So a normal ide drive works?

Try a ide or sata pci card instead?

Have you tried copying the setup files to the HDD and running from there?

ldeveraux wrote on 2022-10-26, 13:13:

Have you tried copying the setup files to the HDD and running from there?

Copy the whole CD to the HDD? I could try that.

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-10-26, 06:54:

So a normal ide drive works?

Try a ide or sata pci card instead?

Are they more reliable?

Idk if they are more reliable, but they are often faster.

If your onboard isn’t working maybe a offboard will work is my reasoning

mhardisty wrote on 2022-10-26, 20:23:

ldeveraux wrote on 2022-10-26, 13:13:

Have you tried copying the setup files to the HDD and running from there?

Copy the whole CD to the HDD? I could try that.

Usually the only thing that works for me in the end

Oh yeah, always run setup from the hdd on 9x/me

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-10-27, 15:27:

Oh yeah, always run setup from the hdd on 9x/me

... and WinNT.

Also test your memory for faults.

A photo of the disk and adapter would be cool but i'm thinking LBA issue maybe disk expects 48bit LBA UNLESS ITS JUST 2GB in overall size but if its sata that probably isn't that small.
Lastly i'd recommend a cf card of say 2gb or less in an adapter for ide in this scenario as the ide to sata i own one and it sucks maybe yours is better because it did get to setup?
I use my for optical booting media only now.

Brand and model or at least chipset of any adapter used (or a photo if unbranded/generic) and brand, model and capacity the actual storage devices would be very pertinent to know.

Also, do you know if you have latest available BIOS installed on the motherboard ? Either way, which version/revision it ?

EDIT: According to the manual, the motherboard supports LBA and should default to it. Make sure it hasn't been disabled manually in the BIOS.

Also, do not run more than one device per IDE cable (only a master or standalone drive per IDE port) while testing/installing . Incompatibilities and steange issues are possible otherwise.

Thanks - it's a Startech Adapter.

I've tried with various size SATA drives, platter and a SSD. CF card with a startech adapter and the same experience.

I presume it must be an issue with the motherboard and compatibility with these devices.

I'm not sure what version of the BIOS is running - the boot sequence is quick - but Intel have removed any downloads for the NX-440-LX.

Attach a standard IDE drive and everything works - though not sustainable with the age or speed of the drives!

Any recommendations for PCI SATA cards?

I’m happy with my promise sata II tx4

mhardisty wrote on 2022-10-27, 20:14:

Thanks - it's a Startech Adapter. […]
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Thanks - it's a Startech Adapter.

I've tried with various size SATA drives, platter and a SSD. CF card with a startech adapter and the same experience.

I presume it must be an issue with the motherboard and compatibility with these devices.

I'm not sure what version of the BIOS is running - the boot sequence is quick - but Intel have removed any downloads for the NX-440-LX.

Attach a standard IDE drive and everything works - though not sustainable with the age or speed of the drives!

a) What are the smallest capacity CF card and SATA drives (SSD or otherwise) that you have tried (possibly larger than 8.4GB) ?

b) What is the largest capacity IDE drive that worked (possibly smaller than 8.4GB) ?

The reason I am asking about disk size (again) and BIOS version is because [1] specifies on page 5 "7 Fix System BIOS does not recognize hard drives larger than 8.4 GB".

The somewhat confusing document seems to imply that support for >8.4GB is planned for a future release ( "Fix" as opposed to "Fixed") [2], but was possibly not yet implemented at the time of the document's writing .
The newest BIOS version available at the time (according to same DOC) was 4N4XL0X0.86A.0020.P10 which can be found here [3] (this may or may not work with your board, as it may require an OEM version of the BIOS).
I have extracted and attached the release notes from that BIOS update [4] , but it does not mention a fix for the documented 8.4GB limitation, unfortunately . EDIT: I was not able to find a newer BIOS release than 4N4XL0X0.86A.0020.P10 .

[1]# Excerpt from page 5 of https://web.archive.org/web/20001001054451/ht … tion_update.pdf

17 Fix System BIOS does not recognize hard drives larger than 8.4 GB

[2] #Excerpt from page 5 of https://web.archive.org/web/20001001054451/ht … tion_update.pdf

1Doc: Document change or update that will be implemented.
2Fix: This erratum is intended to be fixed in a future revision of the motherboard or BIOS.
3Fixed: This erratum has been previously fixed.
4NoFix: There are no plans to fix this erratum

[3] 4N4XL0X0.86A.0020.P10 BIOS
https://web.archive.org/web/20190904062114/ht … ng/nxbios10.exe

[4] 4N4XL0X0.86A.0020.P10 BIOS release notes

mhardisty wrote on 2022-10-27, 20:15:

Any recommendations for PCI SATA cards?

Based on what I shared in my previous post, I suggest you try a CF card <8.4GB (if you haven't already) before looking at PCI options.

That being said :

SIL3114 can be decent if you find a non-crappy one (lots of cheapo crap boards online give this chipset a bad name), so probably best to avoid unless feeling lucky .

Promise PCI cards are good but can expensive these days. Please note the following, however,
a) Not all SATA ones have Windows 9x drivers, check before you buy
b) IDE ones can used with Marvell or JMicron based IDE to SATA adapters (in my experience, YMMV) and might be cheaper and easier to find than SATA ones
c) there have been reports of incompatibilities between 440BX based motherboard and the Promise ULTRA133. I have experienced this myself, but don't know how widespread it is nor whether it may apply to 440LX motherboards . The southbridges used by both 440LX and 440BX chipsets (PIIX4 vs PIIX4E) are similar [1], so who knows .

[1]
https://web.archive.org/web/20100215183014/ht … date/297738.pdf

darry wrote on 2022-10-27, 23:14:

Based on what I shared in my previous post, I suggest you try a CF card <8.4GB (if you haven't already) before looking at PCI op […]
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mhardisty wrote on 2022-10-27, 20:15:

Any recommendations for PCI SATA cards?

Based on what I shared in my previous post, I suggest you try a CF card <8.4GB (if you haven't already) before looking at PCI options.

That being said :

SIL3114 can be decent if you find a non-crappy one (lots of cheapo crap boards online give this chipset a bad name), so probably best to avoid unless feeling lucky .

Promise PCI cards are good but can expensive these days. Please note the following, however,
a) Not all SATA ones have Windows 9x drivers, check before you buy
b) IDE ones can used with Marvell or JMicron based IDE to SATA adapters (in my experience, YMMV) and might be cheaper and easier to find than SATA ones
c) there have been reports of incompatibilities between 440BX based motherboard and the Promise ULTRA133. I have experienced this myself, but don't know how widespread it is nor whether it may apply to 440LX motherboards . The southbridges used by both 440LX and 440BX chipsets (PIIX4 vs PIIX4E) are similar [1], so who knows .

[1]
https://web.archive.org/web/20100215183014/ht … date/297738.pdf

Thank you - great advice. I've tried 4GB CF cards with no luck - so I might buy a small 1GB card perhaps.

I'll give the BIOS update a go too!

Have you gotten it to install?

ldeveraux wrote on 2022-10-29, 12:13:

Have you gotten it to install?

Nope, never got it to work with the IDE->SATA adapter. Switched back to IDE drive and works fine. Must be a compatibility problem with the LX motherboard.

I've got over this problem by having a batch file hand over to another batch file which gets copied to the target media. This seems to work around this easily and I am able to launch setup with flags and msbatch using this method.