looking for bios update for old MB to work with new HD

[Vesper8]

Hello all, my good friend just bought a new hard drive, a 320gb ATA seagate and we're having an hell of a time trying to get windows to install on it. I think the bios isn't detecting it properly.. it seems to be accessible once we're in windows XP but the windows setup off of a boot cd isn't detecting it properly.

If we boot up with just the new HD plugged in it goes to a black screen after we press a key to boot from cd.

if we plug both the new and old HDs in then it launches the setup properly.. let's us choose a 20gb partition I made on the 320gb HD and copies the files to it.. but after it restarts it won't proceed with the setup.. it just doesn't want to boot from that new HD

i thought that maybe a bios update would help but now I'm pretty doubtful. Anyway here's the information I have on the current bios and below is a link to what I think is the latest bios update (which doesn't seem hopeful in correcting our issue in any case)

the info I got from the boot-up screen is this :

Award Modular Bios v6.00PG
W6385MS v1.1
i850-W627HF-6A695M4AC

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/bios/bos/spt_bos_detail.php?UID=133&kind=1

any advice/help is appreciated, thanks

 

[tcsenter]

i thought that maybe a bios update would help but now I'm pretty doubtful. Anyway here's the information I have on the current bios and below is a link to what I think is the latest bios update (which doesn't seem hopeful in correcting our issue in any case)

You're sorta right, the latest BIOS isn't the one that introduced the fix for your problem, it was the next to latest:

Version 1.3
Update Description

-Fix DMI memory information error
-Support HDD > 137GB

Fortunately, the latest BIOS will include all the improvements of previous ones (cumulative). Since you'll be updating, might as well go with the latest.

 

[Vesper8]

ahh.. indeed! that should help!

but.. does that mean that you agree that this is the correct bios ? anyone else ?

i did not check the brand on the MB itself so I just went with what was displayed on-screen during the initial boot sequence and this is what I found after a little research

i'd love a confirmation from a pro though if anyone knows how to check this stuff.. i wouldn't want to flash the wrong bios on my friend's MB!

 

[lenjack]

If it's tne wrong bios, the board becomes a doorstop.

 

[Iron Woode]

step 1: make sure you know exactly what motherboard you are dealing with. Open up the case and look for the name and model silkscreened on the board.

step 2: update to the newest BIOS for your motherboard

step 3: install winxp

step 4. XP will not see anymore than 137 gig until atleast servicepack 1 is installed.

hope this helps.