Old Pentium 3 computer and 120 gig hard drive

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-06-17 02:33am

My mother asks if I could work on her friend's computer; said friend bought a Western Digital 120 gig drive (bought a SECOND one for me, too) because it was a hot deal ($60 after rebates) and wants me to install it in her computer.

The computer refuses to acknowledge the existence of the 120 gig hard drive. It detects the previous 10 gig just fine.

Said computer has a Daewoo CB641X-BX motherboard based on the Intel 440BX chipset. The onboard IDE can do UDMA/33.

I tried installing the latest BIOS update listed at Daewoo's site; no luck. CTL (company that originally built the computer) has them all in a big pile on an FTP server with no descriptions, I suppose I'll have to try emailing them to get a clearer answer.

I've tried any number of jumper configurations on the new drive. I've tried running it as slave under the 10 gig, I've tried running it as master, I've tried cable select, I've tried 40- and 80-conductor cables. I put the 120 gig in another machine and it was detected instantly and perfectly.

Any suggestions? Could it be that this motherboard will simply not accept the 120 gig?

And if so, can I work around that by using a PCI IDE controller card?

Macross · Post by **Macross** » 2003-06-17 03:09am

Older machines have trouble with the newer larger capatcity hard drives. If the BIOS isnt recognizing the hard-drive, then its probably because the interface between the hard-drive and the mother-board are incompatible.

My guess would be that the new hard-drive has an ATA interface. Its listed in the specifications on the side of the box. In which case, you would need a ATA PCI Adapter Card. They run for about $40, and can be bought at any major computer store.

Good Luck.

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2003-06-17 04:22am

A Daewoo motherboard? You might as well have plugged your processor into a slice of cheese.

I hate to do this, because I know so many people that are innocently unaware of just how quickly hardware becomes obsolete, but tell your mom that if she wants to do things on the cheap, she'd better be prepared for some crappy performance. Tell her it's time to bite the bullet and drop several hundred (at least) on a huge upgrade or even just a brand new computer.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-06-17 04:42am

Uh, SPOOFE...

1) This is my mom's friend's computer. Said friend is happy with the computer mostly as is and decided it would be nice to have more storage space (hence my current dilemma). As such there's no real complaints about the speed. (besides, one typically won't see much speed increase on a P3/450 by upgrading the hard drive... that's like upgrading the network connection on an old 286 to a gigabit connection, eh?)

In any case, it's missing the point of this upgrade, which is simply adding more storage space.

2) Motherboard replacement is not an option.

Macross: Actually, the motherboard is ATA/33 capable. But I was planning on just buying a controller card for it after fruitless hours of work.

Jawawithagun · Post by **Jawawithagun** » 2003-06-17 04:56am

Had a similar problem with my old Asus TX97-E board (I'm still running a 200MHz system)

the Award BIOS contains a bug that can prevent you from using >32GB HDDs. (there is another one at 64GB)

http://wims.host.sk/

and here seems to be one with asimilar problem (though, I don't understand enough italian)
http://www.freelists.org/archives/linux ... 00084.html

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2003-06-17 04:58am

This is my mom's friend's computer. Said friend is happy with the computer mostly as is and decided it would be nice to have more storage space (hence my current dilemma). As such there's no real complaints about the speed.

Read better. I said nothing about speed.

Motherboard replacement is not an option.

Then you have no option. Tell your mom to return the hard drive.

Coaan · Post by **Coaan** » 2003-06-17 05:30am

ATA/33

Since when did they make the mammoth 120gb drives in anything slower than 200? (can't remember the friggin name for the actual term...so sue me)

Your kidding yourself if you thing a modern piece of hardware will even function in what would probably be as much use as your every day burnt out toaster in the computing world.

At best you could get a 66 thingimy hard drive and even then that would last approximately three months before said drive got unrepairable errors...I know...been through the exact thing..

If your mom's friend won't upgrade...only option is to return the drive and get something like a zip drive (250mb) with enough discs it could be a standin...but there's no way in all of the frozen hells that will ever work.

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2003-06-17 07:50am

Western Digital drives need ATA100, whilst some Maxtor and Seagate drives support ATA133 as well. ATA/33 is not going to work if that's all it has. You're right, you need a add-on card, but personally I've never heard of an addon card that's just a ATA100 port - but I trust Macross they could be obtained. But even then you might have motherboard errors - it's a long bet.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-06-17 09:45am

Promise U-ATA controller card. Get one.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-06-17 05:30pm

Darth Wong wrote:Promise U-ATA controller card. Get one.

The Ultra100TX2 will work with large drives when you give it a firmware update and the Ultra133TX2 has that support natively.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-06-17 05:32pm

Coaan wrote:Since when did they make the mammoth 120gb drives in anything slower than 200? (can't remember the friggin name for the actual term...so sue me)

No ATA hard drive can even saturate an ATA66 bus, much less ATA100 or ATA133. The proper term is 48-bit addressing support,.

Your kidding yourself if you thing a modern piece of hardware will even function in what would probably be as much use as your every day burnt out toaster in the computing world.

It will function if you put a proper adapter card into it.

At best you could get a 66 thingimy hard drive and even then that would last approximately three months before said drive got unrepairable errors...I know...been through the exact thing..

The issue is size, not the speed of the interface.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2003-06-17 06:05pm

phongn wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:Promise U-ATA controller card. Get one.
The Ultra100TX2 will work with large drives when you give it a firmware update and the Ultra133TX2 has that support natively.

I got that for 23$, by looking somewhere on CNET.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-06-17 06:15pm

Newegg has them cheap, too.

Stay away from Highpoint-based cards, though.