Intel 440BX bios update

[Eurouno]

Hello everyone,
I am a new memeber,and I am not too much familiar with computers.
My 4 GB HD has crashed and now I am trying to instal 120 GB HD, but my motherboard Intel 440BX with P2-400 MHZ and Award BIOS doesn't like. Seems like I need to update BIOS, and my question is how can I upgrade BIOS if I cannot use my HD.Do I need to download the file to the floopy and than try to run it from A: drive or ...
please help

[NooNoo]

Hello everyone,
I am a new memeber,and I am not too much familiar with computers.
My 4 GB HD has crashed and now I am trying to instal 120 GB HD, but my motherboard Intel 440BX with P2-400 MHZ and Award BIOS doesn't like. Seems like I need to update BIOS, and my question is how can I upgrade BIOS if I cannot use my HD.Do I need to download the file to the floopy and than try to run it from A: drive or ...
please help

Welcome to Windrivers Eurouno!!

To update your bios you need to know your motherboard make and model. When the hard disk is not working, there are a few ways of doing this. One of the easiest is to boot the machine and write down the very long number (sometimes starts with a backwards date) that is shown while it is counting ram and post that here, we can then look it up and show you where to find a new bios for your motherboard.

The other way is visual inspection of the board. Often the model number is printed on the board itself in white lettering.

It is VERY important that the information you provide is accurate. Bios is motherboard specific and flashing the bios with the wrong one will result in a useless motherboard which is not always fixable.

this utility can read the bios information and get the motherboard details - but if the motherboard is an odd ball, it may not recognise the make and model. You will need to unzip this and put it on a boot diskette and run it from the a: prompt.

Last piece of information - if your computer is a branded machine such as compaq, hp, emachine etc, then we will need both the motherboard model and the computer make and model as the motherboards for this type of machine are often specially made for the computer company.

Good luck.

[Zerotech]

Again, welcome Eurouno!

If a BIOS update is not available or does not solve the problem, you might consider using an ATA100/133 IDE controller card. Many of these cards have a built-in BIOS that allows you to use larger hard drives than the motherboard normally supports and upgrades the system from ATA66 to ATA100 or better.

If I'm not mistaken, the 440BX chipset is limited to ATA66.

Good luck.

[TripleRLtd]

Again, welcome Eurouno!

If a BIOS update is not available or does not solve the problem, you might consider using an ATA100/133 IDE controller card. Many of these cards have a built-in BIOS that allows you to use larger hard drives than the motherboard normally supports and upgrades the system from ATA66 to ATA100 or better.

If I'm not mistaken, the 440BX chipset is limited to ATA66.

Good luck.

That is the good idea Zero (the IDE controller card that is)
Also, even updating the bios will not work.
It will still not recognize the hard drive for its actual size if at all
32 gig or 80 gig limit depending upon the actual board.
The hard drive manufacturer will have a downloadable disk which will "fool" the board/bios into seeing the whole drive.
Go to the web site and look for support/downloads.
good luck

[Garak]

Triple, that is not strictly true.

There are alot of "modified" BIOS patches out there, Until we know the model of the board we can not make such "sure" assumptions.

Hi BTW!

Welcome to Windrivers Eurouno

[TripleRLtd]

Triple, that is not strictly true.

There are alot of "modified" BIOS patches out there, Until we know the model of the board we can not make such "sure" assumptions.

Hi BTW!

Welcome to Windrivers Eurouno

You are right Garak, plus my 80 number was wrong.
It should have been the following:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....Z2U9MQ**&p_li=
Anywho, check the link Euro and hope it helps.
BTW G, what do you mean by "modified" bios patches?

[Garak]

well, from my understanding almost any hardware limitation is caused by a combination on software (in this case the BIOS) and sometimes hardware (in this case this is not so).

Now, the BIOS just being software can be modified to accept newer and better hardware in some cases, such as allowing a motherboard to use a faster CPU, or a better hard drive. Unfortunatly this is not always possible, but for boards such as PC Chips, ECS, Abit and ASUS it happens alot. Especially with the older socket 7 motherboards.

Now, if this isn't applicable to this particular board, alot of hard drive manfacturers document ways round the problem.

For example WDC tell you to input the settings

1083x61x63 into the BIOS before connecting the hard drive, then using a utility called MAXBlast to partition the hard drive correctly.

This works in most instances.

Feel free to ask any more questions and I will try to answer as best as I can.

[TripleRLtd]

Aha, your last "fix" was exactly what I said before:

"The hard drive manufacturer will have a downloadable disk which will "fool" the board/bios into seeing the whole drive.
Go to the web site and look for support/downloads."

Also, the main problem with many boards are the lack of downloadable bios updates, they being "end of life" boards and all.
Which is why I was intrigued by your "modified" bios patch comment.
I thought perhaps you meant third party or some such.
Anywho, trying to help Euro to get this drive to work with his system was what this was all about and the solutions and links offered here show that there are ways to do it.
Now, if only he would get back to us and tell us what motherboard it is.

[NooNoo]

I think Gary means the powermax side of maxblast. Maxblast does contain a bios overlay program, but I think he meant that once you have told the bios the heads/cylinders etc you then just need to partition and format it with something other than the standard fdisk and format.

I would also add that fdisk supplied with a 98 boot diskette has a 64 gig limitation, and while it WILL fdisk the drive for the primary partition and an extended partition it will misreport the size if it is over 64 gig. This I can vouch for from personal experience.

[Garak]

As NooNoo has said, FDISK for 98 will misreport the drive size (ie an 80gig Drive is usually reported as a 13gig)

Anyhow, back to the "fixed" "patched" BIOS's, these are BIOS updates that have been tinkered with and modified with newer features that were either closed or not added. This is done by third party programmers.

[TripleRLtd]

As NooNoo has said, FDISK for 98 will misreport the drive size (ie an 80gig Drive is usually reported as a 13gig)

Anyhow, back to the "fixed" "patched" BIOS's, these are BIOS updates that have been tinkered with and modified with newer features that were either closed or not added. This is done by third party programmers.

Now we're talking.
This is why I was intrigued.
Do you have sites for these third parties?
Many times I would have loved to use something like this versus the software EZBios/PowerMax/Seatools path.

[Garak]

sure, I'll PM you some links later.

[Eurouno]

Thanks everyone for replys.I am still messing with it.
Here is the Motherboard info:

W6BXA-0 REV.A4
Award Modular Bios v$.51PG, an Energy Star Ally
W6BXA Intel 440BX
11/18/1998 -i440BX-W977TF-2A69KWODC-A3

[NooNoo]

found a text only manual here

The manufacturer site disappeared in January 1999.

The chances of finding a bios upgrade is pretty close to zilch. My opinion is that you invest in a pci ide controller - not terribly expensive and better than frying the board with something that "says" its a bios upgrade.

[TripleRLtd]

found a text only manual here

The manufacturer site disappeared in January 1999.

The chances of finding a bios upgrade is pretty close to zilch. My opinion is that you invest in a pci ide controller - not terribly expensive and better than frying the board with something that "says" its a bios upgrade.

Good find No.
Since Gary hasn't sent me links to those "modified" bios updates, I was wondering:
Have you, NooNoo, or any others used something like that?
And, most importantly, do they work?
But, nowadays, as we keep pointing out to Euro from the beginning, an IDE controller card is the best bet cost wise.
Geez, prices sure have come down on almost everything.
I have had to adjust my service rates due to that.
Pretty soon we'll be in toaster territory:
"Throw it out and buy a new one."