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120GB: 05/11/1999-i440BX-ED-2A69KD4FC-00

Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 8:39 am
by griot_tm
This is the 1st time I've tried installing a new hard drive.... it seems that my motherboard doesn't detect drives over 33 GB. I have checked the diamond flower (dfi.com) site that seems to correspond to my motherboard according to your instructions, but they are of no help, with no link for my chipset.

Is there a bios upgrade around here for my computer? Any help that you could lend would be most appreciated. Let me know if there's any other information I need to supply. Thank you very much.

Bios Agent:

Program: Unicore BIOS Wizard Version 3.21
Program: eSupport.com BIOS Detect v1.2 July 21, 2003
BIOS Date: 05/11/99
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS ID: 05/11/1999-i440BX-ED-2A69KD4FC-00
OEM Sign-On:
Chipset: Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Superio: NSC 323 rev 15 found at port 15Ch
Superio: Winbond 977EF rev 4 found at port 3F0h

Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 10:33 am
by NickS
A search on this site for 2A69KD4FC suggests your board is DFI CB50-BX, PB50-BX or CB60-BX. Further investigation at DFI also suggests PB61-ZX as a possibility.

From the BIOS date it looks as though you have the CB60-BX/PB61-ZX BIOS PBBZF.BIN from PB61BZX0511.ZIP at http://www.dfi.com.tw. There is a later BIOS for there, PBBZH.BIN in PB61BZX1026.ZIP , description FIX IBM 37GB HDD DETECTED FAIL. Checking....
There's a later BIOS for PB50-BX, PB-BZK.BIN dated May 11, 2000, in file PB61BZX0530.ZIP...that supports big HDDs.

Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 9:39 pm
by griot_tm
I flashed in the PB61-ZX update (pbbzh.bin), the computer recognizes the new hard drive at startup (the first screen), but when loading and looking for primary slave (the new hard drive), it hangs and will not boot.

The same goes for when I attempt to auto-detect the harddrive in setup mode... when it gets to primary slave, it hangs and freezes.

I had to unplug the drive to get the computer to start up.

Does this mean that the BIOs is not the correct one?

Thank you again for your help.

Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 9:45 pm
by griot_tm
You also mentioned that there's a later BIOs for the PB50-BX that supports later harddrives, but you said that from the looks of the BIOs date that I had, that my BIOs was the CB60BX/PB61ZX.

In your estimation, how likely would it be that the update for the PB50-BX BIOs would work on my system?

Sorry for what are probably simple questions; I am learning as I go here.

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:18 am
by Denniss
Please use only a Biosfile designed for your Board - using a wrong file may render your system unusable !!

Do you really have the PB61-ZX or do you have a different model ??

If you have this motherboard make sure you use the Biosfile for your motherboard revision letter - DFI says Rev A/D1/D2 are existing and not all Biosfiles are for all revisions !
-> Latest Bios is for Rev D2 only

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 10:13 am
by NickS
Your problem with the machine hanging on the second screen is that the pbbzh.bin BIOS has the 32GiB bug fixed but not the 64GiB bug. The pbbzk.bin BIOS has both bugs fixed.
A number of these BIOSes listed for different DFI MVP4 boards are checksum-identical and must cover a variety of models (this is implied by the archive filename, which is PB61BZXmmdd.ZIP for all models; and by the binary filename which is pbbz?.bin for all models, and the signature), but there's always the possibility that one may not have been tested for compatibility with all of models.

According to Edwin, there should be a label on the printer port (inside the case) which tells you which model you have.

In your position I personally would try the pbbzk.bin bios from the PB50-BX page; but that is a small step into the unknown and (as with any BIOS flash) you do this at your own risk.