New HD problems- flash bios id error

[jon7175]

Help....I was having problems with my old maxtor 20GB HD...would not write to drive....not bootable...EMBR corrupted...windows directory empty etc....
After the various attempts, (formatting, partitioning editing MBR) and getting nowhere, I bought a new HD a maxtor+8 ATA133 40 GB HD which is not auto-detected by my bios.
Maxtor says use DDO (dynamic drive overlay) However this did not happen automatically with the use of Maxtor's drive utilities disk: Maxblast3, and when I partitioned 20 GB of the new disk it only shows that 8.4 GB is partitioned. I guess I will have to remove this and use the separate DDO options on the maxblast disk, install a dynamic drive overlay...BUT looking at gigabytes bios upgrades I think I need an award bios upgrade to support a 32+ gb HD anyway.
So I have downloaded bx2000_F9 and when I try to flash the bios of my machine with it I get a warning "bios ID Error" Proceed?...........what is this about? should I proceed anyway?risks?
Also would a corrupted DDO (if i did not no that it existed on my old hard drive), have caused the problems mentioned at the beginning of this query. Would a DDO have had to be used on a 20 GB HD so that it would work with the following system:
BX2000 with i440bx agpset, with pentium3 (slot 2), 500MHZ chip, matrox G400
(2A69KGOE)C-00 bx2000 V1.7, Award modular v4.51pg, pnp bios ext v1.0a
Where is DDO information stored?
Is it possible to save a disk that cannot be written to, by entering specifications of the drive ,(from when it was working), into new or edited DDO or perhaps in the bios????
Do I need a separate pnp bios upgrade or to upgrade anything else when I upgrade the bios to version F9?
One More query... if the problems with my old harddrive were caused by a virus, are there precautions I should take to make sure the virus is no longer on my system...Flashing bios i suppose could be one of them...any procedures appreciated....sensible ones anyway...
Old HD gave following error using powermax from maxtor: G40S57 maxtor says:...you need a new one or an uptodate warranty....I did not find this very helpful...anyone else?
New drive was fine when last checked with powermax.
I have tried mailing gigabyte and maxtor about some of these queries and neither have mailed me back in the last couple of weeks.....

 

[wolluf]

jon7175,

Problems with 20GB drive - but was the drive ever recognised correctly? Looking at documentation on Gigbyte's website, it should definitely support up to 32GB without a bios upgrade IMO. You have got the right model (notice there is a bx2000+ as well - which has different upgrades) for the bios upgrade? I would not flash a bios that was giving me an error message before I started (btw - I also notice from documentation, that bx2000 has a dual bios - I don't know if that affects the flashing process).

I've only had one (bad) experience with overlay software - and would never use it again (I'd buy a new controller card if no bios upgrade availble).

 

[jon7175]

Having read some of the rest of this forum.....Its the CLJ or was the lack of it that was preventing autodetection in the bios....thanks!....Now the Bios sees the drive but only 33GB
I don't want to go down the DDO road so..
I need to solve this bios id error...it only happens when I actually try to flash the bios with its replacement, (bx2000_F9)...and even then gives me the opportunity to proceed or exit...but why could it happen? I have read on another forum that it might be attributed to being downloaded to a different machine to that which it is meant for, though I am not sure about this explanation.
I hope to get feedback from mobo manufacturer,
Anyone got any other ideas?

 

[wolluf]

'I have read on another forum that it might be attributed to being downloaded to a different machine to that which it is meant for, though I am not sure about this explanation' - that's why I was asking if you've definitely identified the mobo correctly. If the bios upgrade is for your motherboard, I wouldn't expect it to give you a bios id error (but if it is for a similar model, it might let you continue - I did this once & fried the bios!)

If the model is correct - hopefully the manufacturer will get back to you. You could also try posting to forum602 to see if anyone else has experience of upgrading bios for your particular board.

 

[jon7175]

Yeah I think so...to make sure I have now used a DOS bios agent and got this:
BIOS Date: 07/19/99
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS ID: 07/19/1999-i440BX-8671-2A69KG0EC-00
OEM Sign-On: Intel 440BX AGPSet BIOS for BX2000 V.1.7
Chipset: Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Superio: ITE 8671 rev 1 found at port 279h
CPU Type: Pentium III
CPU Speed: 500 Mhz
CPU Max: 600 Mhz
BIOS ROM In Socket: Yes
BIOS ROM Size: 256K

Through their website mobo-bios search, Gigabyte recommended the latest bios for my system, =F9, but it was based on either motherboard model or chipset only. I await a response from gigabyte based on the information given above.

--Gigabyte have quite a few back issue-bios upgrades as well at their FTP site--

 

[wolluf]

Is there a previous version (but later than your current) on their ftp site you could try? They may well have enabled larger drive support several releases before the final one.

PS - looking at their description of dual bios, it sounds like one of its advantages is in case of a bios upgrade going wrong - it should just switch to the second (backup) bios in this case.

 

[jon7175]

Dual bios- this has already happened...when I had the new HD installed without the CLJ, it froze during auto detection. Everytime I had to [ctrl.alt.del], the
bios was auto/manually restored from the other chip.

Yes there are previous upgrades and the 33gb limitation was solved several back issues ago...I'll give it a go....

...and if i get courageous and try out some of these bios upgrades, despite the id error,
Would I still be able to replace it with the bios on the other chip?
Is it true that it is not possible to downgrade the bios (should the newer one not work), or is that not applicable to systems with dual bios.

 

[wolluf]

Jon - all I know about dual bios I read yesterday/today on the Gigabyte site! It says it should use the second backup if main is compromised - including flash bios failure -

http://tw.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/FileList/NewTech/tech_dualb.htm

If the board is operational you can flash with an older bios if you wish (ie, downgrade bios).

One thing - it looks like backup bios is always going to be the same version (so if flash fails, you would go back to that version anyway). More dual bios info here

http://www.active-hardware.com/english/reviews/mainboard/gabx2000.htm

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20011207/

 

[Baeda]

Hi,
I had the same problem, so I first saved the old BIOS and then ignored the warning "Bios ID error". No problems occured, the new BIOS is running properly and the Seagate Barracuda 40 GB (ST340016A) is now detected.

 

[IncubusDesigns]

I've had the exact same problem with the GA BX-2000 - Tried to install an 80GB Seagate Barracuda but hit the MoBos 32GB limit.

Tried flashing the BIOS with the latest bx2000_F9 update and got the 'BIOS ID Error'. At the time no one in the world seemed to have heard of such an error.

The difference with me was that there was no way to continue after the error - Just said 'error' then bailed out of the flash utility.

How did you get it to continue and flash the Bios?

Had given up on that track and bought an Sil0680 Ultra-133 Medley ATA RAID IDE Controller card. Still can't get the drive working, but that's another story.

Sounds like it might be possible to get that F9 bios update to flash?! BUT HOW?!!?!

 

[jon7175]

'The difference with me was that there was no way to continue after the error - Just said 'error' then bailed out of the flash utility.

How did you get it to continue and flash the Bios?'

The dos box that appeared with the bios ID error on it gave me the opportunity to continue or cancel...so I tried continuing.

If this does mot happen on your machine then it might be an idea to try the bios update with different Flash utilities....But this is not a definite solution , just something to try...

 

[Baeda]

Hi IncubusDesigns,
I assume that you used flash855.exe , when I choosed the file to load (bx200.f9)the message appeared "Bios ID error".
Here, I had the option to choose between "[Enter] to continue or [Esc] to cancel."