ASUS P2B-S IDE HDD Size Support ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Marcus E
  • Start date Start date
M

Marcus E

Hi!

I am posting this mezz hoping for an answer that can solve my problem.

I am trying to install a 30 Gb 2.5" IDE HDD on my system. The system
is based on a ASUS P2B-S motherboard with 128 Mb SDRAM, 300 MHZ Intel
Celeron, 4.3 Gb UWSCSI Drive, SCSI CDROM/Burner.

Plugging this disk into a IDE slot on the motherboard,via a 2.5" to
3.5" converter adapter. Then entering the BIOS on startup and
autodetecting new HDD I found a new HDD, selecting it as LBA (read
something on google that pointed on selecting this when using a disk >
528 Mb). Saved the configuration and started Win XP. Finally in XP I
opened 'My Computer' but no disk was found, and directly after Win XP
encountered a error and shut down.

I bought this motherbord in 1998 and have not upgraded my BIOS ever.
I figure it's a problem with handeling the new disk size or something.
I thought this motherboard could handle a HDD of size 30 Gb ? Is there
a limitation on the motherboard? If so, how do I change this
limitation to handle my disk ? Can there be a conflict with the SCSI
Drive which is set as boot drive (my IDE HDD being primary master on
the IDE slot) ?

Anyone who have had kind of the same experience? Hope on a answer, any
help/suggestions would be appriciated.

Best Regards, Marcus
 
Hi!

I am posting this mezz hoping for an answer that can solve my problem.

I am trying to install a 30 Gb 2.5" IDE HDD on my system. The system
is based on a ASUS P2B-S motherboard with 128 Mb SDRAM, 300 MHZ Intel
Celeron, 4.3 Gb UWSCSI Drive, SCSI CDROM/Burner.

Plugging this disk into a IDE slot on the motherboard,via a 2.5" to
3.5" converter adapter. Then entering the BIOS on startup and
autodetecting new HDD I found a new HDD, selecting it as LBA (read
something on google that pointed on selecting this when using a disk >
528 Mb). Saved the configuration and started Win XP. Finally in XP I
opened 'My Computer' but no disk was found, and directly after Win XP
encountered a error and shut down.

I bought this motherbord in 1998 and have not upgraded my BIOS ever.
I figure it's a problem with handeling the new disk size or something.
I thought this motherboard could handle a HDD of size 30 Gb ? Is there
a limitation on the motherboard? If so, how do I change this
limitation to handle my disk ? Can there be a conflict with the SCSI
Drive which is set as boot drive (my IDE HDD being primary master on
the IDE slot) ?

Anyone who have had kind of the same experience? Hope on a answer, any
help/suggestions would be appriciated.

Best Regards, Marcus
Click to expand...

These are the Asus "general" resources -

http://www.asus.it/support/english/techref/48bithdd/index.aspx (modern)
http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq076_32gb_ide_hdd.htm (older)

The second link lists "bis einschl. 128 GB", which means, I guess,
up to 128GB disks with the latest beta BIOS.

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/download.aspx takes you here:
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/down...2&l3_id=1&m_id=10&f_name=1014s003.zip~zaqwedc

Try flashing up to 1014.003, using a copy of aflash221 from the same
download page. That beta BIOS is pretty safe, and is the version I
have on my P2B-S + Tualatin + Upgradeware Slot-T + voltage regulator
mod.

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/down...&l3_id=1&m_id=10&f_name=aflash221.zip~zaqwedc

As I never used the SCSI stuff on my P2B-S, I cannot vouch for
any interaction between SCSI/IDE/New_BIOS. Perhaps our regular
poster "P2B" has an answer for that, one way or another.

When flashing the BIOS, make a backup copy of the current BIOS file,
because getting another copy of the original BIOS might be difficult
now. If things "go south" on you, you can always flash back to the
original BIOS and get to keep using the machine.

HTH,
Paul
 
Marcus said:
Hi!

I am posting this mezz hoping for an answer that can solve my problem.

I am trying to install a 30 Gb 2.5" IDE HDD on my system. The system
is based on a ASUS P2B-S motherboard with 128 Mb SDRAM, 300 MHZ Intel
Celeron, 4.3 Gb UWSCSI Drive, SCSI CDROM/Burner.

Plugging this disk into a IDE slot on the motherboard,via a 2.5" to
3.5" converter adapter. Then entering the BIOS on startup and
autodetecting new HDD I found a new HDD, selecting it as LBA (read
something on google that pointed on selecting this when using a disk >
528 Mb). Saved the configuration and started Win XP. Finally in XP I
opened 'My Computer' but no disk was found, and directly after Win XP
encountered a error and shut down.

