That's a great board. One of my favorites.

What version of the BIOS is currently installed? The <= 1998 BIOS are going to have trouble with any drive > 128GB.

douglar wrote on 2025-06-09, 00:53:

That's a great board. One of my favorites.

What version of the BIOS is currently installed? The <= 1998 BIOS are going to have trouble with any drive > 128GB.

Well as I said in the top, the BIOS version is 1.2s, though now I notice a date code of 12/15/1997, and the CF cards I used were 2gb and 4gb, the HDDs were ranging in size from 500MB to 100GB.

So you're saying that the primary IDE interface can talk to CD-ROMs but doesn't detect HDDs? Or the CD-ROM is on secondary?

I put the CD-ROM on both primary and secondary IDE connections on the mobo, and it was able to be seen in both, but not when I put the HDD on the same cable with the CD-ROM, it would not see either. the CD-ROM was set as slave and I have just not bothered to adjust it yet, but the HDDs were all set for master.

I see, so at least it isn't that the primary IDE is fried.

Have you examined the board with a magnifying glass or under a microscope to check for broken traces?

I believe the south bridge is responsible for managing the I/O between the IDE ports and the CPU.

Also, have you cleaned the board thoroughly?

JuddSandage wrote on 2025-06-09, 01:04:

douglar wrote on 2025-06-09, 00:53:

That's a great board. One of my favorites.

What version of the BIOS is currently installed? The <= 1998 BIOS are going to have trouble with any drive > 128GB.

Well as I said in the top, the BIOS version is 1.2s, though now I notice a date code of 12/15/1997, and the CF cards I used were 2gb and 4gb, the HDDs were ranging in size from 500MB to 100GB.

8GB+ support wasn't added until the official v1.5SL BIOS...for later support try Jans J3 version - worth an update https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/qdi-p5 … itanium-ib#bios

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-06-09, 10:27:

JuddSandage wrote on 2025-06-09, 01:04:

douglar wrote on 2025-06-09, 00:53:

That's a great board. One of my favorites.

What version of the BIOS is currently installed? The <= 1998 BIOS are going to have trouble with any drive > 128GB.

Well as I said in the top, the BIOS version is 1.2s, though now I notice a date code of 12/15/1997, and the CF cards I used were 2gb and 4gb, the HDDs were ranging in size from 500MB to 100GB.

8GB+ support wasn't added until the official v1.5SL BIOS...for later support try Jans J3 version - worth an update https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/qdi-p5 … itanium-ib#bios

Ok once I get my Gotek sometime this week I will try updating the BIOS, also is that Jan Beta?

Those SATA to IDE adapters are super flakey - I've given up on trying to use them as they always cause me problems.

What CF to IDE adapter are you using? A 2GB or 4GB CF in an appropriate adapter should definitely work. I've been using this cheap one from Amazon on similar systems.

Make sure it is properly powered and make sure that the jumpers are set correctly as in the photo.

Does your adapter have LEDs to confirm the status of the card?

just been trying to use the Syba expansion slot one off amazon, I had two of the one your referring to, but no idea where they got off to, ordered them again, I also have a Startech.com one for a 3.5" bay on my 486, which works like a champ.

I'd simply call it it a patched BIOS by one of the retro communities most accomplished modders Jan Steunebrink (aka @Chkcpu DIY Bios Modding guide Jan Steunebrink k6-2+/3+ 128gb or http://www.steunebrink.info/k6plus.htm )

@PC Hoarder Patrol, thanks for the praise. 😀

Hi JuddSandage,

About the Award BIOS Revisions, all pre-2004 BIOSes are limited to 128GiB/137GB and those older than September 1999 are limited to 32GB IDE HDDs.
Your 12/15/1997 Rev V1.2S Titanium IB+ BIOS should support up to 32GB, but may have an even lower 8GB limit.
The latest official 06/05/1998 V1.5SL T1B+ BIOS is limited to 32GB drives as well.

