if the autodetect in the bios hangs, I'm guessing your bios has problems with bigger disks.

You could try to set CHS to some values like 1024 16 63 for the converter and try booting into windows I see you already tried that .

Or you could hope that ChkCPU has some time available to verify & maybe fix your bios for what I think is a bios problem.

edit: maybe try to set the device as none in the bios, and see if windows can detect it without hanging. though this will limit its usability to only available in windows.

As weedeewee suggested, MSI never added BIOS support for bigger disks though there is a patched copy of version 1.8 (upto 128GB) if you want to try it...

http://wims.rainbow-software.org/nicks/MSI%20MS-6147.zip

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2026-04-18, 01:35:

As weedeewee suggested, MSI never added BIOS support for bigger disks though there is a patched copy of version 1.8 (upto 128GB) if you want to try it...

http://wims.rainbow-software.org/nicks/MSI%20MS-6147.zip

Interesting! Figures that even with the limits at the time, some vendors didn't even bother reaching those!

One thing that leaps out though:

The 32GB bug in Award BIOS that prevents many users from using HDD larger than 32GB (BIOS hangs at detection) can be easily fixed in existing BIOSes. This means that if there's no BIOS for your board that supports HDDs over 32GB but supports up to 32GB, it can be fixed. The 64GB bug that causes hang at configuration table can be also fixed. Fixed and tested BIOSes will be on this page.

This motherboard has an AMI BIOS.

weedeewee wrote on 2026-04-17, 21:30:

if the autodetect in the bios hangs, I'm guessing your bios has problems with bigger disks. […]
Show full quote

if the autodetect in the bios hangs, I'm guessing your bios has problems with bigger disks.

You could try to set CHS to some values like 1024 16 63 for the converter and try booting into windows I see you already tried that .

Or you could hope that ChkCPU has some time available to verify & maybe fix your bios for what I think is a bios problem.

edit: maybe try to set the device as none in the bios, and see if windows can detect it without hanging. though this will limit its usability to only available in windows.

Exactly as expected, setting the channel to Not Installed in the BIOS means the machine boots, but the disk is not present in the OS.

Looks like there is a 32GB limit in this BIOS.

I have a SATA-IDE adapter with this JMicron chip and it never worked with any SATA SSD. Tried a couple of 128 GB ones and a 2 GB SATA flash module, during POST it shows garbled characters as the drive name, and autodetection doesn't work properly, the 2 GB module is recognized as 22 MB (out of curiosity, tried to partition and format that 22 MB drive, it didn't work, don't remember the exact error).

asdf53 wrote on 2026-04-18, 18:32:

I have a SATA-IDE adapter with this JMicron chip and it never worked with any SATA SSD. Tried a couple of 128 GB ones and a 2 GB SATA flash module, during POST it shows garbled characters as the drive name, and autodetection doesn't work properly, the 2 GB module is recognized as 22 MB (out of curiosity, tried to partition and format that 22 MB drive, it didn't work, don't remember the exact error).

With mine, the make and model strings do show up correctly in the BIOS, it's the capacity that causes it to hang, so I'm inclined to believe there's a limitation.

I'm not keen to flash the BIOS though. The PC we had in the 90s, I'm sure it had a very similar MSI motherboard (with an AGP slot) and at one point I'm sure I connected an 80GB drive to it - I definitely had the drive, but I can't remember if I got that for the PII or my PIII system. And flashing the BIOS on that board bricked the IDE controller.

I wonder if adding a SATA card is the simplest option here.

Could you test the adapter/SSD combination in another board to see if it's causing any problems there?

asdf53 wrote on 2026-04-18, 19:00:

Could you test the adapter/SSD combination in another board to see if it's causing any problems there?

I don't have any other systems that still use IDE drives.

gargravarr2112 wrote on 2026-04-18, 17:43:

Interesting! Figures that even with the limits at the time, some vendors didn't even bother reaching those! […]
Show full quote

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2026-04-18, 01:35:

As weedeewee suggested, MSI never added BIOS support for bigger disks though there is a patched copy of version 1.8 (upto 128GB) if you want to try it...

http://wims.rainbow-software.org/nicks/MSI%20MS-6147.zip

Interesting! Figures that even with the limits at the time, some vendors didn't even bother reaching those!

One thing that leaps out though:

The 32GB bug in Award BIOS that prevents many users from using HDD larger than 32GB (BIOS hangs at detection) can be easily fixed in existing BIOSes. This means that if there's no BIOS for your board that supports HDDs over 32GB but supports up to 32GB, it can be fixed. The 64GB bug that causes hang at configuration table can be also fixed. Fixed and tested BIOSes will be on this page.

This motherboard has an AMI BIOS.

The patched Award BIOS still looks like the way to go...see https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp … 0&f=95&t=164965

asdf53 wrote on 2026-04-18, 18:32:

I have a SATA-IDE adapter with this JMicron chip and it never worked with any SATA SSD.

