FDISK new Hard Drive

I had two four gig HDs set up on my 98SE sytem and they worked fine.
Now Im trying to install a new HD and FDISK doesn't as if I want
support for large disks and I end up with a 500 MB drive. WHat could
be wrong ?

Roscoe

"Ross" <> wrote in message
news: m...
> I had two four gig HDs set up on my 98SE sytem and they worked fine.
> Now Im trying to install a new HD and FDISK doesn't as if I want
> support for large disks and I end up with a 500 MB drive. WHat could
> be wrong ?
>
> Roscoe


Roscoe:

You did not say what the system is your using, (this will give an idea
of the size limitations of your drive expectations), how large a hard
drive your trying to place in the system, is it a replacement for both
or an additional drive? If the size limitation is say 2.4 GB or 8.4 GB
then you may want to invest in a controller card that has its own bios
and can support drives over 80, 100 or even higher.

Let us know what your system specs are and someone will try and help
you. And Don't use any drive overlay program to make it work! You will
be sorry later.

Elector

"Elector" <> wrote in message
news:1fTac.31$...
>
> "Ross" <> wrote in message
> news: m...
> > I had two four gig HDs set up on my 98SE sytem and they worked fine.
> > Now Im trying to install a new HD and FDISK doesn't as if I want
> > support for large disks and I end up with a 500 MB drive. WHat could
> > be wrong ?
> >
> > Roscoe
>
>
> Roscoe:
>
> You did not say what the system is your using, (this will give an idea
> of the size limitations of your drive expectations), how large a hard
> drive your trying to place in the system, is it a replacement for both
> or an additional drive? If the size limitation is say 2.4 GB or 8.4 GB
> then you may want to invest in a controller card that has its own bios
> and can support drives over 80, 100 or even higher.
>
> Let us know what your system specs are and someone will try and help
> you. And Don't use any drive overlay program to make it work! You will
> be sorry later.
>
> Elector
>
>

In addition to Electors great advice, post your BIOS boot string, that will
give us the best place to start.

Anthony

"Elector" <> wrote in message news:<1fTac.31$>...
> "Ross" <> wrote in message
> news: m...
> > I had two four gig HDs set up on my 98SE sytem and they worked fine.
> > Now Im trying to install a new HD and FDISK doesn't as if I want
> > support for large disks and I end up with a 500 MB drive. WHat could
> > be wrong ?
> >
> > Roscoe
>
>
> Roscoe:
>
> You did not say what the system is your using, (this will give an idea
> of the size limitations of your drive expectations), how large a hard
> drive your trying to place in the system, is it a replacement for both
> or an additional drive? If the size limitation is say 2.4 GB or 8.4 GB
> then you may want to invest in a controller card that has its own bios
> and can support drives over 80, 100 or even higher.
>
> Let us know what your system specs are and someone will try and help
> you. And Don't use any drive overlay program to make it work! You will
> be sorry later.
>
> Elector



Elector,

It is a Gateway 200 MMX, originally had Win 95, upgraded to 98SE.
Its got nothing now. I'm trying to install a 10 GB hard drive as the
only drive and re-install 98SE. In FDISK it never asks if I want
large disk support. In the BIOS it is set for autoselect but, there
are no entries under the number of heads etc. It came with a 3.8 GIG
HD and worked fine so, it must be able to support them.

Roskoe

Roscoe,

Your system is an older Gateway Pentium MMX, so its BIOS does not recognize the
full capacity of the 10GB drive, because the BIOS is limited to a maximum
capacity of 8.4GB.

Best to install a 3rd party IDE controller with its own BIOS. Promise, AMI, and
Unicore are brands which are still in business (I think). MicroFirmware is long
gone, else you could probably buy a BIOS update from them, or an IDE controller.

Unicore has never been quite as dependable as MicroFirmware IMHO, so I do not
want to recommend one of their BIOS updates to handle the hard drive problem.

.... Ben Myers

On 1 Apr 2004 19:25:47 -0800, (Ross) wrote:

>"Elector" <> wrote in message news:<1fTac.31$>...
>> "Ross" <> wrote in message
>> news: m...
>> > I had two four gig HDs set up on my 98SE sytem and they worked fine.
>> > Now Im trying to install a new HD and FDISK doesn't as if I want
>> > support for large disks and I end up with a 500 MB drive. WHat could
>> > be wrong ?
>> >
>> > Roscoe
>>
>>
>> Roscoe:
>>
>> You did not say what the system is your using, (this will give an idea
>> of the size limitations of your drive expectations), how large a hard
>> drive your trying to place in the system, is it a replacement for both
>> or an additional drive? If the size limitation is say 2.4 GB or 8.4 GB
>> then you may want to invest in a controller card that has its own bios
>> and can support drives over 80, 100 or even higher.
>>
>> Let us know what your system specs are and someone will try and help
>> you. And Don't use any drive overlay program to make it work! You will
>> be sorry later.
>>
>> Elector
>
>
>
> Elector,
>
> It is a Gateway 200 MMX, originally had Win 95, upgraded to 98SE.
>Its got nothing now. I'm trying to install a 10 GB hard drive as the
>only drive and re-install 98SE. In FDISK it never asks if I want
>large disk support. In the BIOS it is set for autoselect but, there
>are no entries under the number of heads etc. It came with a 3.8 GIG
>HD and worked fine so, it must be able to support them.
>
> Roskoe