I bought this motherbord in 1998 and have not upgraded my BIOS ever.
I figure it's a problem with handeling the new disk size or something.
I thought this motherboard could handle a HDD of size 30 Gb ? Is there
a limitation on the motherboard? If so, how do I change this
limitation to handle my disk ? Can there be a conflict with the SCSI
Drive which is set as boot drive (my IDE HDD being primary master on
the IDE slot) ?

Anyone who have had kind of the same experience? Hope on a answer, any
help/suggestions would be appriciated.

Best Regards, Marcus
Click to expand...

If Paul's suggestion does not work for you, then there might be
another solution. I have an old Pentium 133 that has a BIOS that
only recognizes a hard drive up to the 8.4Gb limit. For years I
have successfully used 2 30Gb hard drives in that old computer.
The solution was a product called the DTC 1181Y2K Bios Upgrade.
It is a small ISA card that allows you to recognize hard drives
up to a capacity of 32Gb. It not only works without any problems,
both drives are also recognized across my network. Maybe you can
use one of these in an ISA slot on the P2B-S motherboard.
Here is a link where you can find out a bit more and where you
can purchase one ...

http://www.softwareandstuff.com/h_acc_biosupg.html

Good luck. This is probably safer than hosing your existing
BIOS with a bad flash.

Eckto
 
Paul said:
These are the Asus "general" resources -

http://www.asus.it/support/english/techref/48bithdd/index.aspx (modern)
http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq076_32gb_ide_hdd.htm (older)

The second link lists "bis einschl. 128 GB", which means, I guess,
up to 128GB disks with the latest beta BIOS.

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/download.aspx takes you here:
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/down...2&l3_id=1&m_id=10&f_name=1014s003.zip~zaqwedc

Try flashing up to 1014.003, using a copy of aflash221 from the same
download page. That beta BIOS is pretty safe, and is the version I
have on my P2B-S + Tualatin + Upgradeware Slot-T + voltage regulator
mod.
Click to expand...

IIRC, the last release BIOS would also support the OPs 30GB drive (1013,
up to 32GB). However, since a BIOS update is required, I agree 1014.003
would be the best choice - it's solid, I've been running it for years.

The 30GB drive should be correctly detected using the AUTO setting after
the BIOS update.
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/down...&l3_id=1&m_id=10&f_name=aflash221.zip~zaqwedc

As I never used the SCSI stuff on my P2B-S, I cannot vouch for
any interaction between SCSI/IDE/New_BIOS. Perhaps our regular
poster "P2B" has an answer for that, one way or another.
Click to expand...

I rarely use the IDE stuff on my P2B-Ss :-)

There's no problem with SCSI/IDE drive conflict, it's controlled by the
"HDD Sequence SCSI/IDE First" switch on the BIOS Features Setup page -
in fact you can install an OS on both the SCSI and IDE drives, and use
the BIOS switch to select which one you wish to boot.
 
DaveW said:
That motherboard's BIOS CANNOT recognize that large of a harddrive.
Click to expand...

Nonsense. BIOS 1013 supports up to 32GB, and 1014.003 supports up to
128GB drives.

P2B
 
Marcus said:
Hi!

I am posting this mezz hoping for an answer that can solve my problem.

I am trying to install a 30 Gb 2.5" IDE HDD on my system. The system
is based on a ASUS P2B-S motherboard with 128 Mb SDRAM, 300 MHZ Intel
Celeron, 4.3 Gb UWSCSI Drive, SCSI CDROM/Burner.

Plugging this disk into a IDE slot on the motherboard,via a 2.5" to
3.5" converter adapter. Then entering the BIOS on startup and
autodetecting new HDD I found a new HDD, selecting it as LBA (read
something on google that pointed on selecting this when using a disk >
528 Mb). Saved the configuration and started Win XP. Finally in XP I
opened 'My Computer' but no disk was found, and directly after Win XP
encountered a error and shut down.

I bought this motherbord in 1998 and have not upgraded my BIOS ever.
I figure it's a problem with handeling the new disk size or something.
I thought this motherboard could handle a HDD of size 30 Gb ? Is there
a limitation on the motherboard? If so, how do I change this
limitation to handle my disk ? Can there be a conflict with the SCSI
Drive which is set as boot drive (my IDE HDD being primary master on
the IDE slot) ?

Anyone who have had kind of the same experience? Hope on a answer, any
help/suggestions would be appriciated.

Best Regards, Marcus
Click to expand...
Hi,
I solved this problem with mine with the latest beta bios (it`s
mentioned in the thread). Severall weeks ago I went for a controller
(pci card, ebay) and found most of them capable of "big" drives (at
least 128 gig).
Regards,
Niclaas
 
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