440 chipset and hard drive limitation

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark M
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Mark M

Got a note from Gigabyte tech support saying that their old GA-6BXE
motherboard does not support hard drives larger than 75 GB because
of a limitation in the 440 BX chipset which it uses.

Is this actually true? I have not come across a 75 GB limit.

Mark



BTW the mobo uses the "Intel 82440 BX AGPset" and "iTE 8671 I/Oset"
 
Got a note from Gigabyte tech support saying that their old GA-6BXE
motherboard does not support hard drives larger than 75 GB because
of a limitation in the 440 BX chipset which it uses.

Is this actually true? I have not come across a 75 GB limit.
Click to expand...

No, it isn't true and Gigabyte knows this!

I have a Gigabyte GA6BXD running, also with 440BX chipset and it runs
with my Samsung SP1614N (160GB) very well.

But You should ensure, that Your OS can handle such drives. For
Windows XP I gues You have to install the ServicePack 1. Don't know
with W2K.

I'm pretty sure, that Your Mobo will support the drive, too, also
there is only 136GB written in the bios like it is done in my bios,
too.

BUT: The BX-chipset isn't very fast for current drives. UDMA33 is much
to less to let modern drives perform well.

Moritz
 
Highpoint Rocket 133 dual-channel IDE controller: $30. Can be flashed for
RAID. RAID 0 for thirty bucks, anyone?
 
Mark M said:
Got a note from Gigabyte tech support saying that their old GA-6BXE
motherboard does not support hard drives larger than 75 GB because
of a limitation in the 440 BX chipset which it uses.

Is this actually true? I have not come across a 75 GB limit.
Click to expand...
I have 2 servers based on GA-6BXDS running 120GB IDEs perfectly.
 
Alien Zord said:
I have 2 servers based on GA-6BXDS running 120GB IDEs
perfectly.
Click to expand...


Is the operating system overcoming the barrier for you?

I need to work in something like DOS to do partition copying so the
OS is not likely to be a workaround in my case.

Have you had to update the BIOS? If so then to what version?
 
Mark M said:
Is the operating system overcoming the barrier for you?
Click to expand...
There is no such thing as a 75GB barrier. Most 440BX will do 135GB, ancient
ones will hang over 32GB.
 
Try using a hard disk manager / diagnostic tool.
Download from hard drive manufacturer site.
Some offer drive tests as well.

HTH,
John7
 
Mark M said:
1) Is the operating system overcoming the barrier for you?

2) I need to work in something like DOS to do partition copying so the
OS is not likely to be a workaround in my case.

3) Have you had to update the BIOS? If so then to what version?
Click to expand...
1) No
2) One of the drives was partitioned and formatted in FAT32 (using a Win98
boot floppy) because Norton Ghost versions prior to 2003 could not write to
NTFS partitions.
3) Yes, its F1 now.
 
Mark M said:
Got a note from Gigabyte tech support saying that their old GA-6BXE
motherboard does not support hard drives larger than 75 GB because
of a limitation in the 440 BX chipset which it uses.

Is this actually true?
Click to expand...

No, and you know that very well.
 
Alien Zord said:
1) No
2) One of the drives was partitioned and formatted in FAT32
(using a Win98 boot floppy) because Norton Ghost versions
prior to 2003 could not write to NTFS partitions.
3) Yes, its F1 now.
Click to expand...

Seems that something is wrong with the Gigabyte site then. It
talks of version F2 of the BIOS update permitting access to disks
larger than 75 GB.

By implication version F1 can not do this. In fact this page
suggests that the whole purpose of version F2 is to provide 75GB
support.

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-6BXE.htm
 
Mark M said:
Seems that something is wrong with the Gigabyte site then. It
talks of version F2 of the BIOS update permitting access to disks
larger than 75 GB.

By implication version F1 can not do this. In fact this page
suggests that the whole purpose of version F2 is to provide 75GB
support.

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-6BXE.htm
Click to expand...
That's for your mobo, my one's here:
http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-6BXDS.htm

That 75GB limit is strange. Neither a whole binary or decimal representation
of capacity. The limits were 8GB binary (24 bit LBA), 32GB (Award BIOS),
64GB (68.72 decimal) (FDISK) and 128GB (137 decimal) (28 bit extended LBA).
 
Folkert Rienstra said:
No, and you know that very well.
Click to expand...

I do not know everything, Folkert! :-)

In fact I do not know all the spec of the 440BX chipset so it may
be that there is a limitation the 440BX has separately from the LBA
addressing limitation.

Certainly that is what Gigabyte Tech Support seem to be telling me
in emails. And that is a possible interpretation of this:

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-6BXE.htm
Can you read the description for version F2?

I am assuming, perhaps wrongly, that Gigabyte knows more about
their motherboards than I do. It is confusing. Your ejaculations
do not help. :-)

See?!
Click to expand...

