Replacing an OEM Mobo...

My Sony Viao PCV-RX360DS (UC28554430) came with an Asustek CUSL-LV
Rev. 1.xx mobo and a 40 GB ST340823A Rev. 3.07 hard drive.

Can anyone comment on the compatibility of replacing the OEM hard
drive with a 250 GB WDC WD2500BB 55GUC0 Rev. 08.02D08 hard drive?

Thanks!

Jimmy Roberts
jkr1963.at.verizon.dot.net

On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:47:35 -0700 (PDT), Jimmy Roberts <>
wrote:

>My Sony Viao PCV-RX360DS (UC28554430) came with an Asustek CUSL-LV
>Rev. 1.xx mobo and a 40 GB ST340823A Rev. 3.07 hard drive.
>
>Can anyone comment on the compatibility of replacing the OEM hard
>drive with a 250 GB WDC WD2500BB 55GUC0 Rev. 08.02D08 hard drive?

That is a veteran motherboard (almost as old as the p3bf fleet I'm still
keeping alive here ;-) and I doubt its bios is going to be happy with that
large a drive.

You could go ahead and give it a try with the backup consideration that you
add a Promise Tech bootable IDE adapter if the drive doesn't work using the
on-board IDE host...

Cheers

On Sep 25, 8:15*pm, daytripper <day_tri...@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:47:35 -0700 (PDT), Jimmy Roberts <jkr1...@verizon.net>
> wrote:
>
> >My Sony Viao PCV-RX360DS (UC28554430) came with an Asustek CUSL-LV
> >Rev. 1.xx mobo and a 40 GB ST340823A Rev. 3.07 hard drive.
>
> >Can anyone comment on the compatibility of replacing the OEM hard
> >drive with a 250 GB WDC WD2500BB 55GUC0 Rev. 08.02D08 hard drive?
>
> That is a veteran motherboard (almost as old as the p3bf fleet I'm still
> keeping alive here ;-) and I doubt its bios is going to be happy with that
> large a drive.
>
> You could go ahead and give it a try with the backup consideration that you
> add a Promise Tech bootable IDE adapter if the drive doesn't work using the
> on-board IDE host...
>
> Cheers

I should probably go to the Asustek website and make sure I have the
most current bios, right?

In general, if the motherboard is SATA, it will take any SATA drive that
will physically fit.

If the laptop motherboard takes IDE drives, then the issues for a laptop
known to support a 40GB drive are physical fit (usually not an issue)
and "48-bit Logical Block Addressing". In this case, you have near
certain compatibility with any 2.5" laptop IDE drive of 120GB or
smaller. Once you go above 120GB, you need 48-bit LBA support, and we
don't know with certainty if this motherboard has that or not (there are
issues involving both the BIOS and the physical IDE port). The SAFE
approach, if you don't know and can't find out if the motherboard & bios
supports 48-bit LBA or not, is to go with a 120GB drive.


Jimmy Roberts wrote:
> My Sony Viao PCV-RX360DS (UC28554430) came with an Asustek CUSL-LV
> Rev. 1.xx mobo and a 40 GB ST340823A Rev. 3.07 hard drive.
>
> Can anyone comment on the compatibility of replacing the OEM hard
> drive with a 250 GB WDC WD2500BB 55GUC0 Rev. 08.02D08 hard drive?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Jimmy Roberts
> jkr1963.at.verizon.dot.net

Normally, you get BIOS updates for laptops from the laptop mfgr's web
site, not the motherboard mfgrs site. E.g. from Sony, not Asus, even
though it was an Asus motherboard.


Jimmy Roberts wrote:
> On Sep 25, 8:15 pm, daytripper <day_tri...@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote:
>> On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:47:35 -0700 (PDT), Jimmy Roberts <jkr1...@verizon.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> My Sony Viao PCV-RX360DS (UC28554430) came with an Asustek CUSL-LV
>>> Rev. 1.xx mobo and a 40 GB ST340823A Rev. 3.07 hard drive.
>>> Can anyone comment on the compatibility of replacing the OEM hard
>>> drive with a 250 GB WDC WD2500BB 55GUC0 Rev. 08.02D08 hard drive?
>> That is a veteran motherboard (almost as old as the p3bf fleet I'm still
>> keeping alive here ;-) and I doubt its bios is going to be happy with that
>> large a drive.
>>
>> You could go ahead and give it a try with the backup consideration that you
>> add a Promise Tech bootable IDE adapter if the drive doesn't work using the
>> on-board IDE host...
>>
>> Cheers
>
> I should probably go to the Asustek website and make sure I have the
> most current bios, right?
>

