DOS Hard Drive problem

[Rison]

After the holidays, I'm flat broke. That means no going out and partying this weekend. So I'm staying in and trying to fix an old computer. I have Windows 98 SE. The PC is a 1994 Gateway 66MHz machine. I got a 20GB hard drive for it. The BIOS sees 8.084GB but DOS keeps saying that I have only 504MB when I go to FDISK it. Anyway in which I can force DOS to see more than that? The BIOS sees 8.084 GB, how can I make DOS come to par with that amount? I've been in the General Hardware and Off Topic forums but couldn't get much help. The MAXBLAST software that comes with the Hard drive (Maxtor) is a joke. Please help me. Thanks

 

[Czar]

It is a general hardware question or OS forum question.


anyway, what dos version are you using and what file system is on the disk?

 

[Rison]

I'm not sure. I made the startup disk from a windows 98 SE system. Does that help?

 

[Czar]

do you have access to partition magic?

the reason the bios it sees the disk as only 8gb is because the bios doesnt support bigger disk, you have to find a bios update for it. The other problem seems to just be a wrongly partitioned hd.

 

[Rison]

I have Partition Magic but its on CD. I only have this one PC. Where can i get a BIOS update? If you wanted me to use Partition, that'd mean I'd have to install Windows on 504MB and make a boot floppy? Also, when you say "badly partitioned hard drive", is that DOS's fault? why was it badly partitioned?

 

[Czar]

<< I have Partition Magic but its on CD. I only have this one PC. Where can i get a BIOS update? If you wanted me to use Partition, that'd mean I'd have to install Windows on 504MB and make a boot floppy? Also, when you say "badly partitioned hard drive", is that DOS's fault? why was it badly partitioned? >>



on cd, what version of PM is that? it should be able to run in dos.
Not sure where you can get a bios update, find who made it, what chipset and then the companies web site, if the update is not on their page send them an email.
badly partitioned could mean that whoever installed it did a bad job at it, or what is more likely the partition table has been damage.

can you format the drive?

 

[Rison]

I have the latest version of PM

The hard drive is brand new. I just wanted to install windows se on it.

Yes, I can format the hard drive

How can I get PM to run in DOS? What are the commands?

 

[schdaddy]

screw the PM method & use the MAXBLAST software that came with the drive (and it doesn't suck that bad, it does what is needed)

run MAXBLAST, create a partition & format
have your Win98SE disk ready, when it asks for a bootable disk put that in, it will make the drive bootable, reboot
after the system POST, MAXBLAST will say press A or CTRL or something to boot to a floppy, press whatever to boot to a floppy
then put in your Win98SE startup disk, choose option1 from the 98startup disk
put in your Win98SE CD
switch to your CDROM by typing D: (followed by enter, assuming your CDROM is D: ) then type SETUP
the Win98SE setup will begin

 

[Rison]

run MAXBLAST, create a partition & format
have your Win98SE disk ready, when it asks for a bootable disk put that in, it will make the drive bootable, reboot
after the system POST, MAXBLAST will say press A or CTRL or something to boot to a floppy, press whatever to boot to a floppy
then put in your Win98SE startup disk, choose option1 from the 98startup disk
put in your Win98SE CD
switch to your CDROM by typing D: (followed by enter, assuming your CDROM is D: ) then type SETUP
the Win98SE setup will begin

That's the problem, it doesn't do any of that.

 

[schdaddy]

well I can already tell you that you're not goin' to find a BIOS update for that old of a board to detect over 8GB
so you have to get MAXBLAST to work (or you can return the 20GB drive & get a 8GB or smaller)

1st step. boot to DOS with your Win98SE disk and run FDISK
then delete all the partitions you have created on the new drive
reboot & now you have a clean drive again

2nd step boot off the Maxblast disk & try the steps again that I posted early

then come back & tell me where you get stuck

*** also I would suggest installing Win95B on that box instead of Win98 for preformance reasons ***

 

[Rison]

The problem is maxblast (for me) is that it starts dr dos, dumps some things on the drive, and reboots itself, without asking me for any input. I can manually start the program, but it just gives me management options.

Windows 98 SE is all I have. It's not even my pc. I'm just doing this for this chick next door. I'm really getting wasted right now, so I can't even think straight. I installed windows 98 SE to do what czar said. But if you could help, I'd be greatful.

 

[schdaddy]

<< I'm just doing this for this chick next door. I'm really getting wasted right now, so I can't even think straight. I installed windows 98 SE to do what czar said. But if you could help, I'd be greatful. >>



how about replying when you're not getting wasted, then trying to troubleshoot the system?

if not tell me a little more about the system:
do you have only the 20GB drive installed? did you delete the partitions off like i said?

 

[Rison]

what do you want to know? the system has 72mb (win 98 se sees only) 64mb. I took out the other hd. it has isa and pci peripherals.

 

[RSI]

I believe it is nearly impossible for you to get the 20GB to be recognized as such. You should have no problem with 8GB. Just use a recent version of fdisk and format. But to get the full twenty gig capacity you will need to install a Dynamic Drive Overlay, usually a piece of software supplied with your disk or downloadable from the company website. What this does is let your BIOS see the extra cylinders and such that it can not read, hence letting it see the whole 20 gigs.

-RSI

 

[schdaddy]

just making sure you had only 1 hd installed, so i'll assume the hardware config is OK

was dose FDISK say?
any partitions installed?

 

[Rison]

Everytime I create an active partition, it says that the maximum space is 504MB. Do you know of any commands that can make it 8gb? I don't care about the other 12gb. She won't even use it.

 

[Rison]

What's amazing is that Linux sees the whole hard drive. why can't dos do this?

 

[Czar]

have you tried putting it in your computer, creating a 8gb partition, formatting it and then putting it in the other computer?

 

[todpod]

If the drive it a rebadged quatum, the maxblast will not work. Don't know why they even send it along. Brother got a 40meg drive and the software did't work and thats what the manuel said, but they also said a version was available, might want to check with maxtor. later todd

 

[Rison]

If it's rebadged, then what can I do? like I said before, why is it that Linux sees all 20GB when the BIOS shows 8.084GB and Dos only sees 504MB?

 

[schdaddy]

<< have you tried putting it in your computer, creating a 8gb partition, formatting it and then putting it in the other computer? >>



I would go with this if you don't care about the other 12GB & if you are tired of dealing with MAXBLAST.

 

[Rison]

I have a laptop. Can I put it in a Mac and format?

 

[Scarpozzi]

I'm lazy and didn't read all the comments. I just know that if you're trying to put a 20 gig on that computer you're gonna have a bios problem unless you do an update. I've seen some Compaqs from the Pentium166 era not even recognize 8gigs before. I would recommend getting a new mobo/processor combo for real cheap. You can get a pentium or so for $30 if you look or maybe check the AT Classifieds.

The other problem is that if you have a "non-dos" partition in there it may be eating up the space, but I truly believe this to be a hardware issue more than a partition issue. Good luck.

 

[Rison]

How can this be a hardware problem is Linux saw 20GB?

 

[todpod]

The way I remember it, maxtor said there was a version available, they just didn't include it, don't know why though, you need to check with maxtor though to be sure.