neilinoz Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 Hi, I have successfully built my first PC using 2nd hand parts and bits from my old PC (which died the other day). It must be successful because here I am using it! There's a few questions that I need answered. Can anyone help? The Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-6XBC and it appears as though the Bios has not been changed. I'd like to update it just in case, but how do I use Flash Bios when they are windows .exe files? I have 2 hard drives. My original 4gb/5400 from my old system and a new 40gb/7200 with 8m cache. Currently I use my old Hard drive to boot from. What I'd like to do is this: a) Old 4gb HDD to be a slave running Win98, which I used to run. B) New 40gb HDD to run Linux (currently Mdk 9.1 but waiting for official 10.0 to be released) c) A dual boot which means that after the Bios screen I can choose between running Linux and running Windows. The GA-6XBC has only 2 IDE connectors. I goes to the CD-Rom and the other to the 4gb drive. The cable that connects the drive to the motherboard has a 2nd connector on it and I am assuming that it can be plugged in to the 40gb drive. So I connected it and it seems to be recognised in Bios. Oh... I don't know how to turn the 40gb drive into a "Master" or "Slave" in Bios (Award). I can see the screen, but I'm dead scared of doing the wrong thing. Finally, I installed the Sound Card from my previous PC into an ISA slot. It is a creative Soundblaster SB16 I think. I'm not a gamer so I'm happy to keep that old card working in playing CDs and the occasional MP3 file. But it doesn't work. When Linux booted up on my old system it could recognise it fine. But now it can't. If you can give easy step by step instructions that would be wonderful. Obviously you may need more info, some of which you see in my signature, but feel free to ask for more. I do have the .pdf file for the Motherboard. It doesn't really help me in any of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phunni Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 OK - I can't help you with everything, but see if any of this helps. The best way to dual boot is to have windows installed first (it get's very upset otherwise) and then simply install Linux. Linux will install a bootloader (I use Lilo although Grub is another option) this will present you with the boot options you want when you boot. In order to make a drive a master or slave, you may need to move a switch or move a bit of plastic on some pins on the drive itself. Somewhere on the drive it will probably have a set of six pins sitting in pairs. Ther e will (probably) be a bit of plastic over two of them. The drive may have a sticker telling you how to set up masters/slaves etc, but if it doesn't, then simply experiement! You may find it doesn't boot properly, but you won't damage your hardaware - so that's nice :D Hope some of that was of help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feralertx Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 The GA-6XBC has only 2 IDE connectors. I goes to the CD-Rom and the other to the 4gb drive. The cable that connects the drive to the motherboard has a 2nd connector on it and I am assuming that it can be plugged in to the 40gb drive. Thats right but IMHO i would rather have either the two HDs connected to the same IDE or the 4gb + CD and the 40 gb by itself. Oh... I don't know how to turn the 40gb drive into a "Master" or "Slave" in Bios (Award). I can see the screen, but I'm dead scared of doing the wrong thing. You dont change master to slave via Bios but in the drive itself, looking the HD (or CD or whatever) from behind you will see a jumper which sets the master/slave condition, look into your new HD documentation to find out how to or just try untill you find the one. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 The Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-6XBC and it appears as though the Bios has not been changed. I'd like to update it just in case, but how do I use Flash Bios when they are windows .exe files? Use a DOS bootable disk.... this really should be done in real mode anyway. The GA-6XBC has only 2 IDE connectors. I goes to the CD-Rom and the other to the 4gb drive. The cable that connects the drive to the motherboard has a 2nd connector on it and I am assuming that it can be plugged in to the 40gb drive. So I connected it and it seems to be recognised in Bios. Oh... I don't know how to turn the 40gb drive into a "Master" or "Slave" in Bios (Award). I can see the screen, but I'm dead scared of doing the wrong thing. Im, presuming its a normal IDE (not serial ATA) The absolute best place to set MASTER/SLAVE is on the disk jumpers. Check on the disks themselves and you will have sets of little jumpers next to the power cable. Somewhere will be a little diagram showing the positions for master and slave and cable select. I always set this manually. Hmm, Finally, I installed the Sound Card from my previous PC into an ISA slot. It is a creative Soundblaster SB16 I think. I'm not a gamer so I'm happy to keep that old card working in playing CDs and the occasional MP3 file. But it doesn't work. When Linux booted up on my old system it could recognise it fine. But now it can't. This is an old ISA card so its not having its IRQ's set by the PCI bus. Instead theres and old ISA plug and play setting.... You might have to find which IRQ's and DMA's are free in say KDE control panel/informaiton and manually set the jumpers on the card (if any) Hang in :D Your doing great so far :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarissi Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 Each IDE channel (mobo connector) is a 2 device channel. So you can have up to 4 IDE devices connected. The Bios file in EXE format is a Self Extracting Archive, which includes the Bios file and DOS files as well. If you have Q Flash, it is better to do it within the bios itself. Check at least 10 times to be sure you have the CORRECT file and write the filename down, cause you don't always get a listing. The bios file needs to be on floppy. Make a backup of the bios that you have now, just in case. You don't want so much a burp in the power when the flashing is being done. So make sure your computer is connected to a UPS. Download the bios flash manuals and read them VERY carefully!! I have a friend who just flashed his bios. I gave him the mobo, cpu, and ram for it (I upgraded). Everything worked fine for me, but not for him. He was as transparent as a ghost when flashing the bios (first time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 If you have no stability/hardware compatibility or serious performance issues, why update your bios? Don't, unless really necessary, or if you go for the learning experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willisoften Posted March 26, 2004 Report Share Posted March 26, 2004 If you have no stability/hardware compatibility or serious performance issues, why update your bios? Don't, unless really necessary, or if you go for the learning experience. Amen! I've never had a problem but I would strongly discourage you from updating the bios. Having said that I believe that most GigaByte boards have a twin bios, so it it's just the learning experience you are after this might be a good one to try. Look into it, carefully. One of myolder mb's had a problem with filling the 3 DiMM slots cured by an easy and trouble free bios update. So I'm not saying never - just why bother. If it aint broke.... As far as setting master slave in the Bios - are you actually talking about choosing which drive you boot from? If so it's usually under Advanced Bios Features Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted March 26, 2004 Report Share Posted March 26, 2004 I have trashed a good computer updating the bios. Any minor occurance can cause the process to fail. Don't do it unless you need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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