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HELP! (small build issue)

idiotekniQues

Platinum Member
just put together the rig in my sig. everything started up beautifully.

the bios sees the two hard drives i have in now correctly as a 250gb & a 400gb

but when i go to setup windows it only sees two 132gb spaces. so obviously it is a windows issue.

i have xp pro from years back. how do i get windows install to see my drives right so i can set this up properly?


my other minor question is that when it started up for the first time the bios said 'warning, chip has changed' or something like that.

is that normal or did zipzoom send me a returned mobo? my mobo box was not sealed btw.


thanks in advance
 
Problem is, original XP did not support LBA48, so it can only handle drives up to 137GB. SP1 and SP2 fixed that. You can proceed two ways.

First is what jackschmittusa says. You get a copy of the SP2 update and there is a procedure for combining it with your original XP disk, then burning a "slipstreamed" upgraded version of XP onto a new CD. Then you re-install XP, and the new XP can handle it all from the start.

Other way is, you get the SP2 update and update the XP that's already installed on you boot drive. Now that will allow you to partition and format other HDD's to their full capacity. Of course, you lose everything on these HDD's, so you have to back up and restore. But once you've done that you have 3 big HDD's, and still one 132 GB boot disk with the updated XP on it, plus a bunch or unused space. Now, if one of your other HDD's is empty, you can use some utility to completely copy everything from that C: boot drive to the new (full capacity) HDD, make it bootable, then swap cables to begin using it as the new boot drive. Then you go back and partition and format the HDD that originally served as the boot drive, only this time you can partition it to full capacity.

For the latter procedure, Ive used the Disk Wizard software that came on a CD with my retail version of a Seagate drive. Don't know if they provide it free on their website. In it, in the Maintenance section, you find the tools to partition and format a new HDD. One option it offers is that procedure to copy everytning from the existing C: boot disk to the new one and make it bootable, ready to substitute as above. I'm sure some other utilities can do that, too.
 
Why do have to make it sound so difficult?
Step 1: Download SP2, install it.
Step 2: Download the software from your disc manufacturer's website. Install it, run it, follow the simple instructions on-screen.
 
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