bios cannot detect 40GB drive 1

[efot]

I have updated MoBo bios: 06/08/1999-i440LX-SMC60X-LE440AL-ID, MAX MAINBOARD LE440AL VER:1.0 , but still bios can't detect my WD 40 GB Hdrive. Are there any settings i should do to bios setup? Any Ideas except buying a new mobo? Thanks

 

[roamer1]

If the BIOS is not seeing the drive there are really only four options (the first of which you have already used)

1. FLASH MB with an updated BIOS supplied by MB manufacturer

2. Use the software diskette supplied with the drive to install the drive- If the BIOS won't detect it will install a Drive Overlay or BIOS extension. **NOTE** this is not recommended as the overlay makes recovery of data much harder to do in MBR and partition crashes. Choose this method only as last resort, save your $$ to buy a controller card.

3. Buy a controller card- best option unless you have to boot to it (works for some, depends on hardware)

4. New Motherboard. Very best option- but...YIKES!!!

 

[edfair]

Ought to be able to see the drive, even if it can't use it.
Sounds more like a failure of the drive to talk to the controller channel. How about trying it on the other channel. Or changing master/slave or cable select.
And the BIOS is set to see it?
Does the BIOS have autodetect capability? Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[efot]

Yes, i've tried all the possible combinations (slave/master etc),with the appropriate jumber settings, bur every time the same message "detecting---press F4 to skip". I've tried from inside bios setup the "HDD Auto detection" choice but still cannot detect it. - desperate!Anyone interested in buing a 40GB WD? :-(

 

[wolluf]

Have you tried supplying manual settings in the bios?

 

[efot]

Thanks everyone, but i had to tell bios no to detect the drive, instead i boot from my old 4GB drive and let windowsXP to install the new WD drive. It worked! Except from the fact that windows only recognise 38 GB out from 40 GB but that's OK. But still with the correct jumper settings, bios cannot detect the big drive. I'm not going to find out why because "if it works, dont't fix it!". Thanks for your help.

 

[wolluf]

XP (and NT/2k) basically ignore the bios - which is good news for you! 38/40GB is probably down to definition of a gigabyte (the 40GB figure from drive manufacturer will be 40,000,000,000 bytes - smallest definition. Defining GB as 1,048,576,000 (1024*1024*1000) gives c. 38GB.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

wolluf - what do you mean by "XP (and NT/2k) basically ignore the bios".

It's certainly news to me that any operating system can ignore the BIOS, which is the machine level code, after all.


***Still learning*** CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[wolluf]

citrix - try setting bios as 'none' for second or subsequent hard drives, where primary is an NT/2k/XP boot. When you get into NT/2k/XP, they will happily detect and allow access to the other drives. Obviously won't work for boot drive - as bios won't boot from drive it can't see, but once NT etc loaded, they just do their own thing regarding hard disk detection. If you look through posts, you'll find some where NT etc recognises drives full size when bios doesn't! (though I'm not sure poster's are aware of this).

 

[roamer1]

Wolluf
Thanks for the learning- you get a star.

 

[lildrew]

"MAXBLAST" from what you kinda say, it sounds like you have a 386, I dunno