Dying disk on P2L-97

[Ola A Johansson]

Hi all!

I have one of these ancient P2L-97 boards still running, in good health.

Only the old 20G disk I have on it is starting to sound slightly
"unwell" (stops real fast at the end of spin-down, indicating bearings
on their way to fail)
So:
What is the maximum size disk I can get this board to accept, and what
BIOS-version does it require?

TIA /Ola J

 

[Roland Scheidegger]

Hi all!

I have one of these ancient P2L-97 boards still running, in good health.

Only the old 20G disk I have on it is starting to sound slightly
"unwell" (stops real fast at the end of spin-down, indicating bearings
on their way to fail)
So:
What is the maximum size disk I can get this board to accept, and what
BIOS-version does it require?

128GB, latest beta (found at
ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/BIOS/Slot_I/, currently down).

Roland

 

[Ola A Johansson]

Hi Roland!

128GB, latest beta (found at
ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/BIOS/Slot_I/, currently down).

Roland

Thanks!
I'll try that, and hope it doesn't screw up my w2k-installation.
It's currently at BIOS: 1.0A
Then I'll have to find the money for another disk, and put it in there, before
the old one goes to greener pastures...

C'ya /Ola J

 

[Stephan Grossklass]

Thanks!
I'll try that, and hope it doesn't screw up my w2k-installation.
It's currently at BIOS: 1.0A

This is the ISA PnP BIOS, not the main BIOS revision. That one should be
displayed a bit further upwards on the boot screen (something like "ASUS
P2L97 ACPI BIOS xxxx). The latest BIOS is 1010 beta 4.

Then I'll have to find the money for another disk, and put it in there, before
the old one goes to greener pastures...

Apparently the 8 MB 'Cuda 7200.7 (Plus) w/ 120 gigs can be had rather
cheaply at the moment, here the prices start from EUR 101,something. The
WD400JB and WD800JB are yet cheaper, but beware of them bearings, these
can get annoyingly noisy. (Drives with 8 MB of cache are to be
recommended because they apparently fare better in bottleneck situations
- i.e. UDMA33 like on the P2L97 - and often carry longer warranties as
well.)

Stephan (P2L97-DS)

 

[Ola A Johansson]

Hi Steohan!

This is the ISA PnP BIOS, not the main BIOS revision. That one should be
displayed a bit further upwards on the boot screen (something like "ASUS
P2L97 ACPI BIOS xxxx). The latest BIOS is 1010 beta 4.

OK, I'll have a closer look..

It doesn't say as clearly as my newer boards...
But there is a number, "#401A0-0105", displayed between the "award4.51"-lines and
the "PCIbios"-lines.
And at the bottom of the POST-screen it says: "120297-i440LX-P2L97-00"
Any thoughts about how safe it would be to change BIOS without having to reinstall
w2k?
(my installdisk was eaten by a bad CDROM-drive)

Apparently the 8 MB 'Cuda 7200.7 (Plus) w/ 120 gigs can be had rather
cheaply at the moment, here the prices start from EUR 101,something. The
WD400JB and WD800JB are yet cheaper, but beware of them bearings, these
can get annoyingly noisy. (Drives with 8 MB of cache are to be
recommended because they apparently fare better in bottleneck situations
- i.e. UDMA33 like on the P2L97 - and often carry longer warranties as
well.)

Stephan (P2L97-DS)

I've got a nice WD 120G caviarSE in another 'puter that I'm pretty happy with, so I
might get another one of those.

C'ya /Ola J

 

[Ola A Johansson]

Hi Stephan!

Ola A Johansson schrieb:


Now that's what I call old. That was BIOS 0105, back when they didn't
have the newer numbering scheme yet. 1010 beta 4 is from 2001! (Doesn't
have any Symbios SDMS BIOS though, in case you need that.)

Yeah it's a relic, I know..
But "knock on wood". It's the most reliable board I've ever owned...
And it's pretty slow, currently running 3,5*75=263MHz, with a "deschutes"PII-350 and
256MB RAM in it.
I plan on bringing it to 5*75=375MHz, as soon as I find a pair of PIII-850/100s to
replace the two PIII-500s I currently have in my P2B-DS, wich combined with a new HD
would lengthen its lifecycle even a bit further. (I could almost start a museum soon.
)

Since you're likely using a non-ACPI HAL right now (I think back then
the BIOSes didn't even have ACPI support), a BIOS update should not
affect Win2k much.


As long as you have a proper license, you can ask Microsoft for
replacement media. I think you could also use a copy of an original CD.

A CD-R disc and a couple of hours on KaZaA is both quicker and cheaper than having them
send me a new disc. And still legal, since I own a license.

Thanks for your guidance /Ola J

 

[Simon Edwards]

Hi Stephan!

Stephan Grossklass wrote:




Yeah it's a relic, I know..
But "knock on wood". It's the most reliable board I've ever owned...
And it's pretty slow, currently running 3,5*75=263MHz, with a "deschutes"PII-350 and
256MB RAM in it.
I plan on bringing it to 5*75=375MHz, as soon as I find a pair of PIII-850/100s to
replace the two PIII-500s I currently have in my P2B-DS, wich combined with a new HD
would lengthen its lifecycle even a bit further. (I could almost start a museum soon.
)

Depending on the revision level of your P2B-DS, you should be able to
take it quite a bit further than dual 850/100s. I run mine with dual
PIII-S 1.4Ghz:

http://tipperlinne.com/p2bmod