Short version ============== Nvidia Nforce4 chipset with Maxtor SATA II drives with certain firmware revisions cause data corruption and system instability.
This was acknowledged just in the last few weeks, see:
http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqi...
Long version =============
About a year ago I got a new home uber system all decked out. I have Fedora installed plus small Windows install for gaming.
AMDFX-55 Nforce4 SLI motherboard 2GB RAM Nvidia 6800GT PCIe x2 in SLI mode 300GB Maxtor SATA II HDD x2 (model 6B300S with firmware BANC1B70)
Off and on I have experienced the following problems:
* kernel panics * freezes * insta-reboots * on-board RAID (nforce fake raid) de-syncing * LCD blinking on and off (most common symptom for me) * segfaults and application crashes
The problems were not continuous and would seemingly erratically appear.
My memory tested fine with memtest86+ over repeated tests the past 12 months. I RMA'd my video cards and got a new motherboard. I was contemplating swapping my CPU when I finally did a Google search on "Maxtor nforce4" and my eyes were opened. Pages and pages of posts in hundreds of different forums. Honestly, I had a sense of relief that my culprit was identified.
I'm going to go review my bug reports and close any that could possibly be related to this hardware problem.
Dax Kelson