strange behavior of Biostar motherboard

Need some input to a wierd problem I'm having with an existing Biostar
M7NCD Pro board. Here's the background:

Working config for the past 14 months:
It has an AMD Anthlon XP 2600+ CPU installed. It also has 2 512MB
DDR333 SDRAM modules installed in dual channel mode. GeForce 3 AGP
video card installed. A Samsung 40x CDRW drive (2nd IDE, Master), a 12x
DVD-ROM (2nd IDE, Slave), a 100GB Maxtor ATA133 IDE drive (1st IDE,
Master), onboard sound enabled, onboard lan enabled, all 6 USB2 ports
enabled. serial enabled, parallel enabled. No floppy drive ever in
this system. Enermax 400W PS. XP Pro as the OS, no issues.

Current config:
I recently purchased a new SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card, and a WD 200GB
EIDE HD and wanted to start my XP fresh, so I powered down, unplugged,
and installed the SB card in the 2nd PCI slot from the top, and swapped
HD drives. Powered up, flashed the BIOS with the latest code from
Biostar website (bios date 3/11/04), disabled the onboard audio and
serial ports.

Symptoms:
- Unusually long POST times, even with quickboot enabled
- If I install XP fresh, after I get it installed, if I reboot, the
system doesn't see any OS on the drive and asks for a system disk on reboot.
- To install XP, the system takes 5 minutes to even show the text mode
install screen when I boot from the CD.

I've tried disabling the DVD-ROM to see if it was an issue - no change
to the symptoms.

Suggestions would be nice. Thanks for reading.

Kevin

Does the 100G drive do this or just the new one?
If only the new get the diagnostics from WD and
check it out.

"Kevin Royalty" <> wrote in message
news:TDwIc.61539$a24.38169@attbi_s03...
> Need some input to a wierd problem I'm having with an existing Biostar
> M7NCD Pro board. Here's the background:
>
> Working config for the past 14 months:
> It has an AMD Anthlon XP 2600+ CPU installed. It also has 2 512MB
> DDR333 SDRAM modules installed in dual channel mode. GeForce 3 AGP
> video card installed. A Samsung 40x CDRW drive (2nd IDE, Master), a
12x
> DVD-ROM (2nd IDE, Slave), a 100GB Maxtor ATA133 IDE drive (1st IDE,
> Master), onboard sound enabled, onboard lan enabled, all 6 USB2 ports
> enabled. serial enabled, parallel enabled. No floppy drive ever in
> this system. Enermax 400W PS. XP Pro as the OS, no issues.
>
> Current config:
> I recently purchased a new SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card, and a WD 200GB
> EIDE HD and wanted to start my XP fresh, so I powered down, unplugged,
> and installed the SB card in the 2nd PCI slot from the top, and
swapped
> HD drives. Powered up, flashed the BIOS with the latest code from
> Biostar website (bios date 3/11/04), disabled the onboard audio and
> serial ports.
>
> Symptoms:
> - Unusually long POST times, even with quickboot enabled
> - If I install XP fresh, after I get it installed, if I reboot, the
> system doesn't see any OS on the drive and asks for a system disk on
reboot.
> - To install XP, the system takes 5 minutes to even show the text mode
> install screen when I boot from the CD.
>
> I've tried disabling the DVD-ROM to see if it was an issue - no change
> to the symptoms.
>
> Suggestions would be nice. Thanks for reading.
>
> Kevin

Kevin Royalty writes:

> Need some input to a wierd problem I'm having with an existing Biostar
> M7NCD Pro board. Here's the background:
>
> Working config for the past 14 months:
> It has an AMD Anthlon XP 2600+ CPU installed. It also has 2 512MB
> DDR333 SDRAM modules installed in dual channel mode. GeForce 3 AGP
> video card installed. A Samsung 40x CDRW drive (2nd IDE, Master), a 12x
> DVD-ROM (2nd IDE, Slave), a 100GB Maxtor ATA133 IDE drive (1st IDE,
> Master), onboard sound enabled, onboard lan enabled, all 6 USB2 ports
> enabled. serial enabled, parallel enabled. No floppy drive ever in
> this system. Enermax 400W PS. XP Pro as the OS, no issues.
>
> Current config:
> I recently purchased a new SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card, and a WD 200GB
> EIDE HD and wanted to start my XP fresh, so I powered down, unplugged,
> and installed the SB card in the 2nd PCI slot from the top, and swapped
> HD drives. Powered up, flashed the BIOS with the latest code from
> Biostar website (bios date 3/11/04), disabled the onboard audio and
> serial ports.
>
> Symptoms:
> - Unusually long POST times, even with quickboot enabled
> - If I install XP fresh, after I get it installed, if I reboot, the
> system doesn't see any OS on the drive and asks for a system disk on reboot.
> - To install XP, the system takes 5 minutes to even show the text mode
> install screen when I boot from the CD.
>
> I've tried disabling the DVD-ROM to see if it was an issue - no change
> to the symptoms.
>
> Suggestions would be nice. Thanks for reading.