EWr, what does that prove? It shos that my limited experience in
these matters has not encountered this before. I have not seen
China but that does not mean it does not exist. Heh!
 
Mark M said:
I do not know everything, Folkert! :-)

In fact I do not know all the spec of the 440BX chipset so it may
be that there is a limitation the 440BX has separately from the LBA
addressing limitation.

Certainly that is what Gigabyte Tech Support seem to be telling me
in emails. And that is a possible interpretation of this:

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-6BXE.htm
Can you read the description for version F2?

I am assuming, perhaps wrongly, that Gigabyte knows more about
their motherboards than I do. It is confusing. Your ejaculations
do not help. :-)
Click to expand...

Here is everything you need to know about the 440BX chipset:

http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/index.htm

There is a lot of information, so hopefully you will be able to quickly find
what you're looking for. Good luck.

Rita
 
Mark M said:
I do not know everything, Folkert! :-)

In fact I do not know all the spec of the 440BX chipset so it may
be that there is a limitation the 440BX has separately from the LBA
addressing limitation.

Certainly that is what Gigabyte Tech Support seem to be telling me
in emails. And that is a possible interpretation of this:

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-6BXE.htm
Can you read the description for version F2?
Click to expand...
Given that this is fixed in a BIOS release, it is implied that this is a
BIOS problem, not a chipset limit....
75GB, is an 'odd' place for such a limit, but is is probably a combination
of internal limits on track numbers/head numbers.
I am assuming, perhaps wrongly, that Gigabyte knows more about
their motherboards than I do. It is confusing. Your ejaculations
do not help. :-)


EWr, what does that prove? It shos that my limited experience in
these matters has not encountered this before. I have not seen
China but that does not mean it does not exist. Heh!
Click to expand...

Best Wishes
 
Roger Hamlett said:
Given that this is fixed in a BIOS release, it is implied that this is a
BIOS problem, not a chipset limit....
Obviously.

75GB, is an 'odd' place for such a limit, but is is probably a combination
of internal limits on track numbers/head numbers.
Click to expand...

Which is hard to imagine with the natural CHS addressing limit at 32 GB.
And that's for both ATA interface (P-CHS) and BIOS side (L-CHS).

Which leaves setting size limitations through emulated P-CHS.
That is best left alone since some bioses do unexpected things
e.g. by setting the SET MAX ADDRESS permanently.
 
Mark M said:
I do not know everything, Folkert! :-)
Click to expand...

But you *do* know that these type of limitations (bugs) are all software.
In fact I do not know all the spec of the 440BX chipset so it may
be that there is a limitation the 440BX has separately from the LBA
addressing limitation.

Certainly that is what Gigabyte Tech Support seem to be telling me in emails.
Click to expand...

So you jumped up for joy thinking "I finally got a new stupid question to ask".
And that is a possible interpretation of this:

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-6BXE.htm
Can you read the description for version F2?

I am assuming, perhaps wrongly, that Gigabyte knows more about their
motherboards than I do. It is confusing.
Click to expand...

They are mainly marketing operations that buy their boards elsewhere.
They know of problems through persons like yourself or from the operations
that provide the boards and/or firmware. They are just the 'inbetween'.
Your ejaculations do not help. :-)
Click to expand...

Hmm, and here I thought that such an attention starved person like yourself
would appreciate a warm shower. *eg*
 
Folkert Rienstra said:
But you *do* know that these type of limitations (bugs) are
all software.
Click to expand...

I don't think that is true unless you call embedded code in chips
"software".
So you jumped up for joy thinking "I finally got a new stupid
question to ask".
Click to expand...

Folkie, please take this the right way ... I have no problem if you
wish to beat your old drum and shout out about what you (rather
incorrectly) think is the poor way I approach these things. Maybe
I am insanely stupid and inept. But maybe not.

Whatever I am, I do the best I can. And your repeated inaccurate
observations on my approach will not somehow magically persuade me
otherwise.

Perhaps I should make it my quest to offer endless pedantry in
comments to your postings? Heh!

They are mainly marketing operations that buy their boards
elsewhere. They know of problems through persons like yourself
or from the operations that provide the boards and/or
firmware. They are just the 'inbetween'.
Click to expand...

That is a good guess if you misinterpreted what I wrote. I wrote
that I got this info from Gigabyte Tech Support and I mean from
Taiwan. Even if you missed that you coul dhave seen the web page I
referred to and noticed that the Gigabyte company was of the
opinion that version F2 of the BIOS ugrade overcame the 75 GB
limit.

I don't know how I can make this any clearer.
 
Is the operating system overcoming the barrier for you?

I need to work in something like DOS to do partition copying so the
OS is not likely to be a workaround in my case.

Have you had to update the BIOS? If so then to what version?
Click to expand...

I had to run a special program to enable drives that big on my BX
board. I think it was from a HD maker, and I got it on the net.
 
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