Is this a BIOS and large hard disk issue?

[Antonimo]

I recently purchased a 120GB DiamondMax Plus 9 hard disk.

I fitted it into my 3 year old DELL PC as a replacement for the hard disk that had mechanically failed.

Everything set up beautifully.

I created four partitions (15 + 15 + 45 + 45)

I have now tried to install the hard disk into another, older PC to assist with the backing up and re-installation of the system and files on that PC.

The older PC in question will not recognise my hard disk.

Initially, I tried to set up the Jumpers as the slave (the original hard disk's jumpers being set to Master) - my 120GB was not recognised.

I tried Cable Select - to no avail.

I tried my 120GB disk as the only disk both as Cable Select and as Master - still no dice!

The older PC has a 1997 - 1998 AWARD BIOS (v4.51PG)

Would I be correct in thinking that the BIOS from that era can handle a maximum hard disk capacity of 32GB?

If this is the case, would my 120GB hard disk not appear in the BIOS and cause the boot up message "hard disk fail"?

Is there a more serious problem?

If a BIOS upgrade is the solution, would a FLASH upgrade do the trick? Would the hard disk data be affected by a BIOS upgrade?

I cannot put the 120GB hard disk back into my own PC as I have flown to another country to with it and I don't have access to another PC, but the disk was working beautifully yesterday and is only 2 weeks old!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[OneMillionExabytes]

The older M.B. should recognize at least 2 gb of the drive. Did you try a different cable or even a different controller?

 

[DavidSnell]

From the messages found all over the internet your version AWARD BIOS (v4.51PG)was released to support a 40Gig hard drive. Most likely it does not support a 120Gig drive.


As long as you are confident that the drive is jumpered properly (there may be more than one combination of jumpers for master and/or standalone) go into the BIOS and set the Hard Drive to "Auto Identify" save and reboot. If it does not "Auto Identify" you could try entering the BIOS and configuring the drive manually. You will need to set the drive to "User" and enter the number of "Cylinders, Heads and Sectors" to attempt to resolve the drive. I would bet that this will not work either.

It could also be an issue with the Rotation speed of the drive. Your IDE channel or controller may only support 5400RPM drives and the 120GIG is most likely 7200RPM or faster.

Your best information source would be Dell.com. Go there and enter your system information (Service Tag) and you will be able to see what upgrades your system can handle.

Hope this helped.

 

[wolluf]

Antonimo

Almost certainly the bios issue you mention (32GB limitation) is your problem. If there is a bios upgrade on the Dell site (or mobo manufacturer's, failing that) which allows access to larger drives, that should solve your problem (flashing bios does not update data on hard drive - you can do it with no hard drive present if you wish).

Other solution would be to buy a new controller card for the older PC (this has its own bios & would recognise your drive).

 

[Antonimo]

Thanks for the words of advice above.

I have decided to upgrade the motherboard and processor on the old PC which ought to solve the immediate problem of reading from the new, larger hard disk.

When the parts arrive in a day or two, I shall attempt a Flash upgrade on the BIOS as there will be nothing to lose by then.

I shall post the results of the BIOS upgrade when I find the right software for the job.

The older PC was built by a small, local PC company some years ago and they are no longer in business (retired).

If anyone is interested, below is the report generated by BIOS WIZARD (downloaded from

http://www.unicore.com/bioswiz/index2.html):

BIOS CAPABILITIES TEST REPORT
===============================

Generated by: BIOS Wizard 2.10
Date: September 06, 2003
Time: 13:54

PnP Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 1.0
PCI Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 2.1
PCI IRQ Routing Table : BIOS currently supports this feature
Enhanced Disk Drive
Specification : BIOS doesn't support this feature
DMI Version : Current version is 2.0. The minimum DMI version is
2.1
ACPI Version : ACPI is not found
APM Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 1.2
Booting From CD-ROM : BIOS currently supports this feature
Supports ESCD : BIOS currently supports this feature
Can be Updated (flashed) : BIOS currently supports this feature
Can be Shadowed : BIOS currently supports this feature
BIOS Chip in Socket : BIOS currently supports this feature
Supports Selective Booting : BIOS currently supports this feature
Supports LS-120 Booting : The testing of this feature is not supported by
the current DMI version
Supports ZIP Booting : The testing of this feature is not supported by
the current DMI version
Supports Network Booting : The testing of this feature is not supported by
the current DMI version
BIOS Manufacturer : Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS ID : 03/11/98-VP3-586B-W877-2A5LEM2FC-00
BIOS Date : 03/11/98
BIOS OEM Signon : TI5VG+ -Z1-0331
BIOS ROM Size : 128K
Chipset : VIA 82C598 rev 3
Super I/O Chip : Winbond 83877TF (use 87h) found at port 3F0h
____________________________________

I just need to find the right BIOS upgrade now...

 

[wolluf]

TMC TI5VG board's bios upgrade very elusive! (ie, I can't find one).

 

[Antonimo]

Wolluf,

I think you're absolutely right. I have not been able to find the right BIOS upgrade.

We have purchased a new motherboard and entered a different world with automatic BIOS updates available through the web site etc.

In many cases, replacing the motherboard and processor will be the best solution.

Thanks to all for their assistance