Does the BIOS specifically state that it overcomes the 137 GB barrier?
Just seems like something worth checking out, given that you had no
problem with the drive whose capacity is below that limit and you're
now having problems with a drive whose capacity is above that limit.

Just the new drive does this. The old one is fine.


Pen wrote:
> Does the 100G drive do this or just the new one?
> If only the new get the diagnostics from WD and
> check it out.
>
> "Kevin Royalty" <> wrote in message
> news:TDwIc.61539$a24.38169@attbi_s03...
>
>>Need some input to a wierd problem I'm having with an existing Biostar
>>M7NCD Pro board. Here's the background:
>>
>>Working config for the past 14 months:
>>It has an AMD Anthlon XP 2600+ CPU installed. It also has 2 512MB
>>DDR333 SDRAM modules installed in dual channel mode. GeForce 3 AGP
>>video card installed. A Samsung 40x CDRW drive (2nd IDE, Master), a
>
> 12x
>
>>DVD-ROM (2nd IDE, Slave), a 100GB Maxtor ATA133 IDE drive (1st IDE,
>>Master), onboard sound enabled, onboard lan enabled, all 6 USB2 ports
>>enabled. serial enabled, parallel enabled. No floppy drive ever in
>>this system. Enermax 400W PS. XP Pro as the OS, no issues.
>>
>>Current config:
>>I recently purchased a new SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card, and a WD 200GB
>>EIDE HD and wanted to start my XP fresh, so I powered down, unplugged,
>>and installed the SB card in the 2nd PCI slot from the top, and
>
> swapped
>
>>HD drives. Powered up, flashed the BIOS with the latest code from
>>Biostar website (bios date 3/11/04), disabled the onboard audio and
>>serial ports.
>>
>>Symptoms:
>>- Unusually long POST times, even with quickboot enabled
>>- If I install XP fresh, after I get it installed, if I reboot, the
>>system doesn't see any OS on the drive and asks for a system disk on
>
> reboot.
>
>>- To install XP, the system takes 5 minutes to even show the text mode
>>install screen when I boot from the CD.
>>
>>I've tried disabling the DVD-ROM to see if it was an issue - no change
>>to the symptoms.
>>
>>Suggestions would be nice. Thanks for reading.
>>
>>Kevin
>
>

wrote:

> Kevin Royalty writes:
>
>
>>Need some input to a wierd problem I'm having with an existing Biostar
>>M7NCD Pro board. Here's the background:
>>
>>Working config for the past 14 months:
>>It has an AMD Anthlon XP 2600+ CPU installed. It also has 2 512MB
>>DDR333 SDRAM modules installed in dual channel mode. GeForce 3 AGP
>>video card installed. A Samsung 40x CDRW drive (2nd IDE, Master), a 12x
>>DVD-ROM (2nd IDE, Slave), a 100GB Maxtor ATA133 IDE drive (1st IDE,
>>Master), onboard sound enabled, onboard lan enabled, all 6 USB2 ports
>>enabled. serial enabled, parallel enabled. No floppy drive ever in
>>this system. Enermax 400W PS. XP Pro as the OS, no issues.
>>
>>Current config:
>>I recently purchased a new SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card, and a WD 200GB
>>EIDE HD and wanted to start my XP fresh, so I powered down, unplugged,
>>and installed the SB card in the 2nd PCI slot from the top, and swapped
>>HD drives. Powered up, flashed the BIOS with the latest code from
>>Biostar website (bios date 3/11/04), disabled the onboard audio and
>>serial ports.
>>
>>Symptoms:
>>- Unusually long POST times, even with quickboot enabled
>>- If I install XP fresh, after I get it installed, if I reboot, the
>>system doesn't see any OS on the drive and asks for a system disk on reboot.
>>- To install XP, the system takes 5 minutes to even show the text mode
>>install screen when I boot from the CD.
>>
>>I've tried disabling the DVD-ROM to see if it was an issue - no change
>>to the symptoms.
>>
>>Suggestions would be nice. Thanks for reading.
>
>
> Does the BIOS specifically state that it overcomes the 137 GB barrier?
> Just seems like something worth checking out, given that you had no
> problem with the drive whose capacity is below that limit and you're
> now having problems with a drive whose capacity is above that limit.
>

Hard to say - the Biostar website doesn't have a readme for the latest
BIOS that I downloaded. I am suprised that no docs for the changes are
available.

