40GB: 12/03/97-VT82C580VP-2A5LA008C-00

[CICSAZRA]

Hi all.

I'm running an FIC motherboard model VX98 and cannot get it to recognize my nice new 40 gig Maxtor. All the FIC sites I've tried seem to be down at the moment except I briefy got into the Taiwan site.

The Maxtor site wasn't much help, they said they had an overlay for large drives with old BIOSs but unfortunately not for my drive yet! Besides, it restricts you to using their utility for formatting / partitioning etc. and only works for various Windows OSs and I want to play with Linux later on. They did however suggest a new motherboard or add-on PCI controller !

Does anyone have a BIOS flash to make these things talk to each other?

Symtoms:

In BIOS setup, autodetect comes up with zeros for all numbers (cyls, heads, precomp etc.) Entering them manually (guessing at the numbers because I can't find them at Maxtor) does no better. (tried LBA, Large, normal in "user" and "auto") When done & saved, the BIOS screen which comes up just before the OS gets control shows no drive.

Have tried all jumper settings and cable positions, disconnected the other drives, swapped cables but nothing works.

Technical details:

Drive:
Maxtor D740X-6L, model 6L040J2, 40GB, Ultra ATA/133
Various numbers on the label: (exactly as they appear)
40 GB AT Maxtor D740X-6L
Maxtor GTLA: VQ40A011-01-B
Maxtor P/N MX6L040J2
P/N 1: SQ-07J378-12547-26U-269W Rev: A00
CT:2526C402QNI08M P/N:253454-001
P/N 3: 11S24P3662ZJ1JN26GXJMN FRU:19K1568


BIOS: (as reported by BIOS Wizard 2.10)

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

Generated by: BIOS Wizard 2.10
Date: September 06, 2002
Time: 22:59

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 : 12/03/97-VT82C580VP-2A5LA008C-00
BIOS Date : 12/03/97
BIOS OEM Signon : Version VX98_1.01
BIOS ROM Size : 128K
Chipset : VIA 82C585 rev 37
Super I/O Chip : SMC 669 rev 2 found at port 370h

Anything anyone can suggest would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Rainbow]

Tha latest BIOS is:
07/09/1998-VT82C580VP-2A5LA008C-00
Version VX98_102
ftp://ftp.fica.com/BIOS/motherboards/Pe ... 98_102.zip
but it has still 32GB bug. I sent you this one patched.

[CICSAZRA]

Many thanks Rainbow.

Do you happen to know if it'll work with a DOS 6.3 bootable diskette? One of the readmes mentions 6.22 but also mentions 6.xx. Forgive me if this sounds paranoid but when it comes to potentially destroying my motherboard, I am !!

Thanks again.

[Rainbow]

You can use any DOS or Windows 9x boot disk - just make sure that there are no memory managers (like HIMEM.SYS or EMM386.EXE).

[CICSAZRA]

Many thanks Rainbow, I'll give it a shot with the 6.3 I have [without the memory manglers ;-) ]

Much appreciated.