60GB: 03/30/1999-i440bx-19981010C

[grimace]

I'll try to jumper limit the thing so it goes to 32gb...do i just use a regular jumper pin to do it?

[NickS]

Most of them these days use an ordinary jumper pin - I used to get fed up with those mini ones.

[Rainbow]

I have these BIOSes for Jamicon/Kaimei 650B board:
128K: 02/04/1999-i440BX-19980205C-00 (older than yours)
256K: 08/09/2000-i443BX-W977TF-650BX_14C-00

Award BIOSes released in first half of 1999 and older have the 32GB bug (also some newer BIOSes too - depends on board manufacturer if the fixes are implemented or not). It the BIOS hangs when HDD is over 32GB, it can be successfully patched (working 100%).

[grimace]

hey Rainbow and Nicks, i have some good news. I did the capacity limit thing that nicks told me about that i read about but didn't think it'd work. Well, it works. but it wasn't that simple. I also had to figure out how the maxblast software worked with teh ctrl thing that i had to do. I'm on my hard drive as we speak reinstalling all my software. However, i had many more questions that you will most likely be able to answer.

First...i have a problem when i sometimes restart. It wont recognize the hard drive...again. Yet, when i power off my computer and turn it on again, it recognizes it. I read on another site about this, but glanced over it and didn't pay much attention. What is the problem and how should i resolve it.

Second. If i take the capcity limitator jumper pin off, i would have the original problem of the bios not recognizing it, and having the f4 lock up. Yet when i put it back on, it will work fine. My assumption is that the ez-layer maxblast stuff relayers the bios after the initial boot up, so i would in a way "trick" the bios so that i get past it. CAn you answer my assumption and tell me if there's a way around it, ,or will i need this jumper pin in indefinitely (i need the jumper pin for my slave hdd!).

Third. Kind of a long question for this but make it as long or short as you want it. How does the software maxblast work? It's kidn of unique that it can do...what it seems to be doing.

Fourth (tiny question). If i have to end up buying a jumper pin, how much do those cost (just wondering, i know its cheap).

Fifth. How would i go about using my old hard drive as a slave? It's a western digital 9.5 gb hard drive i jsut want to store files with. I'm planning to format it using fdisk, and atttachign it to the middle ide cable which the hard drive shuld be on cable select for the jumper pins. Will it auto detect it if i set it so in my system bios [original award one, not the maxblast].

I feel like i'm missing a question or two, but that is a lot of questions already. It'd be great if anyone could answer those. Thanks a lot to Nicks and Rainbow for helping me out today.

[NickS]

First...i have a problem when i sometimes restart. It wont recognize the hard drive...again. Yet, when i power off my computer and turn it on again, it recognizes it. I read on another site about this, but glanced over it and didn't pay much attention. What is the problem and how should i resolve it.

I don't know... maybe you could check out that other site?

Second. If i take the capcity limitator jumper pin off, i would have the original problem of the bios not recognizing it, and having the f4 lock up. Yet when i put it back on, it will work fine. My assumption is that the ez-layer maxblast stuff relayers the bios after the initial boot up, so i would in a way "trick" the bios so that i get past it. CAn you answer my assumption and tell me if there's a way around it, ,or will i need this jumper pin in indefinitely (i need the jumper pin for my slave hdd!).
Third. Kind of a long question for this but make it as long or short as you want it. How does the software maxblast work? It's kidn of unique that it can do...what it seems to be doing.

The capacity limit jumper tells the motherbpard BIOS that the drive is only a certain size, which the BIOS can cope with. The BIOS then happily loads a BIOS extension (overlay) from the drive (put there by MaxBlast) which replaces the section of the ROM BIOS dealing with hard disks. This extension can cope with the whole capacity of the drive like newer BIOSes.

Fourth (tiny question). If i have to end up buying a jumper pin, how much do those cost (just wondering, i know its cheap).

Easiest way is to find someone junking a piece of equipment with jumpers on. Otherwise you're looking at buying a packet of 10, 25, 50 depending on your supplier. For mail order the minimum order value and the post and packing are ridiculous. In the UK I would probably go to my nearest branch of Maplin's, in the USA go to Radio Shack. Where are you based ?

Fifth. How would i go about using my old hard drive as a slave? It's a western digital 9.5 gb hard drive i jsut want to store files with. I'm planning to format it using fdisk, and atttachign it to the middle ide cable which the hard drive shuld be on cable select for the jumper pins. Will it auto detect it if i set it so in my system bios (original award one, not the maxblast).

Cable select - you're using an 80-conductor cable ? or a special "cable select" 40-conductor cable ? Depending on how many drives you have, you might want to put only your new drive on the primary IDE controller and put the 9.5G and CD/DVD on the secondary. Of course, if you've got 4 devices you do not have a lot of choice.

Hope that helps

[grimace]

im just using a standard cable with 2 ide slots. I'm planning to format my old hdd and put it as a slave, and use it to store files. If i set it up like that, it should work right? Thanks for answering all those questions btw. ur a genius.

[NickS]

If you're using a standard IDE cable, not a "Cable select" cable or an "ATA66/100/133" cable which also does cable, you will need to set the new drive as "Master" and the old drive as "Slave" specifically. You should only use Cable Select with a cable that supports it.

Good luck!

[grimace]

Ok, yea my cable is good to go. I think i can handle adding the 2nd drive. If not, i can always come back here. Thanks a lot for all your help.

[Ash]

Hi there !

I have a Maxtor HD too, and .... if possible , DO NOT USE MAXBLAST !

The lastversion has a huge bug, if you manage with 2 HD system, craps can happens !!

And loss data too ! MaxBlast is the worst choice.
You can use the 32GB limitation.. or
Buy a PCI IDE Controller with most supports up to128GB HDs.... very good solutions for older motherboards.

Be aware about MaxBlast , it makes FDISK not work .. no clean-bootdisk will work.. need to use EZ-Bios to access drive to boot-disk ... iak !!!! And the portability.....if you change pc-motherboard, most of the cases the data on hd gets crc-error..or just disappear... the recover EZBIOS (same disk instalation of MaxBlast) doesnt works all the times.....in recovering, keep a working HD to preserve important data.

Ok ? Buy a pci-ide-controller card...
(I'm trying to buy it, but they are very expensive here(brazil))

ASH