Then go here and get the DLG Diagnostic
to check it out. The symptoms are of a bad drive.
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

"Kevin Royalty" <> wrote in message
news:sbCIc.75845$XM6.44606@attbi_s53...
> Just the new drive does this. The old one is fine.
>
>
> Pen wrote:
> > Does the 100G drive do this or just the new one?
> > If only the new get the diagnostics from WD and
> > check it out.
> >
> > "Kevin Royalty" <> wrote in message
> > news:TDwIc.61539$a24.38169@attbi_s03...
> >
> >>Need some input to a wierd problem I'm having with an existing
Biostar
> >>M7NCD Pro board. Here's the background:
> >>
> >>Working config for the past 14 months:
> >>It has an AMD Anthlon XP 2600+ CPU installed. It also has 2 512MB
> >>DDR333 SDRAM modules installed in dual channel mode. GeForce 3 AGP
> >>video card installed. A Samsung 40x CDRW drive (2nd IDE, Master), a
> >
> > 12x
> >
> >>DVD-ROM (2nd IDE, Slave), a 100GB Maxtor ATA133 IDE drive (1st IDE,
> >>Master), onboard sound enabled, onboard lan enabled, all 6 USB2
ports
> >>enabled. serial enabled, parallel enabled. No floppy drive ever in
> >>this system. Enermax 400W PS. XP Pro as the OS, no issues.
> >>
> >>Current config:
> >>I recently purchased a new SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card, and a WD 200GB
> >>EIDE HD and wanted to start my XP fresh, so I powered down,
unplugged,
> >>and installed the SB card in the 2nd PCI slot from the top, and
> >
> > swapped
> >
> >>HD drives. Powered up, flashed the BIOS with the latest code from
> >>Biostar website (bios date 3/11/04), disabled the onboard audio and
> >>serial ports.
> >>
> >>Symptoms:
> >>- Unusually long POST times, even with quickboot enabled
> >>- If I install XP fresh, after I get it installed, if I reboot, the
> >>system doesn't see any OS on the drive and asks for a system disk on
> >
> > reboot.
> >
> >>- To install XP, the system takes 5 minutes to even show the text
mode
> >>install screen when I boot from the CD.
> >>
> >>I've tried disabling the DVD-ROM to see if it was an issue - no
change
> >>to the symptoms.
> >>
> >>Suggestions would be nice. Thanks for reading.
> >>
> >>Kevin
> >
> >

A post on Tom's Hardware told me to remove the HD master/slave jumper
completely and try to boot up. The very slow boot up issue went away,
and now I'm going through the XP install now. Will post the final
resolution soon (fingers crossed!)

kevin

Pen wrote:

> Then go here and get the DLG Diagnostic
> to check it out. The symptoms are of a bad drive.
> http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp
>
> "Kevin Royalty" <> wrote in message
> news:sbCIc.75845$XM6.44606@attbi_s53...
>
>>Just the new drive does this. The old one is fine.
>>
>>
>>Pen wrote:
>>
>>>Does the 100G drive do this or just the new one?
>>>If only the new get the diagnostics from WD and
>>>check it out.
>>>
>>>"Kevin Royalty" <> wrote in message
>>>news:TDwIc.61539$a24.38169@attbi_s03...
>>>
>>>
>>>>Need some input to a wierd problem I'm having with an existing
>
> Biostar
>
>>>>M7NCD Pro board. Here's the background:
>>>>
>>>>Working config for the past 14 months:
>>>>It has an AMD Anthlon XP 2600+ CPU installed. It also has 2 512MB
>>>>DDR333 SDRAM modules installed in dual channel mode. GeForce 3 AGP
>>>>video card installed. A Samsung 40x CDRW drive (2nd IDE, Master), a
>>>
>>>12x
>>>
>>>
>>>>DVD-ROM (2nd IDE, Slave), a 100GB Maxtor ATA133 IDE drive (1st IDE,
>>>>Master), onboard sound enabled, onboard lan enabled, all 6 USB2
>
> ports
>
>>>>enabled. serial enabled, parallel enabled. No floppy drive ever in
>>>>this system. Enermax 400W PS. XP Pro as the OS, no issues.
>>>>
>>>>Current config:
>>>>I recently purchased a new SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card, and a WD 200GB
>>>>EIDE HD and wanted to start my XP fresh, so I powered down,
>
> unplugged,
>
>>>>and installed the SB card in the 2nd PCI slot from the top, and
>>>
>>>swapped
>>>
>>>
>>>>HD drives. Powered up, flashed the BIOS with the latest code from
>>>>Biostar website (bios date 3/11/04), disabled the onboard audio and
>>>>serial ports.
>>>>
>>>>Symptoms:
>>>>- Unusually long POST times, even with quickboot enabled
>>>>- If I install XP fresh, after I get it installed, if I reboot, the
>>>>system doesn't see any OS on the drive and asks for a system disk on
>>>
>>>reboot.
>>>
>>>
>>>>- To install XP, the system takes 5 minutes to even show the text
>
> mode
>
>>>>install screen when I boot from the CD.
>>>>
>>>>I've tried disabling the DVD-ROM to see if it was an issue - no
>
> change
>
>>>>to the symptoms.
>>>>
>>>>Suggestions would be nice. Thanks for reading.
>>>>
>>>>Kevin
>>>
>>>
>