I have PC: Cpu: amd thunderbird: 1,333GHz, 70 C (hot) Motherboard: Gigabyte 7vrx rev. 2 Graph. card: Nvidia (NV 17) geforce4 mx420 memory 1x 256MB (PC2100) And a hard drive Seagate ST31720A (1,7 GB) support pio 2/3/4 ... the problem is it hard drive wonn't work (i have pc even in resseler shop - but they say it's not compatibile with mother board) i wish to know why - what is wrong with particular that model that's not compatibile with motherboard. I tested other hdds: ibm 80GB, Seagate 17GB and even Quantum LPS170A (the best) 170MB drive only PIO support and all that working on that configuration. That drive work with other 486 computer! Thanks in advance.

hello there are more than one type of hard drive. ata is the most common. scsi is anther type. and serial ata is anther. and they must have the proper mobo for the type os hard drive.

I have motherboard gigabyte 7vrx wich have ide (ata) interface and harddrive seagate 1,7 GB wich have ide (ata) interface too. Bios an that motherboard recoginize harddrive atached on motherboard, but when i try to part/reformat it is that also done but not properly - scandisk report on empty partitioned/reformated drive errors ( i don't know exactly what) in on multiple reformating its always error on that drive but if i take that drive do diferent pc - 486 besed or even celeron 1000MHz/abit motherboard based there scandisk from same os reports no error end vice versa (reformat on 486 pc and take drive to ga 7vrx motherboard there came error from nowhere! I think i both hard drive and motherboard have right (IDE - ATA) interface - and bios recognize hdd so where is thare problem? Thanks for any explanation.

I also add this from seagate's page for help it is tech desc. for drive st31720a drive SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY, INC. 1-800-SEAGATE http://www.seagate.com (C)opyright 1996 ST-31720A, Medalist 1720 AT (Belize CFA1700A) ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º REAR VIEW º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ J2 40 pin I/O Cable Connection ³ ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍ1Í/ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ\ TOP (HDA) ͵::::::::::ú::::::::1³ : : : ³ 0 0 0 0 ³ÍÍ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͳÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÏͳͳͳÍÀÄ5ÄGÄGÄ12Ù BOTTOM ³ ³ ³ ³ pin-20 removed ÄÙ ³ ³ ÀÄÄ Reserved ³ ÃÄÄÄÄ Slave Present (when Master ON) ³ ÀÄÄÄÄ Cable Select (when Slave OFF) ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄ Master ON, Slave OFF ST-31720A Medalist 1720 AT FORMATTED CAPACITY _______________________1705.69 ACTUATOR TYPE ____________________________VOICE COIL CYLINDERS __PHYSICAL______________________ HEADS ______PHYSICAL______________________4 DISCS (3.5 in) ___________________________2 MEDIA TYPE _______________________________THIN FILM HEAD TYPE ________________________________THIN FILM RECORDING METHOD _________________________ZBR 2/3 (1,7) RLL INTERNAL TRANSFER RATE (Mbits/sec) _______up to 88 EXTERNAL TRANSFER RATE (Mbytes/sec) ______up to 16.6 PIO MODE _________________________________4 DMA SUPPORT ______________________________EISA Type B SPINDLE SPEED (RPM) ______________________4500 AVERAGE LATENCY (mSEC) ___________________6.67 BUFFER ___________________________________128K Read/Write Multiple, Read Look-Ahead, Multi-Segmented INTERFACE ________________________________Fast ATA-2 SECTORS PER DRIVE (LBA mode) _____________3,324,384 TPI (TRACKS PER INCH) ____________________5,104 BPI (KBITS PER INCH) _____________________108.77 AVERAGE ACCESS (ms read/write) ___________12.5/14.5 SINGLE TRACK SEEK (ms read/write) ________2.5/3.5 MAX FULL SEEK (ms read/write) ____________24/25 MTBF (power-on hours) Office _____________300,000 SHOCK (G's): operating (Read/Write) __________5 abnormal ________________________ nonoperating ____________________75 ACOUSTICS (dBA) (typ/max) ________________34/ POWER DISSIPATION (watts) ________________ POWER REQUIREMENTS: +12V START-UP (amps) _1.4 POWER MANAGEMENT (Watts): ACTIVE _______________4.9 IDLE _________________4.0 STANDBY ______________1.0 WRITE PRECOMP (cyl) ______________________N/A REDUCED WRITE CURRENT (cyl) ______________N/A LANDING ZONE (cyl) _______________________AUTO IBM AT DRIVE TYPE ________________________* Physical: Height (inches/mm): 1.030/26.16 Width (inches/mm): 4.030/102.36 Depth (inches/mm): 5.785/146.94 Weight (lbs/g): 1.2/544.3 * MAY REQUIRE FORMATTING AND PARTITIONING SOFTWARE. ALSO, CHECK TO SEE IF YOUR CMOS SETUP HAS A "CUSTOM" OR "USER DEFINABLE" DRIVE TYPE AVAILABLE. (see below) Possible translations: This translation is generally acceptable, as is, for non-DOS operating systems: 3305 cyl, 16 heads, 63 sectors = 1,705,697,280 DOS operating systems may require a translation that uses larger values for the CMOS head parameter which lowers cylinders below 1024: 826 cyl, 64 heads, 63 sectors = 1,705,181,184 Other FULL-CAPACITY solutions for DOS operating systems include third-party drive preparation software, system BIOS which supports LBA mode or bios driven host adapters. Otherwise, capacity may be limited to: 1024 cyl, 16 heads, 63 sectors = 528,482,304 Note: A "custom" or "user-defined" CMOS drivetype may ask for a numerical value for the Write Precompensation cylinder and for the Landing Zone cylinder. A basic rule-of-thumb for drive models that do not require the old Write Precomp technique or a Landing Zone because they are Auto-Parking is to add 1 to the cylinder value being used. As an example: If cylinders equaled 820, then both Write Precomp and Landing Zone would be entered as 821. Some BIOS will convert this to 65535 or -1, which are functionally equivalent to "none (not used)". Already low-level formatted at the factory. Since a User-definable or Custom translation geometry may be used, it is imperative that the values be written down and kept with your permanent records for retrieval in the event of CMOS battery failure. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications. (12/10/96)