What IDE Drive for my 5 year old Dell8200

[Steve Bird]

Have found that the motherboard is Dell 7E598, have found some for sale but only
info found so far is

Form Factor ATX
Processor a.. Support for an Intel? Pentium? 4 processor in a PGA478 s
1.5 - 2.0

Memory a.. Four Rambus Memory Slots Up To 4Gb

Chipset Intel? 850 Chipset
I/O Control SMSC LPC47M172 LPC bus I/O controller
Audio Audio subsystem AC97 3D Sound
Video AGP Slot
Peripheral Interfaces a.. Two USB ports
b.. One serial port
c.. One parallel port
d.. Two Parallel
e.. Dual IDE interfaces
f.. One diskette drive interface
g.. PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports

Expansion Capabilities 2 PCI Slots


Not sure if this means anything to anybody as to whether i can use a 160GB HDD
on it.

Thanks
Steve

 

[R. McCarty]

The Intel 850 Chipset employs a 82801BA ICH controller. It does
provide 48-Bit LBA ( Logical Block Addressing ).

 

[Steve Bird]

Thanks for that info, from that can I assume that with XPSP2 i should be able to
use an HDD bigger than the dell statement of 100GB?

Steve

 

[R. McCarty]

I believe so, the Chipset or in this case the I/O Controller Hub is
the component on the motherboard that provides IDE/ATAPI
support. Since the chip is capable of 48-Bit translation there's no
reason to believe that Dell would "Disable" it in the BIOS setup.

Even in the case of a BIOS incompatibility, you can purchase a
PCI controller card that does support 48-Bit LBA to use. Your
current motherboard supports ATA-100 so any new drive you
purchase should run faster. Just be sure to use an 80-pin cable.

 

[Steve Bird]

Thanks for that
It would seem that the "not english" Dell support team were just trying to fob
me off, could have understood if they had told me I couldn't go above 138GB but
to say 100GB got me suspecting they didn't really know.

Thanks again
Steve

 

[R. McCarty]

Clueless - Front Line technical support has one overriding goal. To
be able to close your ticket as quick as possible and move on to the
next victim. They aren't trained in Diagnostics/Analysis - they use a
matching database method of resolving issues. Only if you describe
a problem in a way that generates a "Hit" are you likely to get any
usable information. If any support person uses the terms "Uninstall
or Re-install" you've reached their limit of comprehension and it's a
good idea to ask for next tier support.
About the only thing phone support does accomplish is test your
blood pressure and see how long you can converse before the first
cuss word gets used.

 

[Steve Bird]

Was quite amusing when his boss then came on the line, sounded just the same as
the tech guy!
he asked if there assistance helped to which I replied, yes!! It helped tell me
not to call you again!!

 

[Rock]

Hi Rock
Well as usual Dell responded but indicating that my system will only
support a total of 100GB drive.
At present I have a 60GB master and 40GB slave so that's my limit (or is
it??)
I called them today and after they eventually gathered what i was asking
they still tell me that my motherboard will only support 100GB!
Do you know of any reason for that?
I am about to update the BIOS to A09 which is the latest for my PC but at
the moment my Floppy Drive isn't working so will do it another way.

Please let me know if you can think of a reason why Dell would say 100GB
max?

Hard to understand why they would say that. That's an arbitrary limit,
never heard of it before. I have read the other replies down through R.
McCarty's. It probably does support the large size drive unless for some
unknown reason they messed with the BIOS. If I were you, I'd try it.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi Rock
Well as usual Dell responded but indicating that my system will only
support a total of 100GB drive.
At present I have a 60GB master and 40GB slave so that's my limit (or
is it??) I called them today and after they eventually gathered what
i was asking they still tell me that my motherboard will only support
100GB! Do you know of any reason for that?
I am about to update the BIOS to A09 which is the latest for my PC
but at the moment my Floppy Drive isn't working so will do it another
way.
Please let me know if you can think of a reason why Dell would say
100GB max?

What you are saying here is very strange. I've never heard of such a
restriction. I think one of two things must be the case: either you
misunderstood what the person told you or you unfortunately got connected
with someone who doesn't know what he's talking about.

There are sometimes BIOS restrictions on the size of an *individual* hard
drive (although I've never of a 100GB BIOS restriction), but I've never
heard of any restriction on the total of all hard drives.

 

[Rock]

Hi Rock
Well as usual Dell responded but indicating that my system will only
support a total of 100GB drive.
At present I have a 60GB master and 40GB slave so that's my limit (or is
it??)
I called them today and after they eventually gathered what i was asking
they still tell me that my motherboard will only support 100GB!
Do you know of any reason for that?
I am about to update the BIOS to A09 which is the latest for my PC but at
the moment my Floppy Drive isn't working so will do it another way.

Please let me know if you can think of a reason why Dell would say 100GB
max?

Thanks
Steve

I would take Anna's post and experience with that board as much more
reliable than what the Dell tech folks said.

 

[Steve]

I also couldn't believe what he was saying so I asked him to check again
becuase I needed to know if the 100GB was per disk or in total and he said
TOTAL!!!
He put me on to his manager and I also asked him again and mentioned that
the limit would be 137GB post SP1 or without 48bit LBA.
He just confirmed 100GB total..

Doesn't it give you much faith in TECH SUPPORT???

I will upgrade my bios to latest when my new floppy drive arrive from ebay
and give it a go. Will need to find the cheapest place for 160-200GB WD
Caviar SE as I have faith in them seeing as no problems in 5years with this
one!!

Thanks for all the support guys!!

Steve

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I also couldn't believe what he was saying so I asked him to check
again becuase I needed to know if the 100GB was per disk or in total
and he said TOTAL!!!
He put me on to his manager and I also asked him again and mentioned
that the limit would be 137GB post SP1 or without 48bit LBA.

You mean *pre*-SP1. Yes, that's a known limit, but it's per drive.

He just confirmed 100GB total..

I still don't believe him.

Doesn't it give you much faith in TECH SUPPORT???

I will upgrade my bios to latest when my new floppy drive arrive from
ebay and give it a go. Will need to find the cheapest place for
160-200GB WD Caviar SE as I have faith in them seeing as no problems
in 5years with this one!!

May I suggest that you try the large drive before upgrading the BIOS? I say
that for two reasons:

1. It will probably work, and if it does, you don't have to run the risk of
a BIOS upgrade. Although a BIOS upgrade normally goes well, it is not
without danger. If something goes wrong while the upgrade is an progress
(for example, a lapse in power) you can be left with no BIOS at all, and an
unbootable computer.

2. It will settle the question of whether what you have been told is
correct. I, for one, would like to hear back about whether it worked.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

Thanks for all the support guys!!

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[Steve Bird]

Bit late Ken as have already upgraded the Bios as my new floppy drive turned up
this morning.

Will check back when I have got my new drive.
Thanks again

Steve

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Bit late Ken as have already upgraded the Bios as my new floppy drive
turned up this morning.

OK, I'm glad it went well.

 

[Bob I]

100 GB in total limitation is complete and utter BS. Someones "help
script" has a typo.