With the jumper removed from the device the hard drive will run at its full 3 Gbit/s capacity,
•If a jumper is placed into the C-D configuration it will limit the transfer speed to 1.5 Gbit/s

Basically they emailed me the info from the website. the only helpful info is the 'C-D configuration' thing about the jumpers. However, this drive only has 4 pins as opposed to the traditional 8. Are we supposed to assume those 4 are configured the same way as the four on that side of the group of 8? Pretty risky assumtion since crossing the wrong jumpers could fry a drive. But what do I know, I'm just a user.

[notebookbox]

Hi, i have registered this forum to send this message
i have Asus p5gd2-deluxe motherboard and i had the same problem with you.
There is no need to buy Sata Controller or install Samsung ES-Tool
All you need to plug your sata cable to true jag
here is the picture of it

hxxp://img27.imageshack.us/img27/5857/satadr2.jpg


my cable was on sata_raid jag when i got this problem, i plug it into saat1 jag which shown in the picture. I hope this will solve your problem too.

Thanks.
laptopadvisor.blogspot.com Admin

[Dinnesch]

Hi,
I've got the same HDD, and a A7N8X(not -e, not deluxe)
I got exactly the same problem, and couldn't find a solution.

Being the idiot I am, I've gone in the trouble of finding out which are proper jumper settings with a multimeter(without shorting/killing the drive).

Setting the jumper to the 1st setting(the pins closest to the SATA connector) resulted in exactly the same problem.
Setting it to the 2nd option resulted in no drive being detected at all, nor by my motherboard nor by my Windows XP CD.


So I guess the A7N8X will never be working with this drive. I'm afraid it's time to buy a new PC for me.

For those planning on buying a PCI SATA controller to solve the problem: the old PCI bus has a VERY low bandwith, which means you will get speeds which are far below what's IDE speed. You're better of buying a SATA>IDE/USB(i havent tested it) converter if you want to get maximum speed with this motherboard.

[jimsmith]

I called them again and they STILL have no idea about their own product and they couldn't connect me with anyone who knows whats going on.

I ended up returning my drive simply due to the fact that Samsung has no clue. I purchased the Hitachi competitor drive. Half the cache of the Samsung but at least I have a functioning drive now. And it's DEAD QUIET. No problems with this drive. And when i called their support line the woman on the other end actually knew the answers to my questions too.

I also have learned something about 1st and 2nd Gen SATA which i didn't know before. They say SATA2 is backward compatible with SATA1... what statement can be misleading. What they usually mean by that is the transfer speed of an SATA2 drive can be reduced to SATA1 speeds IF your motherboard is SATA2(3.0) by default. It does not mean that you can connect an SATA2(3.0) drive to a board that only supports SATA1(1.5) and have the drives transfer speeds reduced. Samsung provides the ESTool that can help you set the drive to 1.5. However, if your motherboard cannot recognize the drive in the first place, then ESTool is worthless.

[Dinnesch]

I got my HD103UJ drive working!

Asus is too lazy to make updates for the older motherboards(including A7N8X), so we have to do it ourselves. Putting a new SATA definitions file in the BIOS did the job for me.

I'll explain how to do it, sorry for my crappy explaining and English.

Here are the downloads(sorry, only 2 A7N8x editions are here. If you need another one, feel free to PM me and I will make it for you):
A7N8X-e Deluxe
A7N8X Deluxe rev 2.0


The motherboard name you can see between the PCI slots is not accurate(I have an A7N8X Deluxe 2.0, but it says A7N8X)
To find out which edition you have, run Everest. Then click Motherboard>Motherboard and you will see the name here:



If you have found out which version you have, it's time to put the proper .bin file on a floppy. Make sure you use a 100% working floppy and drive, since you won't like it when your PC crashes half-way the flashing process.

Then put the floppy in the A7N8X PC you want to be flashed. Turn on the PC, and wait for "Press ALT+F2 to enter AWDflash utility" to show up, and press ALT+F2.
When prompted, enter the name of the BIOS you want to flash(either edeluxe.bin or deluxerev2.bin)
and let the process begin.
As soon as it's done properly, your PC will beep a few times and the screen will remain black for a while. Then it should restart.
Set your BIOS to your preferences(because these are usually overwritten by updating)
And, of course, enjoy your working hard drive!

[frostyboy]

Desperate for help.....not much hair left in.

I have just bought one of these drives and my bios does not recognise it.

I have a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro motherboard which runs 1.5Gb SATA.

I have read all the previous posts and tried everything they say.

When I boot up, after seeing my 250Gb WD sata drive, it sees and lists the Samsung drive next, but then hangs before indicating the size. the cursor just flashes and stays there.

If I leave the Samsung powered up but unplug the sata cable until it passes that point, then plug the sata cable in, (it has hot plug) it carries on booting up and the drive is in 'my computer' as normal. I have even formatted it and partitioned it.

When I reboot, it still just hangs at the same spot again.

I have tried jumpers, and also reset the speed to 1.5Gb (as that is the speed of my MoBo sata) using the Samsung ES Tool. This told me I had successfully changed it to 1.5Gb.

