I have a Dilemma

[GilbertsGrape]

the rest of the Story

I have a
PII 400 Mhz with 192 MB Pc100 Ram
8gb HD Full
40gb HD on the rim
.
Which suited me fine except I need more HD space, so I bought a 120 GB Western Digital HD. Well it won’t work in my PC because my Bios is too old and I can find a flash for it. I would buy a controller card for it but I don’t have any free PCI slots.

I do however have a fire wire card installed, and I was wondering if I could install the new Drive in a fire wire box and connect it to my PC Via fire wire cable. Or would I still have the same problem because my Bios does not support drives that large

If I cant use a fire wire box do you think I should get a bare bones system or buy a new system or build from scratch. I am on a budget. $300 max including everything.
-----------------------------------------
My current system has in it (what all could i salvage)
- 192 MB PC100 Ram
- 8GB HD – Will be taken out I want my 40gb drive to be my master drive
- 40GB HD – current slave drive will become master drive id I can get my 102gb drive to work
- 120 GB HD – I want to set up as a slave drive
- 8X DVD Drive
- 4x4x24x cdrw drive (slow but it is all I really need)
- 3.5 FDD
- PII 400 MHZ Processor W/MB


I checked on getting a Bios upgrade. It cost 69.99 + 9.99 shipping I Talked the guy down to 39.99 + 9.99 Shipping and then told them I would have to think about it.

What would you all do and links would be appreciated if you suggest bare bones system or new system or can find cheaper Bios
Link to my bios help question thread.

http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=47162

Tanks
Grape Dude

[Showtime]

$300?
1.6a pent 4 and sis based mobo and 256 ddr2700 ram.
fast and oc'able.
good luck
-jel:halo:

[Hoser]

I'd recommend buying a CPU/motherboard combo and building a new computer. You'll also have to buy a new case with power supply. You can only upgrade so far in your current system, then you're out of luck.

This may be what you're looking for: http://www.tcwo.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_main.html?catid=187&sid=1gi2Ty0WO03@9SI

The Gigabyte motherboard supports ATA133, USB 2.0, and supports DDR 333 (PC2700) memory. The price for CPU/motherboard combos range from $160 (Athlon XP 1600) to $250 (Athlon XP 2100).

The least expensive upgrade would be:
$150 - Athlon XP 1600/ Gigabyte GA-7VRX
$78 - 256MB PC2700 333MHZ DDR memory

$228 total plus shipping. You'd have to buy a case, which I'd recommend to buy locally to save shipping costs. I can buy a case with a 350 watt power supply for about $70 here.

You could spend a little less money on a motherboard that would still use your RAM, but then it'd be like driving you car with the parking brake on. The RAM would be a dragging the performance of your system down. This isn't the fastest system you could build, but it's a good system for the price.

[GilbertsGrape]

So if I get a firewire drive enclosure would that get me past my Bios problem and allow me to use my 120 gb drive?

Also I was looking at
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-Details.asp?sku=S450-3007

What do you think of that system? And does that have an integrated sound card or do you have to add a riser to get it to work?

And add a would have to add a vid card too the one I currently have only has 8mb on it
I was looking at this one

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=P450-7015

l8r,
GrapeDude

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by GilbertsGrape
So if I get a firewire drive enclosure would that get me past my Bios problem and allow me to use my 120 gb drive?

Also I was looking at
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-Details.asp?sku=S450-3007

What do you think of that system? And does that have an integrated sound card or do you have to add a riser to get it to work?

And add a would have to add a vid card too the one I currently have only has 8mb on it
I was looking at this one

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=P450-7015

l8r,
GrapeDude

The barebones system seems fine, but as far as the videocard, I'm thinking you might be able to do a little better. If memory serves, TigerDirect's shipping charges can be pretty steep. You might try looking at the videocards at www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com) or www.googlegear.com (http://www.googlegear.com)

When you take into account the shipping charges, you might be able to get a much better card for about the same price. Of course, shopping around for a better price on the barbones system might be a good idea too... :shrug:

[GilbertsGrape]

i posted in a few forums and some guy on the internet patched the bios update so it would support my HD. and it worked. I was leary to try it but i figured what the hell and i gave it a shot and it worked :) i am so happy :)

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by GilbertsGrape
i posted in a few forums and some guy on the internet patched the bios update so it would support my HD. and it worked. I was leary to try it but i figured what the hell and i gave it a shot and it worked :) i am so happy :)

:thumb: Cool... just saved yourself $300! Now go buy some ice cream. :cool:

[GilbertsGrape]

Originally posted by Ladogaboy


:thumb: Cool... just saved yourself $300! Now go buy some ice cream. :cool:


yea i think i will buy some MayField buy some ice cream!! Splurge a little or maybe buy soem popcycles
;)