This is a follow up to the problem that I was having with the 45 GB UDMA66 WD HD on a FIC VA-503+ 1.2A PCB MB, a pretty popular and powerful Super Socket 7 MB that comes at a good price... Well, folks, I got it solved. BIOS update JE439 (*caveat... I think 1.15JE36 would have done, but I went latest and greatest*) solved the problem. Strangely, 1.15JE36 is dated 5/20/99, while my old BIOS was dated 6/9/99... yet it seems to have been some interim between 36 and 37, but didn't incorporate the changes. I'll have to do some research using my second machine with this MB before I figure out what THAT's about. For future reference, FIC stated that the problem extended to MANY of their more popular chipsets. Here's the relevant statement from their website, so, if you have a FIC MB you might want to look into this if you're considering a new HD: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Important Notice [1999-04-14]: Current FIC Award BIOS kernel 1.15 & 1.13 (BIOS versions 1.13xxxx, 1.15xxxx, and some other) will check HD capability up to Ultra DMA 66 (ATA/66) in POST, while most models based on VIA 596A, 586B & Intel 82371xB cannot support UDMA 66. This may cause system hang during Windows 98 installation or cause system hang during data transfer. The following problems might have problems: VB-601, PA-2013, VB-601-V, KBI-6130, CP-31AG, CP11 & CP33. FIC will update BIOS for those models to shut off UDMA 4 feature. Popular models will be updated first. For urgent cases, please reach us your sales representative or support page for beta bios inquiry. Customers that are not affected should not update their BIOS. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Of course, most VA-503+ MBs came with BIOS version 1.13 (my two do). This was my first UDMA 66 drive (although I have a grunch of UDMA 33 drives!) so I first saw the problem here. Notice, that they specifically refer to Windows 98, but the problem persists in Win95, WinNT, and I believe in Win2000. The problem ALSO persists in any other OS in terms of boot (only) from an effected system... so without the BIOS upgrade, I could indeed have used the 45 for Linux, but I would not have been able to boot from it. The current BIOS update works perfectly... and although this is oddly phrased, you can expect full UDMA33 functionality after the upgrade. Begs the point of whether a Promise controller would work well in the same situation if I wanted that extra speed, though. Thanks for everyone who helped me figure this out so I can get my dual boot working again! (actually, though, I've gotten frisky... I'm gonna make it tri boot, with Mandrake 7.0, RH 6.2, and WIN98SE, since my wife has finally gotten the Linux bug and wants to have something to play with... I knew I'd win her over!) Thanks to everyone who helped! Bill Ward -- To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as the Subject.
