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7422GX Harddrive upgrade requires BIOS upgrade

post #1 of 20
10/14/10 at 8:33am
Thread Starter 
Ok so I've had the 7422GX for many years now and it's always been a really good machine for me. Lately I've been running out of room with my dual boot system and needed a new hard drive. I picked up a WD 320GB PATA for a good price on newegg last week, but the bios only recognizes it as 137GB. Using linux fdisk it recognizes the full size so I thought I'd give it a try but after install I get errors with the disk, and GRUB never recognizes the disk afterward. Even partitioning the drive to one partition for NTFS the XP install CD only recognizes 137 GB. SO I figured I'd look for a bios upgrade from NS00.02 and came across emachines.fizi.ca. Using winphlash in XP (32bit) I've tried both the NS00.05 and NS00.08 without any luck. It goes through all the steps until the last Flash step, and the system powers down. Not sure what to try, the system still boots up fine with my old drive.

Any ideas would be appreciated!
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post #2 of 20
10/14/10 at 11:01am
I haven't come across of any 7422GX that can see more than 137GB. Your best best is to partition the drive

cheers ...
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post #3 of 20
10/16/10 at 4:32pm
Thread Starter 
I guess I wasn't clear in my original post I have partitioned it several times trying to install several operating systems on it. Are you suggesting the largest I can have any partition is 137GB? That doesn't seem to make sense to me as they sold 160GB upgrades for it at release. I'll try making all the partitions on the drive less than 137GB. Any idea why Winphlash would shut the laptop off when trying to flash the bios? That may be moot though if the newer bios still doesn't allow it to recognize the drive size correctly.

Thanks for the help
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post #4 of 20
10/16/10 at 6:39pm
Not sure about what you mean by Winphlash shutting the notebook down at BIOS flashing. You meant after successfully flashing the BIOS? If so then it is normal since many successful BIOS flashes ended up with the notebook shutting down and requiring a manual re-power on.

Maybe they can sell a 160GB upgrade disk, but that model will not see beyond the 137GB partition. If someone has done it, it would be great to have some confirmation (screen shot, tips) - I haven't seen it

cheers ...
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post #5 of 20
10/16/10 at 7:11pm
Thread Starter 
The laptop powers down as soon as winphlash gets to the last step, flashing the BIOS. It powers down before it flashes. Scared me the first time it happened...

I partitioned the drive into partitions no larger than 100GB and ubuntu installed without flaw this time. So I'll see if XP complains and go from there.

Thanks qhn
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post #6 of 20
10/16/10 at 7:16pm
You should have no issue with 120GB partition should you decide to go that route. Good luck dcurrahee

cheers ...
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post #7 of 20
10/17/10 at 6:05pm
Thread Starter 
I think I need more than luck. Do you mean one 120GB partition, or partitions of 120GB? It's been a long time since I've had to deal with BIOS and OS crapping themselves over a new larger drive. From what I remember I could partition the drive in a way that it would work as long as all the boot files were in the section that the bios recognized.
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post #8 of 20
10/17/10 at 6:33pm
I would divide the disk into partitions that are no larger than 120GB each. This way once you boot up with the OS partition you have a good chance of accessing the others and using them as data partition.

cheers ...
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post #9 of 20
10/27/10 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 
Ok so here is what I was finally able to get to work for me:

1GB partition for linux boot
120GB partition for xp
120GB partition for linux root
4GB partition for swap

I tried a multitude of other setups. I couldn't boot properly without having the boot partitions near the beginning of the drive. I guess it's still a vast upgrade from having one 40GB drive in there to share between both operating systems. I wanted to try creating some extended partitions to use up the entire drive, but I got lazy and this setup worked so I'm halting here. Thanks again for the help qhn
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post #10 of 20
10/27/10 at 1:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dcurrahee View Post
Ok so here is what I was finally able to get to work for me:

1GB partition for linux boot
120GB partition for xp
120GB partition for linux root
4GB partition for swap

I tried a multitude of other setups. I couldn't boot properly without having the boot partitions near the beginning of the drive. I guess it's still a vast upgrade from having one 40GB drive in there to share between both operating systems. I wanted to try creating some extended partitions to use up the entire drive, but I got lazy and this setup worked so I'm halting here. Thanks again for the help qhn
Thank you - for coming back and post your personal working configuration. This would help other members to use as a working template when needed. REP.

cheers ...
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post #11 of 20
11/2/10 at 8:12am
Thanks for the info. I have not had the problem with the disk on either my m6811 or my 7422GX as I have not had a need to go above a 100G 7200rpm drive on either machine but I have had the problem with Winphlash and upgrading the bios.

