Harddrive settings in Bios help!!!!

[coolVariable]

Today I bought a new HD for my Notebook: The IBM 30GB Harddrive IC25N030ATCS04
But now I have two "problems" with my Bios:

1.
When I select auto-detect Bios detects different settings for Cylinders/Heads/Sectors than those given by the manufacturer ... which should I use? Which are better?
IBM states the drive has 16383 Cyl / 16 Heads / 63 Sec but my Bios auto-detects something like 17??? Cyl / 15 Heads / 63 Sec ....... ?

2.
I am also puzzled by the Bios Transfer Mode Settings:
For Transfer Mode it auto-detects FPIO4/DMA2 (highest) but for U-DMA transfer mode it only selects U-DMA Mode-2 (and Mode-3 and Mode-4 are available).
Usually higher is better but I was having problems using those two modes ... and in my opinion a new HD (bought today) should support the highest transfer modes, shouldn't it? When I do select them WinXP hangs during the installation process and it is as if the laptop sometimes can't find the hd or some files on it ...
IBM states it supports 100MB/sec Ultra DMA Mode-5 as max. transfer rate .... but in my laptop it seeminly doesn't work.
Any surely my bios wouldn't offer these options if my lappy doesn't support them?


Link to Product Page
IBM Documentation


It would be generally nice to know this ...

 

[corkyg]

You did not say what model of laptop - that is important to the diagnosis. You may need to update your bios if one is available, because many laptops cannot accept had drives above a specified size. If you set it on "AUTO", then see what size it is determined to be - and if it is significantly less than 30 GB, you are probably looking at the ceiling for that particular laptop and bios setup.

Few laptops with a DOB earlier than 2000 can take a 30 GB 2.5" drive - they didn't exist then.

 

[coolVariable]

The Laptop is a no-name brand laptop.

1.
The problem is it accepts BOTH settings I just want to know WHICH is BETTER! (Cyl / Heads / Sec).

2.
The Bios is the newest Bios available and it offers me higher U-DMA modes but seemingly the drive does not support them ... although IBM says it does. If I select the other settings I ALWAYS get errors when trying to run winxp (mostly the laptop just sits there with a blinking icon when it should start booting from HD).

 

[coolVariable]

^^UP^^

 

[coolVariable]

Sad ... a computer forum where seemingly nobody knows what these settings mean ....

 

[SwampsterFL]

Good Morning Cool,

One of the up sides of buying a no-name product is you save money. One of the down sides is you never know exactly what you have.

Go with what IBM says, but leave the mode at 2. If WinXP won't install, the go with the detected settings.

The probability here is that your BIOS, even though the "latest" doesn't support better than mode 2 because that is all the chipset will support.

Corky is right on the age of the system. Usually a motherboard will have a build date on it somewhere. Check it out and see what is is.

Swampster.

 

[coolVariable]

Does this help you?

System Bios: Phoenix Technologies Ltd. 1.00.1.00
System Chipset: Intel Corp. 84443BX/ZX 440BX/ZX CPU to PCI Bridge (AGP Implemented)
System Manufacturer: Clevo Co.
Model: 322 Series