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100GB: 05/30/2000-i440BX-FD-2A69KD4FC-00

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2003 4:19 am
by Fubster
I purchased a WD 100GB HDD several months ago, and finally got it recognized by installing "EZ-Bios" (this is not my boot drive). The specs for EZ-Bios say it is not supported in Win2K, but it worked for me anyway. However, I installed a Win2K SP on my machine, and I could no longer see the 100GB drive. I unistalled the SP, and the drive re-appeared. I would like to be able to recognize the drive through the Motherboard's bios to allow for such upgrades, and I also believe thet I will see system improvements without EZ-Bios in the way. Here is the report from BIOS Agent.

Program: eSupport.com BIOS Agent Version 3.21
BIOS Date: 05/30/00
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS ID: 05/30/2000-i440BX-FD-2A69KD4FC
Chipset: Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Superio: Unknown
OS: Win2000
CPU: INTEL(R) CELERON(TM) 433 Mhz MAX: 400 Mhz
BIOS ROM In Socket: Yes
BIOS ROM Size: 256K
Memory Installed: 128 MB
Memory Maximum: 768 MB
Memory Slot 01: 0 MB
Memory Slot 02: 0 MB
Memory Slot 03: 128 MB


One other notable peeve is that my PC does not shut down from Win2K (It used to under Win98), I get the "You may now shut down" screen and have to power it off manually, which requires depressing the power button for about 5 seconds! If that can be easily remedied, fantastic.

I also ran BIOS Wizard, and it gave me the following report:

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 : BIOS supports minimum version 2.2. Latest is
version 2.3
ACPI Version : BIOS currently supports latest version 1.0
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 : BIOS doesn't support this feature
Supports ZIP Booting : BIOS doesn't support this feature
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 : 05/30/2000-i440BX-FD-2A69KD4FC-00
BIOS Date : 05/30/00
BIOS OEM Signon :
BIOS ROM Size : 256K
Chipset : Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Super I/O Chip : Winbond 83977EF found at port 3F0h



Thanks in Advance for any help!!!

-Fubster

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2003 11:08 am
by Rainbow
Your BIOS supports HDDs up to 128GB - there's no need to use EZ-BIOS. Remove it and the drive should work fine.
Shutdown - do you have ACPI enabled in BIOS?

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2003 4:41 am
by Fubster
OK, here's a question for you....

I unistalled EZ-bios, booted up from Win2K, tried to access my D: drive (the 100GB WD HDD), and Win2K informed me that the drive was not formatted, would I like to format it? I clicked on "No", because there is data on the drive I do not want to loose.

I then went back and re-installed EZ-bios, thinking at the very least, I would back up my D: drive to CD Roms in case I did need to re-format the drive. Guess what, even with EZ-bios re-installed, Win2K still informs me that the drive is not formatted!

Finally, the question: What do I need to do to access the data that is currently sitting on that drive?!!?

HELP!!!

Thanks in advance!

-Fubster

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2003 4:40 am
by soupy
I'd contact EZ-Bios tech support, but I think you're screwed. You really should have backed up your data BEFORE you uninstalled it.

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2003 4:50 am
by Fubster
Yea, I figured about the backup too late...I thought it would just be like moving the HDD from one machine to another, the data is still there. I'm surpised it's not, and I don't understand why it's not.

I actually do have a support email in to WD about this, of course, with the holiday weekend, I'm waiting til Tuesday at the earliest.

On the other hand, I know what I will be losing if I cannot get the data back, and it's not life or death...you know how it is, when you first find out something is gone, it IS life or death! After a day, you are able to put things into perspective.

Thanks for the help!

-Fubster

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2003 11:45 am
by Rainbow
There are some programs that can recover data from corrupted partitions, deleted files and some other things. IIRC, one of them si called GetDataBack. Try it (or something similar).

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2003 11:49 am
by edwin
powerquest lost and found. I think it is called differently now.

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:36 am
by Fubster
:(
Update:

This drive's full capacity is NOT recognized by my BIOS. HELP!

The BIOS has an option for showing the auto-recognized specs for each drive, and this 100GB drive is recognized at about 33GB. Please tell me what other information I can provide.

Thanks!!

-Fub

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 9:53 am
by Denniss
Remove the 32GB limitation jumper from your HDD

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 9:43 pm
by Fubster
:roll:
Oh my...this was no doubt my problem since I removed EZ-Bios.
When I first installed the HDD, I did not have the update for my bios, and according to WD, some "different" jumper configs are needed to get the HDD recognized by some bios'. For me, this involved setting the Slave Jumper AND CS Jumper together. I had no idea this put a 32 Gig limitation on the drive.

Anyway, I removed the Slave Jumper and left the CS Jumper, and everything works great. Thank you very much for all of your replies.

Now if I can just get the machine to shut down, because I do have ACPI enabled (I am fairly certain, I will verify again)...but I will start a new thread in the Power Management forum.

-Fubster