Old comp configuration and new hard drive problems

[cybercelt]

Hi. Board Noobie here, with just enough computer knowledge to be dangerous. Which means I can do basic comp setup with assistance, unfortunately I have moved away from my comp. sensai.

Ok here's the issue, I'm the process of upgrading my PC and doing handmedowns for my fiance and her mother. My fiance's mother is getting an old PIII 450 box that I used several years ago to use for basic office aps, web surfing, and e-mail. Specifically it's a PIII 450, with 256 MB RAM, and an Abit BX6 motherboard. So because the old hard drive was only 2 gigs, I decided to get a new WD Caviar 40 gig drive.

I installed it, and nothing....the MB couldn't find it. I thought maybe I had a bad drive and tested it in my current system, which found it
immediately. So I called my friend to figure out what was going on. He surmised that because the HD was IDE ULTRA ATA100, the MB was unable to recognize it.

So option two, I had an old WD 10 gig HD in my current setup, just to store junk. So I ripped it out thinking that it would work. My old pc recognized the drive, but then discovered that I couldn't format it.

Called my friend again, he walked me through a few things on the phone, nadda. He thought that because this HD came from my current XP system, the HD was formatted in such a way, that WIN 98 SE could not work with.

Should I either:

a: buy a compatible HD. If so what kind and where?
b: configure the old 10 gig HD. How?

or,

Is my friend wrong and we both missed something?
:frown:

 

[Electric Amish]

The 40 *MIGHT* be too big for that motherboard to see without and overlay of some sort.

For the 10gb, did you try using FDISK? It could be formated in NTFS and Win98 can't do anything with that. If you go in with FDISK and kill all the partitions you should be able to reformat.

amish

 

[cybercelt]

yup we tried FDISK, which is where we got stuck, there was a partition it couldn't get rid of.

 

[GregMal]

There's 2 other options:
1) That's a pretty good chipset. Goto the manufacturers website and
update the MB's BIOS. It will then recognize the large HD.
2) Look for a PCI IDE controller. It has it's own BIOS and can
handle the large HD.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: GregMal
There's 2 other options:
1) That's a pretty good chipset. Goto the manufacturers website and
update the MB's BIOS. It will then recognize the large HD.
2) Look for a PCI IDE controller. It has it's own BIOS and can
handle the large HD.

More good suggestions.

You could also try Partition Magic or some other Partition utility that might help fix the drive.

amish