BIOS Updates forum

I have a 80 GB harddisk, that isn't recognized by the BIOS.
Therefore I've to limit the capacity (by setting a jumper at
the harddisk) to 32 GB.
Nevertheless I can address all the 80 GB with the LBA-addressing
mechanism in the Partition table. Of course programs like Partition Magic report an error in the Partition Table, because they assume, that the
harddisk is only 32 GB big and partitions are addressed in the Partition
Table over this 32 GB (over LBA). BUT besides this error messages
in Partition Magic everything runs fine. I can use the whole 80 GB
in my Operating Systems (Win98 and Linux).

Now the problem:
If I turn off my computer, the BIOS (I think) recognizes that the
Partition Table has an "error" and changes the Partition values!
Therefore I have to adjust the values everytime, when I switch
off my computer. When I only reboot everything runs fine.

My question:
Is there a way to tell the Award BIOS not to check the Partition Table, and
leave it like it is?

I would be delighted to hear from you!

Greetings Siggi.

I'm sure the "Experts" here can patch your BIOS to recognize all 80GB, if you give them your BIOS string and other related info...

KachiWachi wrote:I'm sure the "Experts" here can patch your BIOS to recognize all 80GB, if you give them your BIOS string and other related info...

In my case, be sure you put "Experts" in quotes. In fact, you can use "so-called expert". I'm still learning....

@asgeir: give us your BIOS ID and let us see what we can find !

Here are the figures:

AwardIDStr. 01/11/01-i440LX-DO-2A69JD4EC-00

Motherboard:
Manufacturer: DFI
Model: P2XLX/e Rev. B

BIOS:
Award PCI/PnP 686 S/N133647136@1998

CompID:FC Type AT (ATX)
Bios Date: 01/11/01
Award BIOS: v451PG

You have the manufacturer and model, did you check their website?

http://sj.dfi.com.tw/support1/download2.asp

I checked the site, of course.
BUT...the actual BIOS doesn't support harddiscs over
40 GB. There is another beta version of the BIOS that should
support harddiscs over 80 GB, BUT ... it doesn't work.
It cannot detect the harddisc. I have now installed this
newest beta version, but, as I said, with a jumper con-
figuration on the harddisc, that restricts the harddisc
to 40 GB.

So the question remains ...
How can I tell the BIOS not to check and alter the Partition Table, after it
is turned off?

It would be great, if someone has answers!

Either BIOS can be patched to support >64GB. I can't email it to you from work, but hopefully another associate can take care of it.

http://sj.dfi.com.tw/Download/Beta%20Si ... XE0111.ZIP

I just checked. Max size recognized is 64GB...

Here's the patched release:

http://wims.rainbow-software.org/ajz/

Don't forget to give us some feedback, Asgeir.

IT WORKS!!!

I don´t know, how you patched this BIOS,
but it´s working perfectly.

Thanks a lot!

To say it with the words of James Brown:
I feel good (again)!