I’ve got some no-name adapter, like this

It works perfectly on a CUBX with ASUS Award BIOS PG4.51
But it doesn’t work on the TUSL-2C... with ASUS Award BIOS PG4.51
But it works on the AOPEN MX3S (same I815 as the TUSL-2C) with generic Award BIOS PG6.00.
It was tested on a 32GB SATA 2 SSD with a jMicron chipset.

gargravarr2112 wrote on 2026-04-18, 17:54:

weedeewee wrote on 2026-04-17, 21:30:

if the autodetect in the bios hangs, I'm guessing your bios has problems with bigger disks. […]
Show full quote

if the autodetect in the bios hangs, I'm guessing your bios has problems with bigger disks.

You could try to set CHS to some values like 1024 16 63 for the converter and try booting into windows I see you already tried that .

Or you could hope that ChkCPU has some time available to verify & maybe fix your bios for what I think is a bios problem.

edit: maybe try to set the device as none in the bios, and see if windows can detect it without hanging. though this will limit its usability to only available in windows.

Exactly as expected, setting the channel to Not Installed in the BIOS means the machine boots, but the disk is not present in the OS.

Looks like there is a 32GB limit in this BIOS.

I also have a 440BX board with a bios limitation somewhere in the 32 to 64G range
You mention trying CHS numbers in the bios and it still hanging, which did work for me but I was using it with 120 to 200G hard drives, not a msata to ide adapter.

I'd guess it's best to try with a patched bios and verify the hangs then do not occur.

Hi gargravarr2112,

I agree with weedeewee that this is mainly a BIOS issue.

Looking at https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/msi-ms-6147-bx7 I only see Award BIOSes for the MS-6147, so I was surprised to see an AMI BIOS on your’s. Your MS-6147 probably comes from one of the many OEM’s that used this board.

Unlike the hard 32GB IDE HDD limit bug in 1997-1999 Award BIOSes, the AMI BIOSes from that era were usually good up to 64GB. For larger drives up to 128GB, manual input of pseudo CHS values often worked, but not in all cases.
The CHS values to use for this work-around can be calculated from the total number of sectors of the drive. Divide the total sectors count by 255, and again by 63, and round it down to a whole number. This will give you the Cylinders value to use for this drive. Then use 255 Heads and 63 Sectors/track and enter these values in the BIOS, and set the mode to LBA.
Note that with 255 Heads and 63 Sectors/track, the maximum Cylinders value is 16,643, to stay within the LBA28 limit.

A better solution would be to use an updated BIOS. I’ve checked the Award BIOSes on TRW, but they all have the 32GB limit bug. In addition, the OEM BIOSes are very restricted in their BIOS options, so the latest v1.8 BIOS from MSI is your best option.
Luckily PC Hoarder Patrol found a patched version of this v1.8 BIOS that fixes the 32GB and both 64GB limit bugs.

This patched Award MS-6147 v1.8 BIOS will be the best solution, but because you have an AMI BIOS now, you have to use Uniflash to switch from AMI to Award.
Be sure to backup your AMI BIOS to file before you flash the Award BIOS, so you can always flash the AMI back when there is a problem with the Award BIOS.

These patched BIOSes from the Wim’s BIOS team are tested on real hardware and usually work fine up to 128GB. I have used these fixes successfully in over a hundred of my patched BIOSes.
But to be sure, I tested the patched v1.8 BIOS in the emulated MS-6147 machine in 86Box. This worked fine with IDE drives up to the 128GiB/137GB limit.
However, I noticed that inside the BIOS SETUP the drive size indications of all drives is always zero now. This sometimes happens with one of the original 64GB bug fixes as used by Wim’s BIOS team. I have an improved fix for this cosmetic bug and I will apply it to the patched v1.8 BIOS.

Although the patched BIOS from Wim’s team works correctly, please hold off the flash of this BIOS until I have fixed this remaining bug.
I expect to have it ready within a couple of days.

Cheers, Jan

Chkcpu wrote on 2026-04-19, 18:34:

Hi gargravarr2112, […]
Show full quote

Hi gargravarr2112,

I agree with weedeewee that this is mainly a BIOS issue.

Looking at https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/msi-ms-6147-bx7 I only see Award BIOSes for the MS-6147, so I was surprised to see an AMI BIOS on your’s. Your MS-6147 probably comes from one of the many OEM’s that used this board.

Unlike the hard 32GB IDE HDD limit bug in 1997-1999 Award BIOSes, the AMI BIOSes from that era were usually good up to 64GB. For larger drives up to 128GB, manual input of pseudo CHS values often worked, but not in all cases.
The CHS values to use for this work-around can be calculated from the total number of sectors of the drive. Divide the total sectors count by 255, and again by 63, and round it down to a whole number. This will give you the Cylinders value to use for this drive. Then use 255 Heads and 63 Sectors/track and enter these values in the BIOS, and set the mode to LBA.
Note that with 255 Heads and 63 Sectors/track, the maximum Cylinders value is 16,643, to stay within the LBA28 limit.

