1 Reply by bobcat250

(3 replies, posted in Hardware)

Thanks, eethball, for your very quick response! I quickly checked the link you posted and it may hold some promise; I'll have to dig deeper later.

The page you mentioned, the one with all the model numbers, is one I did find; but I could not locate the 933M unless its known by another number. Guess I'll just have to keep looking.

Thanks for your input; much appreciated.

Go to forum: Hardware

2 Topic by bobcat250

(3 replies, posted in Hardware)

Hi all;

I'm looking for a download site to get the latest BIOS update for an old Gateway 933M PC. It was part of Gateway's "professional" line and built in Oct of 2001. That line was eventually sold to a company called "MCP" but I am unable to locate any sort of site for them; Gateway's link only takes me to a newsletter about the sale.

If anyone knows where I can download the BIOS, please post the link.

Thanks.

Go to forum: Hardware

3 Reply by bobcat250

(10 replies, posted in Hardware)

Thought I would mention that I did finally get the SATA controller/SSD combo to be the primary boot device. I used the "F6" option on the XP install and was able to load the "third party SCSI or RAID driver" as the procedure indicates. Once that happened, I was able to install XP on the SSD and make it primary boot device, though the boot menu does appear to give me the option of booting off the IDE drive

Now, it is booting to the SSD and I have noticed a considerable peformance increase. Although as Driver Packs Addict noted, the video steaming is unchanged; drive speed really doesn't matter.

I want to thank all that helped with this; much appreciated.


Dan

Go to forum: Hardware

4 Reply by bobcat250

(10 replies, posted in Hardware)

I am familair with the Belarc Adivsor, so I may give that a try. The IDE to SATA (or SATA to IDE) adapter is very tempting except that you don't get the faster SATA transfer speeds. I'm primarily using this PC as a music and video server which I access remotely via Winamp.

For music it's great, but video streaming is pretty bad; I figured the SATA/SSD combo would help a great deal.

Go to forum: Hardware

5 Reply by bobcat250

(10 replies, posted in Hardware)

I stand corrected; ChiefZeke did say to buy an IDE to SATA adapter, which is the card I found on the site. I like that option and it may be the only way I have to go.

Also; Mark asked if the Gateway had the latest BIOS updates. Unfortunately, no. I went to Gateway's site and, when I keyed in the unit's serial number, was directed to a newsletter saying the Gateway Professional division (from which this PC came) was sold to a company called "MPC" in 2007 who now has responsibility for all software updates and drivers. I tried to find a link to download the latest updates from MPC, but failed to find one.

As far as PCI version, due to the age of the machine (built in 10/2001), I would have to say it is not version 2.2

Go to forum: Hardware

6 Reply by bobcat250

(10 replies, posted in Hardware)

Thanks to Mark and ChiefZeke; I had seen the earlier post, Mark, that you mentioned prior to doing my post, so thanks for pointing that out. ChiefZeke's suggestion looks like a good idea and I may pursue that. The I/O Flex is a strange card, but it was quickly available and I went for it. I do have the docs and they say nothing about the controller being bootable, so you may be correct Mark.

I also noted, in the closed post, a link to download a better driver for the SATA controller; so, I d/l it and copied the files to a floppy disk. I then began a clean install of XP and pressed the "F6" option and inserted the floppy. XP recognized and seemed to accept the SATA controller. However, during the install the XP install program once again required the floppy, but this time gave me the error  that the "disk or CD may be damaged". So, I copied the files to another floppy but am still getting the error.

I then restarted the XP clean install, once again pressed the "F6" key and inserted the same disk that worked earlier; this time, though, I got the same "damaged" error; so right now I'm dead in the water. Sadly, it looks as if this is the solution that may have worked.

As I mentioned, I will probably pursue ChiefZeke's suggestion and purchase a better and (hopefully) bootable SATA controller.

On another topic: are any of you familiar with this so-called "interrupt 19 (INT19)" option which supposedly, if enabled, allows the BIOS to "capture" the controller?

Thanks again.

Go to forum: Hardware

7 Topic by bobcat250

(10 replies, posted in Hardware)

Hi folks; this is my first post on this forum; many thanks for allowing me to subscribe.

I installed a Kingston 128 gb SSD on my old Gateway Pro 933M running XP SP3 and 512mb RAM (the most it can take) in an attempt to improve performance. As the Gateway has no SATA connections (only IDE) I installed an I/O Flex PSA150 PCI SATA controller. The installation went fine; all the drivers worked and XP can see it and the SSD drive. I was able to clone the IDE drive to the SSD succesfully; but, when I disconnect the IDE drive and try to boot with the new SSD, I get a "no hard drive found; do you want to continue booting without a hard driver?" message.

When POSTing, I can see the Kingston drive and am able to enter the RAID setting on the new SATA controller. But, I do not see a way to make the new SSD a primary boot drive. The SATA controller is not an option to select in the system BIOS and the SATA controller also displays no option to make it bootable.

On another forum, someone posted about enabling "interrupt 19" but no option for that exists.

If someone has expertise with working on SATA controllers and knows how to make them bootable , your help is appreciated.

Many thanks.

Go to forum: Hardware