Large Disks On Gateway 200 Mhz Pentium Pro ?

I have two Gateway 200 Mhz Pentium Pro systems each with an Adaptec 2940
SCSI controller and a 2 Gbyte disk drive that I plan to give away to
some people for whom this will be an upgrade.

The motherboards' BIOS is version 1.00.11.CS1T.

Can I add an IDE drive larger than 8 Gbytes without a driver "shim" ?


Thanks in advance,

--Jerry Leslie

I upgraded the BIOS in mine with the BIOS directly from Intel. This was
available to support the Overdrive processor. I never installed an over
drive processor. With this BIOS from Intel, I am currently running a 20 gig
in one machine and a 30 in another with no additional software. I was
thinking the original Gateway BIOS would limit to 8.4.

There is a jumper on the motherboard which has to be activated to
reset/clear your existing Gateway bios. Once this is done, the original
Intel Bios will install, you will lose the "Gateway" wording during bootup.

I did both mine and my father-in-law's computers about 3 years ago, no
problems have arose since. His was and still is his first PC(cannot believe
it myself, used daily since December '97). Mine is currently running an
estimating program for my shop, bought it in January '96. Both slower than
you know what, but still effective.

If you need, I still have the Intel Bios file but I'm sure it's still on
Intel's Web Site.

Rod
"Jerry Leslie" wrote in message
...
I have two Gateway 200 Mhz Pentium Pro systems each with an Adaptec 2940
SCSI controller and a 2 Gbyte disk drive that I plan to give away to
some people for whom this will be an upgrade.

The motherboards' BIOS is version 1.00.11.CS1T.

Can I add an IDE drive larger than 8 Gbytes without a driver "shim" ?


Thanks in advance,

--Jerry Leslie


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 8/28/2003

No, and given the lack of support for ATA33/66/100, it'd be a good idea to
install a controller card in the system - that will break the BIOS limit and
add UltraDMA support the board otherwise lacks.



"Jerry Leslie" wrote in message
...
I have two Gateway 200 Mhz Pentium Pro systems each with an Adaptec 2940
SCSI controller and a 2 Gbyte disk drive that I plan to give away to
some people for whom this will be an upgrade.

The motherboards' BIOS is version 1.00.11.CS1T.

Can I add an IDE drive larger than 8 Gbytes without a driver "shim" ?


Thanks in advance,

--Jerry Leslie

Edward J. Neth ) wrote:
: No, and given the lack of support for ATA33/66/100, it'd be a good idea to
: install a controller card in the system - that will break the BIOS limit
: and add UltraDMA support the board otherwise lacks.
:
:
Thanks.

Any suggestions as to which controller card and how much it costs ?

A low-end new PC can be had for $ 288 from a local clone shop, so I need
to be careful not to spend too much on these 200 Mhz Pentium Pros.

One person is currently using a Compaq with a 120 Mhz Cyrix processor
and 32 Mbytes of RAM, so a 200 Mhz Pentium Pro with 132 Mbytes of ram
will be a noticeable improvement.

--Jerry Leslie
Note: is invalid for email

Why spend anything? Just upgrade the BIOS as in my case and put in a new
hard drive.


"leslie" wrote in message
...
Edward J. Neth ) wrote:
: No, and given the lack of support for ATA33/66/100, it'd be a good idea
to
: install a controller card in the system - that will break the BIOS limit
: and add UltraDMA support the board otherwise lacks.
:
:
Thanks.

Any suggestions as to which controller card and how much it costs ?

A low-end new PC can be had for $ 288 from a local clone shop, so I need
to be careful not to spend too much on these 200 Mhz Pentium Pros.

One person is currently using a Compaq with a 120 Mhz Cyrix processor
and 32 Mbytes of RAM, so a 200 Mhz Pentium Pro with 132 Mbytes of ram
will be a noticeable improvement.

--Jerry Leslie
Note: is invalid for email


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 8/28/2003

Here is the link to Intel's Bios for the VS440FX Motherboard. Bios version
1.00.18.CS1


http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...22&DwnldID=234

Here is the link for all information regarding the VS440FX Motherboard.

http://www.intel.com/support/motherb...sktop/VS440FX/

Click the link for Jumper location. To install Intel's Bios over the
Gateway version, the BIOS must be cleared first. You'll need to locate the
jumper for clearing the current BIOS.

For information on resetting the BIOS and updating, select Technical Product
Specifications. This requires Adobe reader to be installed. Once this is
loaded select BIOS and Setup Utility.

Read through the BIOS Setup Access Jumper, this will guide you through the
process of clearing out the old BIOS and installing the new.

It would save you the cost of putting money into something not really worth
it. You also would not see any significant benefits of having ATA 33/66/100
drive access in this PC.

Rod



"leslie" wrote in message
...
Edward J. Neth ) wrote:
: No, and given the lack of support for ATA33/66/100, it'd be a good idea
to
: install a controller card in the system - that will break the BIOS limit
: and add UltraDMA support the board otherwise lacks.
:
:
Thanks.

Any suggestions as to which controller card and how much it costs ?

A low-end new PC can be had for $ 288 from a local clone shop, so I need
to be careful not to spend too much on these 200 Mhz Pentium Pros.

