Question About Using A SATA Drive With Windows 98SE

[dencorso]

Sure!

[MiKl]

The BIOS update (via USB) went smoothly but unfortunately the floppy drive still does not work.

Maybe the fdd's power cord is damaged ? Will check that later but any other suggestion would be most welcome.

 

And I checked the system with Everest and it tells me that the SATA is running at UDMA5 ! Shouldn't it be at least UDMA6 ?

Is there anything else that I still need to change in BIOS and/or Win98SE to get better speed ?

Edited November 5, 2015 by MiKl

[schwups]

 

And I checked the system with Everest and it tells me that the SATA is running at UDMA5 ! Shouldn't it be at least UDMA6 ?

Is there anything else that I still need to change in BIOS and/or Win98SE to get better speed ?

Most probably it is a wrong speed information. Better check the HDD speed with HDTach 2.70 or CrystalDiskMark9x or other tools. The results of different tools will be slightly varying.  

[submix8c]

Are the devices connected and BIOS Settings as per Page 1-20 of your manual? It seems pretty specific and indicates that support is there (in Legacy Mode).

[Drugwash]

The BIOS update (via USB) went smoothly but unfortunately the floppy drive still does not work.

Maybe the fdd's power cord is damaged ? Will check that later but any other suggestion would be most welcome.

- Double-check the BIOS to make sure the floppy controller is enabled and floppy type is set to 3 1/2" 1.44MB.

- The FDD power can sometimes be misfit, leaving the impression it's connected correctly but it's not. Double-check that.

- Also do find another (preferrably new) floppy data cable and pay great attention to the keys at both ends. If keys are missing, make sure pin 1 (usually marked in red) matches the board socket on one end and goes head-to-head with the red wire on the power socket (it's called 'red-to-red') - unless the power socket is fitted above the data connector, in which case you'll have to check the markings on the floppy drive's PCB. Don't rely only on the key slot, it may be placed on the wrong side.

 

Remember: there are OEM floppies with non-standard data pins and (obviously) there are OEM data cables that match them, so if you have the wrong combination you may fry the floppy or even the motherboard.

[LoneCrusader]

Does the power light on the floppy stay on continuously? If so this usually indicates that the FDD cable is plugged in upside down...

[MiKl]

No, there is absolutely no activity !! The FDD-LED does not light up at boot. Nothing happens when I insert a floppy. Nada ....

I will check the drive with another data-cable during the weekend because I don't have a spare one and have to open another PC just to get one.

 

Hmmm, the FDD-LED should at least once light up at boot no matter if the data-cable is connected or not, shouldn't it ? So is it possible that only the power cord to the FDD is damaged ?

 

I really start to hate that mobo - but on the other hand it was quite cheap so I might just put it away as a back-up machine.

[Drugwash]

I may be wrong but AFAIK the floppy LED only lights up when there's a seek operation, so it does require an operational data cable.

If the floppy is selected as one of the boot devices in the BIOS boot sequence, it should briefly light up at boot looking for the boot sector.

 

Maybe the BIOS has floppy A and B swapped (some have such option) - have you tried enabling both as 3.5" 1.44MB?

[MiKl]

I think I have tried everything now regarding the floppy and sata-speed issues but this mobo seem to be cursed or whatever ...

 

However, on ASUS' website there is also a Beta-Bios as the last version for the p4p800-x.

But is it wise/clever to test a Beta-Bios ? Does anyone have any experiences with this ?

[Drugwash]

Theoretically, even a beta product should be usable - especially when it's offered publicly - but there's always a chance for it to have bugs. Considering even retail products have bugs this kinda levels the things.

 

Biggest problem you have though is that, on a failed BIOS update, if you're lucky you get a default restore option that only works through a specially prepared floppy disk and since your floppy setup is defective you may just remain with a bricked board (unless you can reflash the chip on a similar board through hot-swap or you find an external Flash Programmer board with the corresponding software).

 

At this point I believe we can eliminate the BIOS software from the list of possible floppy fail causes. Maybe there still is an unusual combination of settings that must be achieved for the floppy to work or maybe you're extremely unlucky and all your related peripherals (cables, floppy drives) are defective. Latest possibility would be for the floppy controller to be fried, from a previous wrong connection or any other reason (broken PCB tracks, cold soldering points, detached components and so on).

 

Dunno about SATA.