A7V question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Skeeter
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S

Skeeter

Hi. I have an A7V motherboard with a 1.1 Ghz TBird processor that is about
two and a half years old. I have a 40GB and 120GB HD on her and I am
getting full. I would like to buy a 160 internal and a kit to make it into
an external firewire drive. Can my Mobo handle it? A clerk at one of the
computer stores I go to suggested I may have to get a controller card since
it is more than 120GB but I never know if the guy I am talking to knows what
he is talking about or not. I have no more slots for another card so this
info is critical. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Skeeter said:
Hi. I have an A7V motherboard with a 1.1 Ghz TBird processor that is
about two and a half years old. I have a 40GB and 120GB HD on her
and I am getting full. I would like to buy a 160 internal and a kit
to make it into an external firewire drive. Can my Mobo handle it?
A clerk at one of the computer stores I go to suggested I may have to
get a controller card since it is more than 120GB but I never know if
the guy I am talking to knows what he is talking about or not. I
have no more slots for another card so this info is critical. Any
advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

The 1011 BIOS for the A7V supports 48-bit LBA for large hard drives. You
will need the latest service pack for your OS to support 48 bit LBA as well.
The A7V does not natively support Firewire, so you will need an adapter card
 
S.Heenan said:
The 1011 BIOS for the A7V supports 48-bit LBA for large hard drives. You
will need the latest service pack for your OS to support 48 bit LBA as well.
The A7V does not natively support Firewire, so you will need an adapter
Click to expand...
card


i am assuming you have an a7v133 with the processor you mentioned, and the
time yu have had it...get the card. its inexpensive, and it will work
better with the set up you want. as for calling the gentleman a "clerk",
that is an insult, as he is way more informative than u are, and was just
trying to help your dumb ass out in the first place. people like you, with
your shitty computers and your up in the air attitude, make this world a bad
place. but yes, to answer your question, your computer is indeed a piece of
shit, just like you, and you will need the card, like you were told already.
jesus.
 
The said:
, your computer is indeed a piece of shit, just like
you, and you will need the card, like you were told already. jesus.
Click to expand...

Not yet Fully Enlightened I think...... ;-)


Guy
 
Skeeter said:
Hi. I have an A7V motherboard with a 1.1 Ghz TBird processor that is about
two and a half years old. I have a 40GB and 120GB HD on her and I am
getting full. I would like to buy a 160 internal and a kit to make it into
an external firewire drive. Can my Mobo handle it? A clerk at one of the
computer stores I go to suggested I may have to get a controller card since
it is more than 120GB but I never know if the guy I am talking to knows what
he is talking about or not. I have no more slots for another card so this
info is critical. Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Doesn't the A7V already have a raid promise controller right on board?
Tom
 
BGrieb wrote:

The original A7V with the KT133 chipset did not "officially" support
RAID, but there was a hacked BIOS or two to make it possible (like
Braziliantech.com). I'm not sure about later A7V boards with the
KT133A chipsets.

BG
Click to expand...

My mistake, I should have asked if his mobo had 4 IDE ports. If so, he
should have no problem with 3 hard drives internally and not have to get
an external case and firewire card.
Tom
 
Thanks for (almost) all the advice to date. At the risk of stirring "The
Enlightened One" into a heart stopping apoplexy: How exactly do I tell which
motherboard I have and which BIOS version I am running? I know it is an A7V
but I am not sure which iteration.

Thanks

ps I freely concede that I don't know more than most "clerks" in the
computer stores but that does not mean that I am so confident that they know
what they are talking about that I am willing to shell out my hard earned
loot without investigating further. In this case, I was told that I MAY need
the card. He wasn't even certain so please return to the underside of your
assigned bridge Oh Enlightened One.
 
Skeeter said:
Thanks for (almost) all the advice to date. At the risk of stirring
"The Enlightened One" into a heart stopping apoplexy: How exactly do
I tell which motherboard I have and which BIOS version I am running?
I know it is an A7V but I am not sure which iteration.
Click to expand...

Look on the printed circuit board for both the model number and the revision
number. It'll be silk-screened in white. The revision # will be 1.02, 1.05,
1.05. , something along those lines, usually between the PCI slots.
 
Skeeter said:
Thanks for (almost) all the advice to date. At the risk of stirring
"The Enlightened One" into a heart stopping apoplexy: How exactly
do I tell which motherboard I have and which BIOS version I am
running? I know it is an A7V but I am not sure which iteration.
Click to expand...

Your mobo definitely has a promise controller. This means you can put up
to eight drives on it provided your case has the room and cooling
capability, as well as your PS having enough wattage. You will need to
upgrade to bios 1011 for 48 bit HDD support to allow for drives larger
than 137 gig. I doubt if your bios is up to this level since you haven't
flashed it in 2 ½ years and the 1011 bios was released 5/2/02. You can
check your bios level by watching the screen when it boots. You will
probably see something like Award 1007. If the screen passes to quickly
I think you can freeze it by hitting the pause key. You can also enter
the bios settings to see the bios flash rev level by hitting the delete
key during boot. (manual pg 44).
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/kt133/a7v/a7v-104.pdf
You can scroll around the bios settings but just be sure to quit without
saving changes ( manual pg 79). Here's a good bios flash tutorial-
http://students.juniata.edu/gehrigm9/biosfaq.htm
Don't use EasyFlash, do it the old fashion way by using Aflash in Dos.
Download and unzip the flash file
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/kt133/a7v/a7v1011.zip
Download the flash utility (I like ver 2.21 cause it allows you to save
your existing bios settings to a text file and it allows you to clear
the CMOS without having to short the solder pads.
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/aflash221.zip
Download Dr. Dos for making the boot disk, it's quick, easy, and you
don't have to worry about running low on memory.
http://www.hellasystems.de/ftp/Utilities/BootDisk/DrDos70/drdflash.exe
Basically you have to start by making a floppy boot disk using Dr Dos
then adding the Award flash utility and the bios flash file to the floppy.
Make sure you can boot from your floppy drive. If not check the bios
settings to make sure the floppy is set as the first boot device. Write
down the exact name of the flash file. Boot from the floppy, run Aflash
and save your current bios just in case. Also save your current settings
to a text file. Flash to the new file, and clear the cmos. Boot to bios
and either load setup defaults or set your setting per your text file
printout.
Tom
 
I also have an a7v it has 2 ata 66 controllers and 1 ata 100
controller.In order to put more devices onboard i bought the promiise
tx133 pci card ,and have been very happy with it. As far as i know
the latest bios available for this board is the 1011 version mentioned
earlier which according to the way i read it will accept a cpu up to
1.8 gigs. I have the 1011 bios and am also considering upgrading my
cpu as (e-mail address removed) On Sat, 02 Aug 2003 01:41:12
 
tomcas wrote:

Download the flash utility (I like ver 2.21 cause it allows you to save
your existing bios settings to a text file and it allows you to clear
the CMOS without having to short the solder pads.
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/aflash221.zip
Click to expand...


Correction- you don't want that one cause it doesn't have the clear cmos
and setting to text application on it. You want the German version 2.21
ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/BIOS/BIOS_FLASH_UTILS/aflash221.zip
 
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