Still the bios doesn't see the drive. I'm at the end of my rope now and am searching my toolbox for the big hammer........please help me!!!!

This drive is replacing an existing Maxtor 250Gb drive that has died.

I've emailed Samsung and they didn't bother replying.

.....frostyboy.....

[yesfan]

Had a similar problem with an abit board that has the sil3112A controller. Dont think this hard drive and chipset are going to work together?

I bought a pci sata card with a different chipset, sil3512 I think it was, this solved the problem.

[jimsmith]

Desperate for help.....not much hair left in.


I have a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro motherboard which runs 1.5Gb SATA.

.....frostyboy.....

frostyboy

that board will not completely support the Samsung drive. the only boards that will, are boards that are SATA2 by default and can be slowed down to SATA1. also, as you know, the Samsung drive does not have any "force 1.5" jumpers, the speeds are software controlled. I love Gigabyte boards and have used many of them. I know from personal experience Maxtor makes smaller drives with "force 1.5 jumpers" that your board will support.

you will either need to use a SATA controller card, a different drive, or use a newer motherboard.

[peterb]

frostyboy <---snip--->
you will either need to use a SATA controller card, a different drive, or use a newer motherboard.

Or connect the drive to a machine that does support SATA 2 and use the samsung tool on that machine to re-configure the drive to SATA 1

[frostyboy]

Thanks for your responses guys,
As I said above, I HAVE changed the speed.

Quote
"When I boot up, after seeing my 250Gb WD sata drive, it sees and lists the Samsung drive next, but then hangs before indicating the size. the cursor just flashes and stays there.
If I leave the Samsung powered up but unplug the sata cable until it passes that point, then plug the sata cable in, (it has hot plug) it carries on booting up and the drive is in 'my computer' as normal. I have even formatted it and partitioned it.
When I reboot, it still just hangs at the same spot again.
I have tried jumpers, and also reset the speed to 1.5Gb (as that is the speed of my MoBo sata) using the Samsung ES Tool. This told me I had successfully changed it to 1.5Gb."

I tried ringing Samsung again, gave them a rocket for lousy customer service, them not having rung me back at all.
That was 3 days ago and they have still not rung me back with any help.
What a shower. I would be VERY reluctant to purchase Samsung again.

I have now contacted Pixmania where I bought it, and got an RMA number to return it, at my own cost.

That's where I stand at the moment.

.....frostyboy.....
ps. I am on the Silicon Images 3512 1.5Gb chipset..........

[trapmax]

I got my HD103UJ drive working!

Asus is too lazy to make updates for the older motherboards(including A7N8X), so we have to do it ourselves. Putting a new SATA definitions file in the BIOS did the job for me.

I'll explain how to do it, sorry for my crappy explaining and English.

Here are the downloads(sorry, only 2 A7N8x editions are here. If you need another one, feel free to PM me and I will make it for you):
hxxp://solidfiles.com/d/QvtA]A7N8X-e[/url] Deluxe
hxxp://solidfiles.com/d/5SVZ]A7N8X[/url] Deluxe rev 2.0


The motherboard name you can see between the PCI slots is not accurate(I have an A7N8X Deluxe 2.0, but it says A7N8X)
To find out which edition you have, run hxxp://majorgeeks.com/download4181.html"]Everest. Then click Motherboard>Motherboard and you will see the name here:
hxxp://i41.tinypic.com/ae4875.jpg[/url]


If you have found out which version you have, it's time to put the proper .bin file on a floppy. Make sure you use a 100% working floppy and drive, since you won't like it when your PC crashes half-way the flashing process.

Then put the floppy in the A7N8X PC you want to be flashed. Turn on the PC, and wait for "Press ALT+F2 to enter AWDflash utility" to show up, and press ALT+F2.
When prompted, enter the name of the BIOS you want to flash(either edeluxe.bin or deluxerev2.bin)
and let the process begin.
As soon as it's done properly, your PC will beep a few times and the screen will remain black for a while. Then it should restart.
Set your BIOS to your preferences(because these are usually overwritten by updating)
And, of course, enjoy your working hard drive! :)

I am having trouble with my Asus A8V-deluxe motherboard. Actually the problem is in the VIA VT8237 chipset as it's not recognizing my new HD103UJ hdd's. The PROMISE fasttrak onboard controller sees both attached drives well. I was wondering if you could solve my problem in a way, that I don't have to acquire seperate controller card.

[frostyboy]

OK.....problem now solved.
I stuck with it and after getting NO help whatsoever from Samsung, I contacted Gigabyte again.
I had already been told by them to get the latest bios update and flash my bios. I had done this with no change.

It occurred to me that during boot up, the drive was listed by the bios as Samsung HD103UJ, but then the cursor just hung on the right before showing the HDD size.
I contacted Gigabyte and asked if the mobo recognised 1TB drives...........

They replied with a file attachment of different bios.
I flashed the bios and BINGO......it saw it straight away.
Why didn't they see that problem after my first contact.

No more problems now.

.....frostyboy.....

[nor]

Frostyboy, what version of the bios did they send you? I've got the same issue.

nor