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Hi everyone, sorry to answer/ask something on an old thread.
I'm a Packard Bell MZ35 Argo C owner. The original IDE HDD is still working (W7). I use it as a backup. I've made some upgrades in the past :
- intel T7400 CPU
- 3GB RAM
- Windows 7
- 120GB SATA SSD (transcend half-sized) with a SATA to IDE adaptor
As I was waiting to find specific ram as stated by DeathBringer (1Gb SODIMM with 8 chips), I put 1GB of ram with 16 chips instead. So when the PB MZ35 was on mutlitasking use close or over 2GB of ram, the laptop used to freeze. Sometimes, I also had a black screen on boot but it was quite usable.
I decided 2 months ago to buy a full PATA/IDE SSD (Kingspec brand), and bought the right RAM. I also said to myself that it was okay to flash a new bios (as I did on other computers). So I flashed the Q3C11 modded bios.
Everything went well, but I'm now facing an issue : the only disk recognized by the BIOS (and able to boot), is the original IDE HDD. The half-sized SATA SSD with the IDE adaptor is not recognized in the BIOS. I can't boot on it (black screen, no OS). The new IDE/PATA SSD is not recognized by the BIOS, I tried to install W7 and WXP on it, it is recognized by the windows installer (ability to format, create partition etc.), but windows installer fails during installation.
The two ssd are recognized by other computers via usb. I succedeed in booting the PB MZ35 on the half-sized SSD through usb (very slow indeed).
I tried to flash the BIOS with original 3a14, flash correct, but same issue with disks. I tried the original Q3C11 bios, same issue.
When I'm one the modded Q3C11 bios, the CD/DVD drive is seen correctly, but I've always "none" in the "sata hard drive" part. When I use F5/F6 to choose "Auto, IDE, SATA, User" etc. and save the bios, the two SSD can't boot, and when I come back in BIOS options, the "sata hard drive" is still on "none". The only disk recognized is the original HDD IDE.
So I don't know what to do, I just want to know if someone succedeed in booting/installing windows with the Q3C11 modded BIOS, and if there's a way to get back my half-sized SSD (or the PATA/IDE SSD) recognized by the BIOS ?
I'm unable to find the PATA/IIDE SSD's drivers ont the web (crappy kingspec brand).
I hope that it's just a driver issue or a bios settings to apply.
Thanks for your answers.