Intel L440GX BIOS cannot see IDE HDD's

Hi all,

my first post here.

I found this the same question has been raised on this forum a few years ago and while the originator indicated he had sorted the problem out, the solution was not given and the thread was subsequently closed.

I am trying to set up a PC based upon a recently obtained Intel L440GX (100MHz FSB) motherboard with dual Pentium III 550 MHz, CPU’s. The hard drive is an IDE type and the board is fitted with 4 off 128MB PC133 memory sticks. In BIOS I have set the boot sequent as (1) Floppy, (2) CDROM, (3) HDD and (4) Intel Boot Agent 4.0.17 – the last is a default that cannot be disabled.
I have flashed Version 14.2 of the BIOS into the BIOS memory.
When I enter the BIOS (with the F2 key), to set up the hard disk, (I have tried two different 4.3GB HDD’s) they are not found/seen as LBA type or even when the HDD are set the CHS and the settings put in. (I am using these smaller HDD’s out of a spare working PC for testing initially).
Even though the BIOS cannot see or report the details on the HDD I used a Win98 and later a WIN2000 boot floppy and these can see the HDD. With the Win2000 boot floppy system I can format the HDD and install the Win2000 setup programs. When Win2000 is installed, I remove the floppy (when prompted) but when the PC reboots, the HDD cannot be seen by BIOS and therefore the BIOS stops with the message No Operating System Installed.

In looking through the 3 manuals (Technical, Product and Quick-Start) from the Intel website for the L440GX motherboard there is mention of “ensuring the IDE Controller is enabled” but there is no mention on how/where this is done.
In response to a similar post (back in 2005) a response in Portugese stated:
“The problem is that the system does not recognize configured devices IDE without JUMPER. “
Looking all over the motherboard I cannot find any added jumper that may help solve this problem.

I am probably overlooking some very obvious parameter in BIOS but rather than tear out my hair, would greatly appreciate if some erudite person could offer some input to my problem.