At one time, I thought there was a third party bios that would allow allow these machine to utilize the "new at the time" dual core successors to the Athlon 64 processors but I don't think it came about.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1501 with a dual core Athlon in it and it is not all that much more faster than the Athlon 64 that I am working on right now.

My question is : Did you every find a way to flash your bios? I figured it was a problem with the WinPhlash utility.

Eunix
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post #12 of 20
11/2/10 at 4:47pm
Thread Starter 
No I gave up after learning that even with a newer bios it still wouldn't recognize the drive properly. I remember flashing it shortly after getting it when an update was released, at least I think that was this machine. I can no longer find the bios or flash utility from gateway. I'm not sure what benefit I'd have going from 02 to 05 or 08 anymore so I probably won't mess around with it anymore but still would be interested to know if you come across the solution.

Good luck
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post #13 of 20
12/3/10 at 12:35am
I am having the same problem. I decided to upgrade from the non SSE3 instruction newcastle core 3200+ CPU to the 3700+ newark core and needed to update to NS.00.05

This worked perfect and the microcode will allow for the last newark made which was the 4000+. It is a rare chip almost impossible to find.

Anyways, 48bit LBA is missing from the bios code. I wonder if NS.00.08 would have it. The only way is to pay biosman like I did to flash a brand new chip and swap it out. That way there is no risk in damage. I pulled my NS.00.02 chip out and swapped his in, and it worked. One of us should do this........

BTW, I ordered a samsung spinpoint 5400RPM 160GB and it is faster on my desktop computer than a hitachi 7k100 100GB 7200RPM because of the high ariel density and only being a single platter as compared to 2 platters on the hitachi. Some argue it is the fastest bechmarking PATA laptop drive built. We will see.
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post #14 of 20
12/3/10 at 5:40am
I personally don't think that the BIOS code has anything to do with it (48Bit LBA), but the board construction itself - at least in this case. We tried playing with some of the Acer Ferrari 3000 - same built as the Gateway and eMachines at the time - no go

cheers ...
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post #15 of 20
12/3/10 at 9:06am
It is a biod issue. The mothboards southbridge chipset will support it. Many dell laptops had a biod update that enabled 48 bit LBA. Now we do not know if NS.00.08 will have this. I am hoping someone can try it, or look at the code. It is stupid gateway / emachines are so lack luster in support. Dell has an A15 bios, yes 15 revisions for my laptop at work. That is what true support is all about. I have an old IBM work station that has 55 bios updates, although at initial launch it has some issues.
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post #16 of 20
12/12/10 at 7:48pm
So does anyone want to try the NS.00.08? Any volunteers? I could not get anyone to decomplie it to see if it has 48 bit LBA.
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post #17 of 20
12/13/10 at 4:50am
Love to try it for you, but I only have the M6805, not the 74xx

cheers ...
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post #18 of 20
12/17/10 at 3:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
Love to try it for you, but I only have the M6805, not the 74xx

cheers ...
same here (except not exactly)... I have an M68xx board in my 7422 from a motherboard replacement right after I got it, so I cant run the NS firmwares

and eMachines/Gateway cant really be blamed for the few firmware updates for it, it was all done only by Arima (as per their agreement with them, heck only actual Arima staff could repair the notebooks) and Arima was the ones that took so friggen long to do anything with the line
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post #19 of 20
12/18/10 at 12:35am
Hmmm, both my 7405GX, and m6811 had NS version bios's. One of these days I may try it.
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post #20 of 20
12/18/10 at 6:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Compman55 View Post
Hmmm, both my 7405GX, and m6811 had NS version bios's. One of these days I may try it.

That always threw me off - the eMachines with NS BIOS version

cheers ...
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