by Kaiba » Thu Sep 18, 2003 1:01 am
Thanks for the information. I have visted that site for upgrades but that's the modified version of the Aspen2 motherboard. I have upgraded the BIOS with the file listed on the site but it does not solve the problem with the Maxtor harddrives. Hence, I experienced POST hangups that was a real pain in the butt! The best bet for those that want to install a larger harddrive is to get an IDE or EIDE card. EIDE is a feature that has a limitation on this motherboard. Example, the Maxtor that I used has 16383 cyc, 16 hds, and 63 sectors but the maximum capacity being read by the BIOS was 33Gb. If you can't afford a EIDE or IDE card it would be best to use the Cyc Limit Jmp which is j46 on the Maxtor drives. Good luck and I hope that my experience aids you in your modifications.
For those that have the compaq version of this motherboard I will not recomend the BIOS upgrade unless your motherboard has SD11 written on it. Note that after having contact with FIC they said that they do not provide upgrades for OEM motherboards. If you have choosen to upgrade please remember that you can backup the current BIOS file by running the Flash818.exe in DOS mode and choosing the "File" option with the return key. Specify the file path and name "a:\DFTBIOS.ROM" or "a:\DFTBIOS.EXT" and then hit the return key. Key note to remember is that you have to hold the END key when the system restarts until its passes the NVRAM check. This will install the default values for the newly installed BIOS.
For those that replied to this post I will like to thank you again.