120GB: 04/11/00-VP3-586B-W877-2A5LEPA9C-00

BIOS update, EIDE card, or overlay software? (FAQ Hard disk recognition)
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cn21713
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Problem:

I got a 120GB Western Digital Drive, and it causes my BIOS to lock up.

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Background:

I have an Epox motherboard. The printing on the board says EP-58 MVP3C-M (But I think maybe Epox just calls it an MVP3C).

BIOS agent says I have:
2A5LEPA9C
04/11/00
04/11/00-VP3-586B-W877-2A5LEPA9C-00
Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
Winbond 877TF (use 87h) rev 0 found at port 3F0h
VIA 82C597 rev 4
04/11/00 For Apollo VP3 AGP/PCIset

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Questions:

1) Is there an BIOS update for my Motherboard that will work with the 120GB Western Digital Drive?

2) One thing is very confusing. I have a 60GB drive in the system now, and I thought the break points were 8, 32, and 127 GB. So, how is it that my 60GB drive works but the 120 wont?

3) Western Digital provides an "Alternate" jumper setting. With this setting the BIOS does not lock up. But, the Western Digital site says not to use the Alternate jumper settings with XP. I am currently using 98, but was planning to install XP when I get the drive working. If I can't use the alternate jumper setting with XP, and the BIOS locks up with the regular jumper setting, it seems that my only option is to find a BIOS update that works with the 120GB drive. Am I missing something?

4) I updated the BIOS with the current update that is available from the Epox web site (the BIOS agent information above is from after this update). Before running the update, the BIOS version was 4.51 and after running the update it is still 4.51. I followed the directions, the update ran and all, and it made a backup file of the old BIOS, so I assume it worked. Unfortunatly, the update is given a strange file name by Epox and no where in the text file does it say what version the update is. So, how do I know that the update actually did anything?

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Chris
georgep
BIOS Rookie
Posts: 39
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1. I don't think so. Maybe they can patch it here.

2. There's also the AWARD 64 GB bug

3. Unknown to me

4. The 4.51 is part of the AWARD descriptor, and is not updated by updating the BIOS. The date (04/11/00) means that you have successfully flashed the latest official BIOS.
cn21713
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Thanks on 2 and 4. It's good to know that I got the most recent update and that it is a known thing for my 60 to work but my 120 to have a problem even with that update.

Probably more and more people will run into this 64GB bug now as they get bigger drives.

Chris
NickS
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Location: Thames Valley, UK

cn21713 wrote:
1) Is there an BIOS update for my Motherboard that will work with the 120GB Western Digital Drive?
Checking....
NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
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Location: Thames Valley, UK

I have one patched a while back but for some reason not at the site in my sig. I'll get it over there in a minute or two.
Tested patched BIOSes. Untested patched BIOSes.
Emails *will* be ignored unless the subject line starts "Wim's BIOS forum"
cn21713
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Thanks for the response. =) I got XP to see the full drive (see below), so I think I will hold your patched version in reserve for now (under the idea that with BIOS, if it works don't fix it). But I'm still greatfull to have it as I may still end up needing it at some point.

I found the answer to my 3rd question myself. In case someone finds this by searching, I'll explain:

If you use the western digital alternate jumper setting, then the XP istall only sees 32GB. The solution is to use the regular jumper setting and then turn off autodetecting for that drive in the bios and manually define it to be something smaller than 64GB. Thenthe XP install sees the full 120GB drive.

Chris
Denniss
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Nonses what WD writes with alternative setting and XP
If you limit your drive to 32GB then NT W2K XP and Linux are able to access the whole drive - only the Boot partition has to be in the first 32GB - the area the Bios is able to detect
It works because these OS don't rely on the Bios to access HDD
It works even with older Bios and 8GB limit - then the Boot partition has to be in the first 8GB - all other space is available within these OS to partition/format
cn21713
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I understand that XP does not get the information from the BIOS. What I said is that if you physicaly jumper the hard drive to the alternate jumper settings provided by western digital, XP does see it as only 32GB. (At least durring the install where it lets you create and format partitions.) Apparently the alternate jumper settings effect both how the hard drive reports itself to the BIOS and how it reports itself to XP.

(The alternate jumper settings use 2 jumpers on the hard drive instead of the normal 1 jumper for a western digital drive.)

The rest of what I said is consistent with your point. I said that it did work when I used the normal jumper settings on the hard drive and manually told the BIOS that the drive was smaller than it actually is. And that is exactly an example of XP not getting the information from the BIOS, which was your point.

Chris
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