maxtor drive issue

[dep]

need a workaround here.

my baby sister in wisconsin just got a machine with the specific 
intent of installing linux; distro she chose was suse 8.0; it's her 
first linux install. the problem is that machine came with a maxtor 
ata-133 drive, a D740X. the install gets to "probing hard drives" and 
there it stops, probing the hard drive forever. the suse database 
refers to a problem with installing 7.3 to these drives, but nothing 
on 8.0. a post to the suse list gleaned the knowledge that a.) it 
cannot be installed on these drives; b.) that it installs on these 
drives just fine; c.) that it can be installed on these drives but is 
difficult and if udma is later enabled it won't boot. in short, all 
the possibilities, just about.

anybody know anything about these drives and whether it's a 
suse-specific problem, whether there's a reliable workaround, or 
whether the drive needs to go back?
-- 
dep

http://www.linuxandmain.com -- outside the box, barely within the 
envelope, and no animated paperclip anywhere.