PcChips M575 - Will every harddrive < 32 GByte work ?
Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:00 am
Hi, I have a PcChips M575 mobo, which I recently flashed successfully with the latest available Bios (Release 04/02/1999S from the old BNS-website).
Everything works well (OS=Win98SE) and now I want to build in a larger HDD (I only have poor 1 GByte).
I have already found out, by writing an e-mail to PcChips-USA and by posting in the PcChips-Lottery-BBS, that the HD-Limit for this mobo with updated Bios is 32 GBytes (without drive-overlay-software, which I don´t want to use because I want to install Linux in addition to Windows and so the Win-Based overlay software will not really solve the problem and two 30-GB-drives will be completely sufficient for my purposes).
Ok, I know now that 32 GB is the limit for my board and Bios, and I have seen several offers of 30 GB-Drives at really acceptable prices in a second-hand-magazine, but I´m not sure if I can use EVERY 30 GB 3,5" E-IDE Harddrive, or if I have to check, if it fits to some further specifications, like special/maximum values of cylinders, heads and sectors.
And what about DMA 33/66/100 ?? Following the board´s manual it supports Ultra DMA/33 (33 MB/s) and Bus Master IDE DMA Mode 2 (and PIO Mode 0 to 4).
Can I also use DMA 66 or 100 or 133 drives, (with reduced transfer-rate) or will such drives make trouble with the DMA 33 of my board ?
I think I also read anywhere on the PcChips-Lottery-BBS that DMA of this motherboard doesn´t work at all although claimed in the boards description, because of any Bios or hardware (chipset ?) bugs.
Is this right ? And how to use a modern HD in this case ? Using some PIO-mode ? Which one ?
I hope anyone has some facts.
Additional information: If only some M575-boards have DMA-problems it may be relevant to know that I´ve seen a "1.1" or "v 1.1" printed on the board near the keybord-connector so it has to be version 1.1 of the M575.
I have already placed a post like this in the PcChips-Lottery-BBS, but I didn´t get there the informations I need, so according to the advice of one of the PcChips-Lottery-BBS-Members, I now try it here. I really hope anyone can tell me, if I have to look for further specifications beside the 32 GB-Limit, because it would be very annoying to buy a 30-GB-drive and see afterwards that it will not work !
SOMETHING DIFFERENT: I really want to say a big "Thank you very much" to the webmaster of this great site, without Wim´s BIOS Page (and the PcChips-Lottery) I wouldn´t have been able to update my Bios, not even to identify my motherboard ! This is really a big help for all owners of elder computers, who want to enhance the possibilities of their old machine, especially if they don´t have much PC-experience (like me) !
Everything works well (OS=Win98SE) and now I want to build in a larger HDD (I only have poor 1 GByte).
I have already found out, by writing an e-mail to PcChips-USA and by posting in the PcChips-Lottery-BBS, that the HD-Limit for this mobo with updated Bios is 32 GBytes (without drive-overlay-software, which I don´t want to use because I want to install Linux in addition to Windows and so the Win-Based overlay software will not really solve the problem and two 30-GB-drives will be completely sufficient for my purposes).
Ok, I know now that 32 GB is the limit for my board and Bios, and I have seen several offers of 30 GB-Drives at really acceptable prices in a second-hand-magazine, but I´m not sure if I can use EVERY 30 GB 3,5" E-IDE Harddrive, or if I have to check, if it fits to some further specifications, like special/maximum values of cylinders, heads and sectors.
And what about DMA 33/66/100 ?? Following the board´s manual it supports Ultra DMA/33 (33 MB/s) and Bus Master IDE DMA Mode 2 (and PIO Mode 0 to 4).
Can I also use DMA 66 or 100 or 133 drives, (with reduced transfer-rate) or will such drives make trouble with the DMA 33 of my board ?
I think I also read anywhere on the PcChips-Lottery-BBS that DMA of this motherboard doesn´t work at all although claimed in the boards description, because of any Bios or hardware (chipset ?) bugs.
Is this right ? And how to use a modern HD in this case ? Using some PIO-mode ? Which one ?
I hope anyone has some facts.
Additional information: If only some M575-boards have DMA-problems it may be relevant to know that I´ve seen a "1.1" or "v 1.1" printed on the board near the keybord-connector so it has to be version 1.1 of the M575.
I have already placed a post like this in the PcChips-Lottery-BBS, but I didn´t get there the informations I need, so according to the advice of one of the PcChips-Lottery-BBS-Members, I now try it here. I really hope anyone can tell me, if I have to look for further specifications beside the 32 GB-Limit, because it would be very annoying to buy a 30-GB-drive and see afterwards that it will not work !
SOMETHING DIFFERENT: I really want to say a big "Thank you very much" to the webmaster of this great site, without Wim´s BIOS Page (and the PcChips-Lottery) I wouldn´t have been able to update my Bios, not even to identify my motherboard ! This is really a big help for all owners of elder computers, who want to enhance the possibilities of their old machine, especially if they don´t have much PC-experience (like me) !