A better solution would be to use an updated BIOS. I’ve checked the Award BIOSes on TRW, but they all have the 32GB limit bug. In addition, the OEM BIOSes are very restricted in their BIOS options, so the latest v1.8 BIOS from MSI is your best option.
Luckily PC Hoarder Patrol found a patched version of this v1.8 BIOS that fixes the 32GB and both 64GB limit bugs.

This patched Award MS-6147 v1.8 BIOS will be the best solution, but because you have an AMI BIOS now, you have to use Uniflash to switch from AMI to Award.
Be sure to backup your AMI BIOS to file before you flash the Award BIOS, so you can always flash the AMI back when there is a problem with the Award BIOS.

These patched BIOSes from the Wim’s BIOS team are tested on real hardware and usually work fine up to 128GB. I have used these fixes successfully in over a hundred of my patched BIOSes.
But to be sure, I tested the patched v1.8 BIOS in the emulated MS-6147 machine in 86Box. This worked fine with IDE drives up to the 128GiB/137GB limit.
However, I noticed that inside the BIOS SETUP the drive size indications of all drives is always zero now. This sometimes happens with one of the original 64GB bug fixes as used by Wim’s BIOS team. I have an improved fix for this cosmetic bug and I will apply it to the patched v1.8 BIOS.

Although the patched BIOS from Wim’s team works correctly, please hold off the flash of this BIOS until I have fixed this remaining bug.
I expect to have it ready within a couple of days.

Cheers, Jan

What a wealth of information, thank you Jan! I'm guessing that this is indeed an OEM'd motherboard (Tiny Computers, a short-lived UK firm). Interesting that it's even possible to switch BIOS vendors, though I guess if it's essentially just an EEPROM chip that loads an executable from a given address, then it's just software.

Again, I've bricked a machine before so I've been thinking about this and have decided, it might just be simpler to add a PCI SATA adapter to this system. Then I have a couple of spare 120GB 2.5" SSDs, coming in under the LBA-28 limit. I want disk space more than performance so as long as the card has Win98 support, which I'm sure does exist as SATA came into mainstream use when Win98 was still supported (and indeed Win98 supports WDM so can use later drivers), I think that's the safer option.

Hi gargravarr2112,

Having experienced a bad flash before, I understand you are reluctant to try this again.

A PCI SATA adapter is of course a good option, provided it is an active adapter with its own BIOS. A passive adapter still relies on the drive support of the motherboard BIOS.

Depending on if you can get a suitable SATA adapter, trying your present AMI BIOS with the workaround from my previous reply is another option to get an 120GB drive working.
I sure like to test this workaround on your BIOS myself. Can you send me a dump of your AMI BIOS? If you don’t have this BIOS dump, this is how you can get it:

- Download Uniflash 1.40 from TRW at https://theretroweb.com/drivers/75
- From the ufs140.zip, extract the UNIFLASH.EXE and UNILASH.TXT files.
- Boot to a Real mode DOS prompt and run Uniflash.exe.
- You should then see this screen where Uniflash has identified your Flash chip type and chipset:

- Highlight the “Write backup BIOS image to file” line
- At the bottom of the screen, you should see this selection repeated in green as well
- If this confirmation is correct, press Enter
- Choose a filename or accept the standard “backup.bin”, and press Enter
- Quit the program

This whole procedure only reads from the Flash chip and doesn’t perform any write actions. So it won’t touch your BIOS.
I hope you feel comfortable enough with this procedure to make a BIOS Backup.

I have the patched MS-6147 v1.8 Award BIOS ready now, for any MS-6147 user who wants to try it.
This BIOS comes with a PATCH.TXT file with more information about the changes I've made.

I made 2 improvements over the patched BIOS from Wim’s:
1. I applied an improved 32GB limit bugfix that doesn’t hang the BIOS anymore on >128GiB/137GB drives. This patch J.1 BIOS allows drives upto 640GiB to be attached, although the BIOS will then only 'see' the first 128GiB due to the 28-bit LBA limitation.
After booting to an LBA48 capable OS (Like Win2000 with SP3 or higher, WinXP+SP1 or later, Linux+kernel 2.4.19 or later) the whole drive up to 640GiB can be used, provided all the bootup code is present in partition(s) below the 128GiB boundary.
2. I’ve changed the 64GB limit bugfix, so that drive sizes are now correctly displayed on the BIOS Setup screens.

Cheers, Jan

Appreciate the effort Jan, but I went with a SATA card anyway - and yeah, I know what I'm looking for, I didn't even know there were passive cards. Got a Silicon Image SIL3114 card and a 120GB SSD installed, recognised and formatted as FAT32. Hopefully being primarily read will mean the lack of TRIM support doesn't drag it down too much.

I am considering replacing the motherboard with a similar one that has an AGP slot, but the vintage market is kinda expensive right now. Maybe when I'm not reliant on it, I'll try your BIOS.