Vectra 525 P5/166 tower; HD, BIOS upgrade issues
Phil Lee
HP vGJ.07.18 (95). Attempted to upgrade stk Quantum Fireball 1.6GB drive
with a new Seagate Medalist ST34312A 4.3GB HD. Ran into couple of problems
at the start. Upon adding the new HD to OEM IDE cables with cable select,
the BIOS recognizes the new HD but somehow affects A: so that a boot floppy
only partially boots!!?? It hangs just after displaying "starting Win95",
same with DOS 6.22 boot, never gets to a directory.
Changed out with known good cables, drives, and boot diskettes.
This motherboard is a HP D3654 with an Triton FX chip set, PIIX EIDE
controller, SMC I/O controller, and integrated S3 Trio64 764 video
controller.
Looked for BIOS updaters in HP Vectra T/S web site. None are listed. After
talking with HP Vectra/Brio T/S folks based in Dallas, they emailed me a
couple which didn't work, n/a for this MB, using flash (BIOSes sent was a
GJ.07.24 and a GX.07.13). They then regretably said that the current BIOS
(95) is the current and final BIOS release for this MB.
While a moot point as the floppy controller is trashed, they of course,
recommended me using an Seagate XBIOS overlay, which I am loathed to use.
This drive is not even a large (>8GB) HD!
Anybody out there faced this problem before? I am classifying this issue
with a HP MB design deficiency, in which HP should exchg / replace with an
upgraded board design. I find it hard to believe that a FX chipset can't
handle a 4GB HD.
We also have a D4737A which has a HX chipset. We would like to have both
computers to have the same MB for support reasons. Anybody have problems
with it?
Phil, PC Sys Engr, Minneapolis, Silicon Tundra, pl...@orbis.net
Robert Thornton
picked up on the key point and that is the drives need to be jumpered for
Cable Select (CS). What's not clear in your message is whether you are
using the IDE cable that came with the system (does it have 2 connectors for
hard drives?) If you are not using the HP cable and added one, more than
likely it does not have the 'twist' on the couple of wires that allow for
cable select. So I'd suggest making sure you use the HP cable and that both
drives are CS. If the HP cable doesn't have two connectors you could try
using an OEM dual connector IDE cable but then you'd need to jumper the
drives Master and Slave (I've never tried this last step on Vectras since
they've all had dual connector cables.)
Good luck,
Robert
--
Robert Thornton
(Remove XSPAM from address)
Phil Lee <pl...@orbis.net> wrote in message
news:rrbia2...@corp.supernews.com...
Phil Lee
conventional IDE cables with jumpers set for master and slave on the HD(s).
As I see it, the issue has nothing to do with cables or hard drives <=2GB.
It is the suspect incompatibility of the BIOS and chipset with HD >=2GB.
Have you heard of other mfgr's motherboards with FX chipsets not being able
to handle HD >=2GB. And the presence of a such HDs causing an incompatiblity
such that the floppy controller doesn't work??
All PCI and ISA slots are open. I am using just 1 HD at a time for
characterizing the incompatibility. Thanks.
Phil, PC Sys Engr, Minneapolis, Silicon Tundra, pl...@orbis.net
======
Robert Thornton wrote in message <7p4lkg$s3p$1...@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net>...
>Not familiar with that particular model of Vectra. But it seems you've
>picked up on the key point and that is the drives need to be jumpered for
>Cable Select (CS). What's not clear in your message is whether you are
>using the IDE cable that came with the system (does it have 2 connectors
for
>hard drives?) If you are not using the HP cable and added one, more than
>likely it does not have the 'twist' on the couple of wires that allow for
>cable select. So I'd suggest making sure you use the HP cable and that
both
>drives are CS. If the HP cable doesn't have two connectors you could try
>using an OEM dual connector IDE cable but then you'd need to jumper the
>drives Master and Slave (I've never tried this last step on Vectras since
>they've all had dual connector cables.)
>
>Good luck,
>
>Robert
>Robert Thornton
>(Remove XSPAM from address)
======
Ben Myers
FWIW, the Intel 430FX Triton chipset is not the limiting factor on
maximum hard drive size. This is strictly a BIOS limitation.
MicroFirmware is one of the companies that provides a useful service
and makes good livings for its employees simply by selling BIOS
upgrades that resolve Y2K issues and raise the hard disk limit, even
way above the 8.4GB limit of many FX chipset motherboards. Sadly tho,
I know of no company that sells "after market" BIOS upgrades for HP
boxes... Ben Myers
Phil Lee
version for this particular MB. Not too sympathetic about my request to
replace the motherboard with a more recent vintage. I have not heard of a
motherboard that has a BIOS date that is way older than the computer's
initial release date. Usually you get at least one BIOS update. Means that
this computer's motherboard was still-born.
Going to cry on Duane Zitzner's shoulder, Pres of Computer Product group, at
HP Corporate. Do you think he will be lenient with alumni's of Univac,
UofMN, and UW?? Wish me luck.
Phil, PC Sys Engr, Minneapolis, Silicon Tundra, pl...@orbis.net
======
Ben Myers wrote in message <7p5c8d$nu1$3...@autumn.news.rcn.net>...
>Phil,
>
>FWIW, the Intel 430FX Triton chipset is not the limiting factor on
>maximum hard drive size. This is strictly a BIOS limitation.
>MicroFirmware is one of the companies that provides a useful service
>and makes good livings for its employees simply by selling BIOS
>upgrades that resolve Y2K issues and raise the hard disk limit, even
>way above the 8.4GB limit of many FX chipset motherboards. Sadly tho,
>I know of no company that sells "after market" BIOS upgrades for HP
>boxes... Ben Myers
>
Paul Hunt
"Phil Lee" <pl...@orbis.net> wrote:
>> Hi guys, HP T/S "Group Leader" acknowledges that
>> this old BIOS is the last version for this
>> particular MB.
That's a shame. HP has flash or phlash for these old
vectra VL 5/xxx. I found a BIOS update for mine that
was file-stamped this year, although the machine came
off the assembly line middle or late 1995. Guess some
products get more support than others. While wandering
around their site I saw plently of upgrades for vectra
XM series. Strange isn't it? Makes you wonder.
/ph
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