Jimmy Roberts wrote:
> My Sony Viao PCV-RX360DS (UC28554430) came with an Asustek CUSL-LV
> Rev. 1.xx mobo and a 40 GB ST340823A Rev. 3.07 hard drive.
>
> Can anyone comment on the compatibility of replacing the OEM hard
> drive with a 250 GB WDC WD2500BB 55GUC0 Rev. 08.02D08 hard drive?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Jimmy Roberts
> jkr1963.at.verizon.dot.net

This isn't really going to help you, because the CUSL-LV (815/ICH)
doesn't really align with the rest of the Asus retail product line.

http://rma.asus.de/support/FAQ/faq076_32gb_ide_hdd.htm

When I look through old pages like this, some of the old Asus boards
use 815E or 815EP, but I can't find an Asus retail motherboard
using just 815. So the CUSL-LV may have come slightly before the
CUSL2 stuff.

http://web.archive.org/web/200112020...socket370.html

When a motherboard doesn't properly support 48 bit LBA (>137GB disks)
at the BIOS level, you can always use a PCI IDE card. One advantage
of such cards, is they may transfer data faster than the Southbridge
IDE interface. Looking at the info here, the ICH supports UltraATA 66.
If you use a PCI IDE card, they would support up to UltraATA 133
(although the PCI bus limits the transfer rate to a bit more than
would be supported by UltraATA 100). So a PCI IDE card solves two
problems - it bypasses the disk size limit (as the build-in BIOS
boot chip on the PCI card would support 48 bit LBA), and it
speeds up the disk transfers a little bit (66 to ~110MB/sec max).
The best IDE drive probably doesn't get quite up to that transfer
rate level, but will still benefit a bit.

ICH Southbridge
http://download.intel.com/design/chi...s/29065503.pdf

You have to read the reviews carefully on the PCI IDE cards.

For example, this one doesn't have a BIOS chip, and is not
bootable. This card is suitable to host a second (data-only)
drive, while your boot drive would stay on the Southbridge.

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...124-022-08.jpg

Looking at the Newegg site, everything seems to be headaches.
When I pick out a card, I look for something that doesn't have
issues and wouldn't require the buyer to "flash" the EEPROM on
the board. Some of the cards work (like the 8212 based card),
but that particular one won't handle a CD/DVD IDE drive, unless
you flash it with another version of firmware. So it is
very much a "choosing the lesser evil" kind of buying experience.

This is the Promise card I was referring to. I believe the
BIOS code is stored inside the main chip, unlike the rest
of the cards you'll find.

http://www.amazon.com/Promise-F29U13...3939120&sr=8-1

You can see the BIOS release printed on the main chip.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconVa...ultra133tx.jpg

I don't really know what happens when a BIOS doesn't support
48 bit LBA. I don't know whether it just restricts the
boot partition to stay below 137GB or whether it just
refuses to work at all. Perhaps someone else has some
experience with that.

Paul

In article <h9jtm9$uau$>, Barry Watzman <> wrote:
>Normally, you get BIOS updates for laptops from the laptop mfgr's web
>site, not the motherboard mfgrs site. E.g. from Sony, not Asus, even
>though it was an Asus motherboard.
>
>
>Jimmy Roberts wrote:
>> On Sep 25, 8:15 pm, daytripper <day_tri...@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote:
>>> On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:47:35 -0700 (PDT), Jimmy Roberts
> <jkr1...@verizon.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> My Sony Viao PCV-RX360DS (UC28554430) came with an Asustek CUSL-LV
>>>> Rev. 1.xx mobo and a 40 GB ST340823A Rev. 3.07 hard drive.
>>>> Can anyone comment on the compatibility of replacing the OEM hard
>>>> drive with a 250 GB WDC WD2500BB 55GUC0 Rev. 08.02D08 hard drive?
>>> That is a veteran motherboard (almost as old as the p3bf fleet I'm still
>>> keeping alive here ;-) and I doubt its bios is going to be happy with that
>>> large a drive.
>>>
>>> You could go ahead and give it a try with the backup consideration that you
>>> add a Promise Tech bootable IDE adapter if the drive doesn't work using the
>>> on-board IDE host...
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>
>> I should probably go to the Asustek website and make sure I have the
>> most current bios, right?
>>
Um, Barry, he has a Desktop, not a laptop!!!!!!!