To rule-out any BIOS HDD limitations causing your drive detection issue, you can use the 01/07/2000 V1.5SB patch J.3 BIOS (T1BP_J3.zip).
You can get it from TRW or from my “The Unofficial AMD K6-2+/III+ page”. The link to my page is in my Signature below. Scroll down to the “patched BIOS” list to find this T1B+ BIOS.
Be sure to download the correct BIOS, there are also patched BIOSes for the Titanium IB(non-plus), IIB, and IIIB boards. 😉

This patched Titanium IB+ BIOS supports drives up to 128GiB/137GB and allows drives up to 640GiB to be attached , although the BIOS will then only ‘see’ the first 137GB of these large drives.
In addition, this patch J.3 BIOS will get you full K6-2(+)/III(+) support up to 500MHz and fixes the Win98 UDMA bug.

If you don’t have the flasher, you can use Uniflash or this QDIFLASH program.

Cheers, Jan

Chkcpu wrote on 2025-06-09, 11:22:

Your 12/15/1997 Rev V1.2S Titanium IB+ BIOS should support up to 32GB, but may have an even lower 8GB limit. ... This patched Ti […]
Show full quote

Your 12/15/1997 Rev V1.2S Titanium IB+ BIOS should support up to 32GB, but may have an even lower 8GB limit.
...
This patched Titanium IB+ BIOS supports drives up to 128GiB/137GB and allows drives up to 640GiB to be attached , although the BIOS will then only ‘see’ the first 137GB of these large drives.
In addition, this patch J.3 BIOS will get you full K6-2(+)/III(+) support up to 500MHz and fixes the Win98 UDMA bug.

Thanks for taking the time to provide a detailed description of the issue.

Chkcpu wrote on 2025-06-09, 11:22:

@PC Hoarder Patrol, thanks for the praise. :) […]
Show full quote

@PC Hoarder Patrol, thanks for the praise. 😀

Hi JuddSandage,

About the Award BIOS Revisions, all pre-2004 BIOSes are limited to 128GiB/137GB and those older than September 1999 are limited to 32GB IDE HDDs.
Your 12/15/1997 Rev V1.2S Titanium IB+ BIOS should support up to 32GB, but may have an even lower 8GB limit.
The latest official 06/05/1998 V1.5SL T1B+ BIOS is limited to 32GB drives as well.

To rule-out any BIOS HDD limitations causing your drive detection issue, you can use the 01/07/2000 V1.5SB patch J.3 BIOS (T1BP_J3.zip).
You can get it from TRW or from my “The Unofficial AMD K6-2+/III+ page”. The link to my page is in my Signature below. Scroll down to the “patched BIOS” list to find this T1B+ BIOS.
Be sure to download the correct BIOS, there are also patched BIOSes for the Titanium IB(non-plus), IIB, and IIIB boards. 😉

This patched Titanium IB+ BIOS supports drives up to 128GiB/137GB and allows drives up to 640GiB to be attached , although the BIOS will then only ‘see’ the first 137GB of these large drives.
In addition, this patch J.3 BIOS will get you full K6-2(+)/III(+) support up to 500MHz and fixes the Win98 UDMA bug.

If you don’t have the flasher, you can use Uniflash or this QDIFLASH program.

The attachment QDIFLASH.ZIP is no longer available

Cheers, Jan

Thank you for this, I will update the bios as soon as I can, as I got my gotek in today, and as is usual work impedes on my hobbies.

The BIOS size limit discussion is certainly helpful once the IDE interface is working, but seems the OP tried several sub-32GB (and even sub-8GB) drives and none were even detected.
My understanding is that only the 32GB limit is a hard-limit (in which you can't just ignore the excess capacity) and it hard-locks a susceptible Award BIOS, which isn't the symptom the OP is seeing here.

Yeah, I can check it today as my other cf adapters arrived and another sata to ide adapter, as well as a 120gb ssd, I will see what works tonight.

A troubleshooting option is to set the drives to type 1 and try installing EZ drive if you are OK with reformatting the storage devices. It’s a simple way to take the bios out of the equation and can give you some troubleshooting info when there are problems

https://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1900

Whats odd is the BIOS would lockup trying to detect the CF or SSD, during normal POST when it scanned them, it just took forever for that IDE Channel to not see anything. But the HDDs... well regardless of how I tried it, it would just instantly not see them.

ok, after I had updated the BIOS the board was able to see the SSD, and I managed to install Windows 98 quick install, got to the point of installing the drivers for my Matrox Millennium II and then windows was being a bit flaky, so I think a different try at a windows install would be a good idea, also the little CF adapters that plug directly in to the IDE port work, yet the one that is supposed to take an expansion slot still doesn't work.