48-bit LBA compatible BIOS

Precise information on this issue is difficult to come by.  All I can offer is the following - The 8250 followed in the sequence beginning with the 8100. According to the BIOS release notes for the 8100, version A07 of the 8100 BIOS added support for 48-bit LBA.  Since the 8200 and 8250 came after that, I would assume that 48-bit LBA support for these models was already included in the base or original version of the BIOS.  Furthermore, the 8250 was sold with 200 Gb hard drives, implying that its original BIOS can support hard drives larger than 137 Gb.

Steve

Steve, Thanks for the reply, if I do the XP SP1 updates and install the 200 GB HD, if it does not work will this impair my computer? I'm new at this computer stuff, got my Dell Jan. 03. I have the controller card that came with the HD, and the drivers for it on floppy, but the installation of card and drivers seems so complicated to a greenhorn. I am hoping that there is an easy way. Thanks again Doogie

The 200 Gb drive should work even without the controller card.  The controller card would add BIOS extensions that will make ensure that the drive works.  SP1 is necessary in either case.  Are you installing this drive as a second hard drive or will it replace the existing drive?

Steve

Steve, This will be a slave drive used to edit and save camcorder DV. I have XP Home Edition-5.1.2600-SP1, but I have not D/L the updated version mentioned in Microsoft article 303013. I still have several GB of free space on my existing Seagate 120 GB HD.  Thanks Doogie

I just added a 160 GB drive to an 8250 - took quite a while to work thru the issues - here is what finally worked for me:

1) make sure that you have used WIndows Update to get SP1 update or later for Windows XP.

2) followup on the Microsoft KB 303013 article to get the most recent version of ATAPI.SYS version 5.1.2600.1135 (or later) on your system.

3) upgrade your 8250 BIOS to version A02 or later by downloading BR59795.exe (for A04) from the Dell support site FlashBIOS section. Note that the floppy version of A04 is OK, but the hard disk version of A04 is to be avoided and causes some problems with system shutdown and restarting as reported elsewhere. USE THE FLOPPY VERSION only!! If you have a bad version of A04, loading the version via floppy will correct it.

4) if you have done 3 and 4 then you do not have to muck with the registry EnableBigLba stuff in the rest of the Microsoft KB article - that only applies to pre-SP1 versions of XP - stay away from the registry. 

4) install the hard drive

5) use the instructions included or from the drive supplier web site to set up the drive. Western Digital has a good site, but only applicable to WD drives.

Good luck - hope this saves some hours and frustration!!

 

 

 

Installed my WD2000JB, had no problems with the 137 GB barrier. Read Microsoft KB Article 303013 here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013 1st I did the one update for 48-bit LBA support, 2nd I found this Dell article on my existing Dell AO1 Bios, that said AO1 will support 48-bit LBA (Logical Block Addressing Support) 3rd installed my 200 GB HD and used Windows XP Disk Manager to initialize, partition, and format new hard drive. I found the Dell article here http://support.dell.com/filelib/format.aspx?releaseid=r28792 without the help of Dell Support. 2nd or 3rd reply said  my bios would support 137 GB and the 1st reply that they could not help with 3rd party hardware and software. No help at Dell Support, but I do thank each of you that responded to my posts. This must be a widespread problem, for I have seen it on this forum, Google, and others. I did not mess with my registry, as several posts recommended.

The BIOS which you link to in your message is NOT the BIOS for the Dimension 8250, and is not the version A04 BIOS file which I mention in my previous post. The notes on the download page for 8250 BIOS indicate that some changes were made as of version A02 associated with large hard drives and UDMA access, etc. So if you still have version A01 of BIOS I think this may well be part or all of your problem.

However, it's no longer clear just what your problem is. Your initial post referred to the 137 GB as a possible barrier, but your later post said that you installed the 200 GB drive and the 137 GB barrier was not an issue. To offer any sort of useful comments a clearer explanation of the nature of your problem would be helpful.

In any event I would recommend that you download the floppy version file BR59795.exe of the BIOS A04 update for the 8250 from here: http://support.dell.com/filelib/format.aspx?releaseid=r59795 , and which seems to be working satisfactorily for most.

Message Edited by mcleodkd on 11-08-2003 07:41 PM

Message Edited by mcleodkd on 11-08-2003 07:48 PM

mcleodkd, I do not have a problem anymore, I just posted what I did on HD installation over 137 GB (which mine was a 200GB) to possibly help some one else who might be having same questions that I had. And the bios AO1   is what Dell installed in this 8250 when it was manfactured. My new HD works great.  Doogie