Bios on my PC

Dubb Rich

This is the situation. When I bought my PC, it came with a controller card (with Ultra 100 Bios) that my drives were attatched to. Now, that card burnt out and I had to attach my drives directly to the mthrbrd and ever since I did that I've been getting a message during startup saying "Ultra 100 Bios not installed because there are no drives attatched". My PC still boots normally but I was wondering, how does my PC boot up if there is no bios installed?

Ricka182

If the card is still installed in the mobo, without anything attached, you get a message like that. Also, those controller cards are pretty cheap, you just buy another one. If your system shipped with one, it probably means the mobo isn't as fast without it. Maybe you can use an ATA133 card instead. It's faster by a bit, but make sure your hardware is compatible to use that.

lazyart

Yeah, I installed an ATA100 card into an old 440BX board and got the same message until I installed the drives. Rather curious that the card burnt out but still wants to boot. I would physically remove any card that I wasn't using.

Dubb Rich

Since I have the drives attatched to the mthrbrd, is my PC going to boot up without the card? If so, what Bios program will run it?

Ricka182

Your computer will boot fine without the card. BIOS itself will recognize the drives. If it doesn't, check the BIOS setup. The purpose of those cards is only to increase the data transfer speed, faster than the mobo was designed to handle. It will still work fine without the card. As far as BIOS install, you don't install BIOS. It comes with the mobo, and it is permanent. It can be updated, but if you try and fail, you could kill the board. The BIOS that message is referring to is only for the card if it's being used. And as Lazyart said, remove any cards you're not using. Useless cards take up PCI slots, and resources. What kind of hardware is your system? Remove the card, and you're system will actually boot much faster, and you won't get that message. Of course, you could buy a new ATA card, they are cheap. It sounds like you have a Maxtor card and drives. Check out this link to the Official Maxtor online Store. http://www.maxstore.com/product.asp?sku=1856734 The ATA133 card is great. Good speed, cheap price. Hope this helps......good luck!

lazyart

Like Ricka said, the BIOS that is referred to in the boot up message is the BIOS for the PCI controller card-- not your system (motherboard) BIOS.