Well it can be the controller, the cable and the drive. I would swap the cable ASAP and also do a deep scan on the drive.

I'd also look into getting a new controller card in case that doesn't help you...

Have you considered trying to get a new mainboard?
I'm pretty sure it's a faulty IDE controller. Trying another harddrive would also prove good.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Well it can be the controller, the cable and the drive. I would swap the cable ASAP and also do a deep scan on the drive.

I'd also look into getting a new controller card in case that doesn't help you...

Controller Card? The IDE cable connects directly to the MB.

I will check the other items though. I think the IDE cable is not a very old one but I will switch it.

Yup you have a onboard controller.

But nothing stops you from putting in another controller. Or you can go SCSI. The onboard controller can be disabled either by jumpers or in BIOS.

Same thing happened to me recently. I have the same board, but use a 8GB CF card. Before I got that, I used a 12GB harddisk, which never had any trouble.

After much researching, I still have no idea what causes the corruption. It could be the onboard CMD640 IDE controller, which is known to be crap, but slowing it down to PIO2 mode should fix the problem.

However, there could be other reasons...

@rick12373: I've got a few questions about your system configuration:

1. Does your board sometimes forget its BIOS settings after a crash?
2. How is your HDD partitioned? Which filesystems do you use (FAT16/FAT32)?
3. Do you use a write-behind disk cache (SMARTDRV or similar)?

5u3 wrote:

Same thing happened to me recently. I have the same board, but use a 8GB CF card. Before I got that, I used a 12GB harddisk, whi […]
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Same thing happened to me recently. I have the same board, but use a 8GB CF card. Before I got that, I used a 12GB harddisk, which never had any trouble.

After much researching, I still have no idea what causes the corruption. It could be the onboard CMD640 IDE controller, which is known to be crap, but slowing it down to PIO2 mode should fix the problem.

However, there could be other reasons...

@rick12373: I've got a few questions about your system configuration:

1. Does your board sometimes forget its BIOS settings after a crash?
2. How is your HDD partitioned? Which filesystems do you use (FAT16/FAT32)?
3. Do you use a write-behind disk cache (SMARTDRV or similar)?

The board doesn't forget it's BIOS settings. The time would never stay correct (in DOSStart, not sure about elsewhere), but I never had any other problems with the BIOS losing HDD information and also the PIO2 mode was remembered and stayed at 2.

The HD is not partitioned and is using the largest size that DOS can see, which is 8GB. File system is FAT32.

I am using smartdrv, in the autoexec.bat it says "LH SMARTDRV".

If I have to buy a separate controller card, which would be a good one for this board?

Is this what I would need?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Promise-Ultra100-2x-IDE-A … =item23084d20fd

I will have to find another HDD to test maybe. The one being used is an 80GB fairly modern drive. I should probably test it with Seagate's Seatools.

^^^^ Bump ^^^^ 😀

Hmmm, I'm running out of ideas...

I'm still not entirely convinced that the corruption was caused by the onboard controller, but it surely doesn't hurt to try out alternatives.

About the PCI controller card:
Keep in mind that PCI implementations are a bit wobbly on 486 boards. In many cases they don't even fully support the PCI 2.1 specs, so "too modern" cards won't work properly.

Does anyone have experiences with the PVI-486SP3 and PCI IDE controllers?

Wish I could help to after all my fiddling with these Asus boards but I've only tested SCSI controllers...

Well, if anyone can recommend an IDE controller board for this 486 motherboard I would really appreciate it (eBay links etc). I am going to combine that with a new HDD. So is it okay to use the size of drive (80GB) that I had before formatted to 8GB?

If anybody already has an IDE controller board that would be a good fit I am willing to swap for some of my old hardware if they are willing (I am penniless right now). I have some old creative sound cards and some older video cards. I am in the US by the way.

Hey my Iwill Super Socket 7 board also has a data corruption issue. I didn't spend much time trying to fix it. PIO mode also gave me read errors under DOS, so I removed that main board and now I am using the GB 440BX again.

These old hardware bits are so cheap, no need to get worked up over some issue. Just move on and get something else that "just works".

If you are penniless but have time, try to score something for free. Asking around often yields to someone having a old PC stored somewhere.

I also wouldn't just buy a single controller. Try to buy a collection or bulk parts box or main board bundle or something. You have more stuff to test and when you are done you sell what you don't need.

What size does the BIOS detect for the drive? If it doesn't see the correct value I wouldn't trust it and get a HD with a more appropriate size. Did you enable LBA mode in the BIOS?

Did you re-partition the drive after the accident? File systems can get broken in a way where scandisk is helpless.

Yeah, I suppose I might have to try and get another MB. Shame, I was told that board was a good one.

It can be the best board, but if it's giving you issues cut your losses and look for a new toy 😀 Some people think that old hardware is allowed to be flakey, but I believe that old hardware has been thoroughly tested, the BIOSes are the latest version, all the drivers are the latest versions and I found that I have zero issues with most of my parts.

I do stick with name brands though, like Gigabyte, Aopen, Asus and Creative stuff. Intel Chipset boards are usually very mature / stable. It really shows on the 440BX boards they "just work" and give you zero hassles.

How about:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Creative-Labs-CT1870-16-B … =item517f7a7531

or:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-ISA-Bus-Seagate-I … =item3cb1505d79

or:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Promise-16Bit-ISA-EIDE-MA … =item483c55c898

If I get ISA it shouldn't be too modern for the machine right?

Promise sounds very familiar. I would go with that!

The first card is only for CD-Roms and the second one I am not sure. Might be for older harddrive types (XT/286)

Baah, whats wrong with using SCSi instead? faster...more stable...and yes..there are SCSI drives that aren't noisy as hell 😉

I'm using this on my mobo

I'ts even a "recommended" SCSi card in the mobo manual for PVI-486SP3

Well, forgive me but I have never touched SCSI. I don't even know anything about them 🤣. I guess I missed that boat.

Can you still buy new SCSI drives?

Oh I did search for that recommended SCSI card on eBay. There were two. One was over $100 and the other was like $40 or something. The IDE are way cheaper and I already have IDE HDD's.

rick12373 wrote:

Well, forgive me but I have never touched SCSI. I don't even know anything about them 🤣. I guess I missed that boat.

Can you still buy new SCSI drives?

Oh I did search for that recommended SCSI card on eBay. There were two. One was over $100 and the other was like $40 or something. The IDE are way cheaper and I already have IDE HDD's.

You'll have to hunt down suitable drives on the 2nd hand market (ebay is your friend)

I'ts easier to find this SCSI card on the european ebay sites...the sellers will usually agree on shipping abroad

SCSI was more mature than IDE in the 486 days so it's a better match for you mobo 😀