[SOLVED] Gateway sucks can't flash bios

grassisblue · 03-17-2009, 09:05 PM

i recently purchased a MSi ms-6741 754 pin motherboard to replace an old, fried board. the original board had onboard sata support, the new board, has gateway bios A6741vg1 v. 3.5. with no apparent sata support in the BIOS. the bios has no options for sata, but i want to try and flash it to prevent having to buy an IDE hard drive, as my original sata hard drive is still fine. is it possible to flash the BIOS even though there are no options to do so in the BIOS screen? I was told by MSI support they couldn't help because of OEM obligations, and told that if i tried to flash the BIOS it would destroy my board. i have no operating system installed yet, and when i try to install XP from the disc it tells me there is no disc found when i get to the part where i partition my hard drive. the buck stops there and i have been scouring the internet for solutions to no avail. i am a self-tought intermediate user with past success in BIOS flashing, but i'm at the end of my rope and would love to get some good feedback from bona-fide computer geeks.
please help and be blessed!
grassisblue
ps forgot to mention: the mobo does have two sata ports, but when reading the fine print AFTER i bought it (OUCH!!!) it said sata not supported with gateway BIOS.

**belfasteddie** · 03-18-2009, 01:06 AM

Have you considered a Sata to Ide adapter?

grassisblue · 03-18-2009, 08:02 AM

i have ordered a sabrent Sabrent SBT-SRD4 pci sata host card adapter and raid controller. i hope i can run my hard drive through this card, but i'm still not sure if the BIOS is going to allow me to run it. i wasn't aware of a sata to IDE adapter, but i'm going to check it out on the internet. thanks for the info.---grassisblue

grassisblue · 03-22-2009, 08:14 AM

no floppy drive support, but a crash course in slipstreaming led me to the solution. i feel like i missed a rite of passage because nlite was insanely easier than manual slipstreaming. anyone who hasn't discovered this wonderful program is really missing out. all is well, and i'm up and running.

**simpswr** · 03-22-2009, 08:23 AM

Well done!!!

You can mark this thread as solved by clicking on the Thread Tools link in your first post . .

waterboy99 · 03-29-2009, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grassisblue

no floppy drive support, but a crash course in slipstreaming led me to the solution. i feel like i missed a rite of passage because nlite was insanely easier than manual slipstreaming. anyone who hasn't discovered this wonderful program is really missing out. all is well, and i'm up and running.

Up and running with a SATA drive? I have same MOBO in a gateway computer and the same BIOS that does not support the two SATA connectors on the MOBO. I would like to remove the IDE drive and upgrade to a 1.5 TB SATA. Can this be done?

grassisblue · 03-30-2009, 05:57 AM

i ordered a sabrent pci sata/raid card. if your operating system is already up all you have to do is install the drivers from the mini-disc that comes with it, and you should be able to boot from the new hard drive. it isn't really much faster than the IDE drive would be, but it will allow you to run a raid setup. if you're not doing a clean install, just install the card then clone your existing hard drive to the new one and you should be fine. i think i paid like $10 bucks for the card on amazon.

03-17-2009, 09:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
grassisblue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 8 OS: win xp	[SOLVED] Gateway sucks can't flash bios i recently purchased a MSi ms-6741 754 pin motherboard to replace an old, fried board. the original board had onboard sata support, the new board, has gateway bios A6741vg1 v. 3.5. with no apparent sata support in the BIOS. the bios has no options for sata, but i want to try and flash it to prevent having to buy an IDE hard drive, as my original sata hard drive is still fine. is it possible to flash the BIOS even though there are no options to do so in the BIOS screen? I was told by MSI support they couldn't help because of OEM obligations, and told that if i tried to flash the BIOS it would destroy my board. i have no operating system installed yet, and when i try to install XP from the disc it tells me there is no disc found when i get to the part where i partition my hard drive. the buck stops there and i have been scouring the internet for solutions to no avail. i am a self-tought intermediate user with past success in BIOS flashing, but i'm at the end of my rope and would love to get some good feedback from bona-fide computer geeks. please help and be blessed! grassisblue ps forgot to mention: the mobo does have two sata ports, but when reading the fine print AFTER i bought it (OUCH!!!) it said sata not supported with gateway BIOS. Last edited by grassisblue; 03-17-2009 at 09:12 PM. Reason: left info out

03-18-2009, 01:06 AM	#2 (permalink)
belfasteddie Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Belfast N.I. Posts: 1,551 OS: Puppy Linux 4.12	Re: Gateway sucks can't flash bios Have you considered a Sata to Ide adapter?

03-18-2009, 08:02 AM	#3 (permalink)
grassisblue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 8 OS: win xp	Re: Gateway sucks can't flash bios i have ordered a sabrent Sabrent SBT-SRD4 pci sata host card adapter and raid controller. i hope i can run my hard drive through this card, but i'm still not sure if the BIOS is going to allow me to run it. i wasn't aware of a sata to IDE adapter, but i'm going to check it out on the internet. thanks for the info.---grassisblue

03-22-2009, 08:14 AM	#4 (permalink)
grassisblue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 8 OS: win xp	Re: Gateway sucks can't flash bios no floppy drive support, but a crash course in slipstreaming led me to the solution. i feel like i missed a rite of passage because nlite was insanely easier than manual slipstreaming. anyone who hasn't discovered this wonderful program is really missing out. all is well, and i'm up and running.

03-22-2009, 08:23 AM	#5 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 12,097 OS: XP, Vista, Win 7	Re: Gateway sucks can't flash bios Well done!!! You can mark this thread as solved by clicking on the *Thread Tools* link in your first post . . __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help How to post a Screen Shot \| PC running slow?

03-30-2009, 05:57 AM	#7 (permalink)
grassisblue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 8 OS: win xp	Re: [SOLVED] Gateway sucks can't flash bios i ordered a sabrent pci sata/raid card. if your operating system is already up all you have to do is install the drivers from the mini-disc that comes with it, and you should be able to boot from the new hard drive. it isn't really much faster than the IDE drive would be, but it will allow you to run a raid setup. if you're not doing a clean install, just install the card then clone your existing hard drive to the new one and you should be fine. i think i paid like $10 bucks for the card on amazon.