Need some help (Bios & Hard Drive)

[PrimoTurbo]

I got a new Western Digital 256Gb IDE hard drive, and it seems like my bios takes a long time to recognize it before boot (because it's old). I can only use auto recognize, the predefined only goes to 160. My Maxtor 40Gb took 3 seconds, the 250gb takes 20-25 seconds. Not a huge issue, because I reboot once in a few days only.

I wonder I I can upgrade the bios, but I have no idea how to do it.

From what I can get it's AMIBIOS ©2001 American Megatrend, Inc

6547SMS V1.9 101502

This is the motherboard I have I think.

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/detail_spec/645ultra.htm

Any idea how I got about upgrading or finding upgrade for the BIOS? I've never done it before. Thanks.

Also I used True Image and made a backup of the drive, I was able to restore all my stuff in 30 minutes Seems to work well.

 

[mechBgon]

If the new Western Digital drive is on its own data cable, all by itself, then turn off the computer and remove the jumper cap from the drive's Master/Slave/Cable-Select pins, and leave the jumper off. That sets it for Single Master, and should fix the slow detection.

 

[mechBgon]

Here's a direct link to the latest BIOS for your 645 Ultra333: http://216.158.218.35/edoc/bios_uploads/6547v18.zip

Here is MSI's page about BIOS updating procedures: http://www.msicomputer.com/support/BIOS_AMI.asp

They show two options, one being to use MSI Live Update 3 from within Windows, the other being to make a bootable floppy diskette, add the BIOS updating utility and the new BIOS to the diskette, hold your breath, cross your fingers, and do the update from the floppy diskette. Good luck

 

[PrimoTurbo]

I don't quite understand how that works, currently the jumper is set on Master in bios it says Master also, no issue here. Are you saying removing the jumper will allow the hard drive to boot itself. If possible please explain, thanks .

 

[PrimoTurbo]

Alright I will give it a try, how it works

 

[PrimoTurbo]

Can you tell if it's data ready or whatever, this is the exact drive I got.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/...tem-details.asp?EdpNo=564538&CatId=525

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: PrimoTurbo
Can you tell if it's data ready or whatever, this is the exact drive I got.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/...tem-details.asp?EdpNo=564538&CatId=525

I'm not familiar with the "data ready" phrase as you are using it, can you explain more about that?

Western Digital drives have the Single Master setting in addition to standard Master. If they are the only drive on a data cable, and they are set to standard Master instead of Single Master, then they may detect slowly, or they may not detect at all, or the motherboard may not POST or may not finish POSTing. So that seems to fit the symptoms, maybe it will help to use Single Master.

 

[PrimoTurbo]

I'll remove the pin and give it a try, sorry I made up the data ready term. I meant the to say date cable?

When you said If the new Western Digital drive is on its own data cable

 

[mechBgon]

This may also help, if the motherboard itself is not capable of handling the full capacity of the drive: Western Digital FAQ on this topic, see item 3. But you would probably have to reinstall Windows and all your software after doing this, then restore your backed-up data files

Also, if you are installing Windows2000, you would have to slipstream Service Pack 4 into it and burn a new installation CD. If you are installing WindowsXP, it would need to be at Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2, or else you could slipstream SP2 into it and burn a new installation CD. Google for "nlite slipstream" for a popular slipstreaming utility.

 

[PrimoTurbo]

It worked! It seems to be really fast, takes me exactly 36 seconds to start the computer. There is no more hang/detection and seems to work fine.

I think I'll avoid upgrading, the bios detects the 250Gb fine now and no problems under Windows XP. Thank you very much

 

[mechBgon]