Bobby Herring <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>I have an old 486/66 I would like to upgrade
><snip> Atrend ATC-5030 mobo using the 430TX chipset
><snip> I will use my existing hard drive
><snip> Does this sound like a workable combination?

Since your existing hard drive comes from an old-ish 486/66 system
there may be an incompatibility between its 5V IDE logic
and the TX chipset's 3.3v E-IDE. Seagate has listed affected
drive numbers in "Intel TX Chipset Compatibility"

http://www.seagate.com:80/support/disc/faq/inteltx.shtml

Affected drives are identified by a chip numbered CL-SH7630
Affected motherboards are identified by a chip numbered 82439TX
If your drive has a label "3.3V compatible" you are OK

An earlier Seagate document explains:
"These compatibility issues came to light as a result of
 investigation into intermittent failures of a batch of
 hard disk drives during commissioning of PC system boxes.

 New PC chip sets such as Intel TX use 3.3V logic. If the chip set
 includes an enhanced IDE interface (Ultra ATA etc.) the disk drive
 must be able to accept control signals at the 3.3V logic levels.
 This may not be the case with older disk drives which were designed
 for optimum performance with 5.0V logic.

 The ongoing effects of this are :
 * If you buy a drive for a TX motherboard ensure 3.3V compatibility.
 * If you upgrade to a TX motherboard your old disk drives
   may not work reliably.
 * If you buy from the second user or surplus market you may not
   be able to tell"

This could be an issue with other drive brands but I haven't heard.


Len Warner <[log in to unmask]> http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~len/ ICQ:10120933