One person is currently using a Compaq with a 120 Mhz Cyrix processor
and 32 Mbytes of RAM, so a 200 Mhz Pentium Pro with 132 Mbytes of ram
will be a noticeable improvement.

--Jerry Leslie
Note: is invalid for email


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 8/28/2003

The controller cards are around $20 -- sometimes less than that.



"leslie" wrote in message
...
Edward J. Neth ) wrote:
: No, and given the lack of support for ATA33/66/100, it'd be a good idea
to
: install a controller card in the system - that will break the BIOS limit
: and add UltraDMA support the board otherwise lacks.
:
:
Thanks.

Any suggestions as to which controller card and how much it costs ?

A low-end new PC can be had for $ 288 from a local clone shop, so I need
to be careful not to spend too much on these 200 Mhz Pentium Pros.

One person is currently using a Compaq with a 120 Mhz Cyrix processor
and 32 Mbytes of RAM, so a 200 Mhz Pentium Pro with 132 Mbytes of ram
will be a noticeable improvement.

--Jerry Leslie
Note: is invalid for email

On a system that needs all the help it can get performance wise, the $20 or
to to be able to bypass the CPU
with DMA, is money well spent.

The onboard controller is PIO mode only - which is a big bottleneck for
newer drives. If you're not going to buy a controller card, a cheap 5400
rpm drive is fine.


"Rod March" wrote in message
s.com...
Why spend anything? Just upgrade the BIOS as in my case and put in a new
hard drive.


"leslie" wrote in message
...
Edward J. Neth ) wrote:
: No, and given the lack of support for ATA33/66/100, it'd be a good
idea
to
: install a controller card in the system - that will break the BIOS
limit
: and add UltraDMA support the board otherwise lacks.
:
:
Thanks.

Any suggestions as to which controller card and how much it costs ?

A low-end new PC can be had for $ 288 from a local clone shop, so I need
to be careful not to spend too much on these 200 Mhz Pentium Pros.

One person is currently using a Compaq with a 120 Mhz Cyrix processor
and 32 Mbytes of RAM, so a 200 Mhz Pentium Pro with 132 Mbytes of ram
will be a noticeable improvement.

--Jerry Leslie
Note: is invalid for email


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 8/28/2003

The new card may improve drive performance--but his motherboard's =
onboard controller is not limited to PIO modes. It does support DMA =
multiword 2 (16.7 MB/s).







"Edward J. Neth" wrote in message =
m...
On a system that needs all the help it can get performance wise, the =
$20 or
to to be able to bypass the CPU
with DMA, is money well spent.
=20
The onboard controller is PIO mode only - which is a big bottleneck =
for
newer drives. If you're not going to buy a controller card, a cheap =
5400
rpm drive is fine.
=20
=20
"Rod March" wrote in message
s.com...
Why spend anything? Just upgrade the BIOS as in my case and put in =
a new
hard drive.


"leslie" wrote in message
...
Edward J. Neth ) wrote:
: No, and given the lack of support for ATA33/66/100, it'd be a =
good
idea
to
: install a controller card in the system - that will break the =
BIOS
limit
: and add UltraDMA support the board otherwise lacks.
:
:
Thanks.

Any suggestions as to which controller card and how much it costs =
?

A low-end new PC can be had for $ 288 from a local clone shop, so =
I need
to be careful not to spend too much on these 200 Mhz Pentium Pros.

One person is currently using a Compaq with a 120 Mhz Cyrix =
processor
and 32 Mbytes of RAM, so a 200 Mhz Pentium Pro with 132 Mbytes of =
ram
will be a noticeable improvement.

--Jerry Leslie
Note: is invalid for email


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 8/28/2003


=20
=20

Frankly, I do not think that a UDMA capable add-on IDE controller will make a
lot of difference in the performance in the grand scheme of things.

.... Ben Myers

On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 04:29:46 GMT, "SR" wrote:


The new card may improve drive performance--but his motherboard's =
onboard controller is not limited to PIO modes. It does support DMA =
multiword 2 (16.7 MB/s).







"Edward J. Neth" wrote in message =
om...
On a system that needs all the help it can get performance wise, the =
$20 or
to to be able to bypass the CPU
with DMA, is money well spent.
=20
The onboard controller is PIO mode only - which is a big bottleneck =
for
newer drives. If you're not going to buy a controller card, a cheap =
5400
rpm drive is fine.
=20
=20
"Rod March" wrote in message
s.com...
Why spend anything? Just upgrade the BIOS as in my case and put in =
a new
hard drive.


"leslie" wrote in message
...
Edward J. Neth ) wrote:
: No, and given the lack of support for ATA33/66/100, it'd be a =
good
idea
to
: install a controller card in the system - that will break the =
BIOS
limit
: and add UltraDMA support the board otherwise lacks.
:
:
Thanks.

Any suggestions as to which controller card and how much it costs =
?

A low-end new PC can be had for $ 288 from a local clone shop, so =
I need
to be careful not to spend too much on these 200 Mhz Pentium Pros.

One person is currently using a Compaq with a 120 Mhz Cyrix =
processor
and 32 Mbytes of RAM, so a 200 Mhz Pentium Pro with 132 Mbytes of =
ram
will be a noticeable improvement.

--Jerry Leslie
Note: is invalid for email


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 8/28/2003


=20
=20