On Sep 25, 10:17*pm, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> In general, if the motherboard is SATA, it will take any SATA drive that
> will physically fit.
>
> If the laptop motherboard takes IDE drives, then the issues for a laptop
> known to support a 40GB drive are physical fit (usually not an issue)
> and "48-bit Logical Block Addressing". *In this case, you have near
> certain compatibility with any 2.5" laptop IDE drive of 120GB or
> smaller. *Once you go above 120GB, you need 48-bit LBA support, and we
> don't know with certainty if this motherboard has that or not (there are
> issues involving both the BIOS and the physical IDE port). *The SAFE
> approach, if you don't know and can't find out if the motherboard & bios
> supports 48-bit LBA or not, is to go with a 120GB drive.
>
>
>
> Jimmy Roberts wrote:
> > My Sony Viao PCV-RX360DS (UC28554430) came with an Asustek CUSL-LV
> > Rev. 1.xx mobo and a 40 GB ST340823A Rev. 3.07 hard drive.
>
> > Can anyone comment on the compatibility of replacing the OEM hard
> > drive with a 250 GB WDC WD2500BB 55GUC0 Rev. 08.02D08 hard drive?
>
> > Thanks!
>
> > Jimmy Roberts
> > jkr1963.at.verizon.dot.net- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -


(1) The unit is a desktop.
(2) The oem 40 gb drive & wd drive are pata.

On Sep 26, 12:40*am, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
> Jimmy Roberts wrote:
> > My Sony Viao PCV-RX360DS (UC28554430) came with an Asustek CUSL-LV
> > Rev. 1.xx mobo and a 40 GB ST340823A Rev. 3.07 hard drive.
>
> > Can anyone comment on the compatibility of replacing the OEM hard
> > drive with a 250 GB WDC WD2500BB 55GUC0 Rev. 08.02D08 hard drive?
>
> > Thanks!
>
> > Jimmy Roberts
> > jkr1963.at.verizon.dot.net
>
> This isn't really going to help you, because the CUSL-LV (815/ICH)
> doesn't really align with the rest of the Asus retail product line.
>
> http://rma.asus.de/support/FAQ/faq076_32gb_ide_hdd.htm
>
> When I look through old pages like this, some of the old Asus boards
> use 815E or 815EP, but I can't find an Asus retail motherboard
> using just 815. So the CUSL-LV may have come slightly before the
> CUSL2 stuff.
>
> http://web.archive.org/web/200112020...us.com/Product...
>
> When a motherboard doesn't properly support 48 bit LBA (>137GB disks)
> at the BIOS level, you can always use a PCI IDE card. One advantage
> of such cards, is they may transfer data faster than the Southbridge
> IDE interface. Looking at the info here, the ICH supports UltraATA 66.
> If you use a PCI IDE card, they would support up to UltraATA 133
> (although the PCI bus limits the transfer rate to a bit more than
> would be supported by UltraATA 100). So a PCI IDE card solves two
> problems - it bypasses the disk size limit (as the build-in BIOS
> boot chip on the PCI card would support 48 bit LBA), and it
> speeds up the disk transfers a little bit (66 to ~110MB/sec max).
> The best IDE drive probably doesn't get quite up to that transfer
> rate level, but will still benefit a bit.
>
> ICH Southbridgehttp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/29065503.pdf
>
> You have to read the reviews carefully on the PCI IDE cards.
>
> For example, this one doesn't have a BIOS chip, and is not
> bootable. This card is suitable to host a second (data-only)
> drive, while your boot drive would stay on the Southbridge.
>
> http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...124-022-08.jpg
>
> Looking at the Newegg site, everything seems to be headaches.
> When I pick out a card, I look for something that doesn't have
> issues and wouldn't require the buyer to "flash" the EEPROM on
> the board. Some of the cards work (like the 8212 based card),
> but that particular one won't handle a CD/DVD IDE drive, unless
> you flash it with another version of firmware. So it is
> very much a "choosing the lesser evil" kind of buying experience.
>
> This is the Promise card I was referring to. I believe the
> BIOS code is stored inside the main chip, unlike the rest
> of the cards you'll find.
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Promise-F29U13...-Rohs/dp/B000G...
>
> You can see the BIOS release printed on the main chip.
>
> http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconVa...hardware/20051...
>
> I don't really know what happens when a BIOS doesn't support
> 48 bit LBA. I don't know whether it just restricts the
> boot partition to stay below 137GB or whether it just
> refuses to work at all. Perhaps someone else has some
> experience with that.
>
> * * Paul


Thanks, for the great info!!!

Ok; but the rule still applies. More correctly worded:

"Normally, you get BIOS updates for OEM computers from the computer
mfgrs web site, not the motherboard mfgrs site."

GMAN wrote:
> In article <h9jtm9$uau$>, Barry Watzman <> wrote:
>> Normally, you get BIOS updates for laptops from the laptop mfgr's web
>> site, not the motherboard mfgrs site. E.g. from Sony, not Asus, even
>> though it was an Asus motherboard.
>>>
> Um, Barry, he has a Desktop, not a laptop!!!!!!!