If your OEM HD was around 4.3gig
Or the size that came withe the unit
It will not support a 10 GIG HD

You can set the patameters for the max
and it will see that what ever it is
If the max is 4.3 than that is all the 10 gig
will be usable for

Setting it on auto will not allow it to pull
from the bios what is not there

The Bios must support a 10 gig
And chances are that it does not or you
would have had something larger to begin with

In any case the bios string is needed!!!!!!!!
"Ross" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> "Elector" <> wrote in message
news:<1fTac.31$>...
> > "Ross" <> wrote in message
> > news: m...
> > > I had two four gig HDs set up on my 98SE sytem and they worked fine.
> > > Now Im trying to install a new HD and FDISK doesn't as if I want
> > > support for large disks and I end up with a 500 MB drive. WHat could
> > > be wrong ?
> > >
> > > Roscoe
> >
> >
> > Roscoe:
> >
> > You did not say what the system is your using, (this will give an idea
> > of the size limitations of your drive expectations), how large a hard
> > drive your trying to place in the system, is it a replacement for both
> > or an additional drive? If the size limitation is say 2.4 GB or 8.4 GB
> > then you may want to invest in a controller card that has its own bios
> > and can support drives over 80, 100 or even higher.
> >
> > Let us know what your system specs are and someone will try and help
> > you. And Don't use any drive overlay program to make it work! You will
> > be sorry later.
> >
> > Elector
>
>
>
> Elector,
>
> It is a Gateway 200 MMX, originally had Win 95, upgraded to 98SE.
> Its got nothing now. I'm trying to install a 10 GB hard drive as the
> only drive and re-install 98SE. In FDISK it never asks if I want
> large disk support. In the BIOS it is set for autoselect but, there
> are no entries under the number of heads etc. It came with a 3.8 GIG
> HD and worked fine so, it must be able to support them.
>
> Roskoe

"Ross" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> Elector,
>
> It is a Gateway 200 MMX, originally had Win 95, upgraded to 98SE.
> Its got nothing now. I'm trying to install a 10 GB hard drive as the
> only drive and re-install 98SE. In FDISK it never asks if I want
> large disk support. In the BIOS it is set for autoselect but, there
> are no entries under the number of heads etc. It came with a 3.8 GIG
> HD and worked fine so, it must be able to support them.
>
> Roskoe

Roscoe:
I see that a few of my friends answered this already. I will concur that 10
GB will not be able to be handled unless you have a BIOS update to support
large drives and or a controller card as I already and others suggested.

Since this is the Packard Bell group and not a Gateway forum I am not sure
if the BIOS string will help, but then again many manufactures use the same
BIOS so maybe it will help, I am so confused. Another point to ponder is did
you or do you have LBA (Logical Block Addressing) enabled in the BIOS many
times if the BIOS is capable of handling drives larger then 8 GB it can be
set manually with cyl. Heads, etc.

Oh another idea, get another boot disk for Windows 98 and make sure
format.com and fdisk.exe are on it. You could have a faulty boot disk. Or
even a non formatted boot diskette. Just a suggestion.

Elector

"Elector" <> wrote in message news:<q6dbc.18033$>.. .
> "Ross" <> wrote in message
> news: om...
> > Elector,
> >
> > It is a Gateway 200 MMX, originally had Win 95, upgraded to 98SE.
> > Its got nothing now. I'm trying to install a 10 GB hard drive as the
> > only drive and re-install 98SE. In FDISK it never asks if I want
> > large disk support. In the BIOS it is set for autoselect but, there
> > are no entries under the number of heads etc. It came with a 3.8 GIG
> > HD and worked fine so, it must be able to support them.
> >
> > Roskoe
>
> Roscoe:
> I see that a few of my friends answered this already. I will concur that 10
> GB will not be able to be handled unless you have a BIOS update to support
> large drives and or a controller card as I already and others suggested.
>
> Since this is the Packard Bell group and not a Gateway forum I am not sure
> if the BIOS string will help, but then again many manufactures use the same
> BIOS so maybe it will help, I am so confused. Another point to ponder is did
> you or do you have LBA (Logical Block Addressing) enabled in the BIOS many
> times if the BIOS is capable of handling drives larger then 8 GB it can be
> set manually with cyl. Heads, etc.
>
> Oh another idea, get another boot disk for Windows 98 and make sure
> format.com and fdisk.exe are on it. You could have a faulty boot disk. Or
> even a non formatted boot diskette. Just a suggestion.
>
> Elector



OK, Elector I've got it to this point now. I did fdisk, format,
sys C: and then ran the Win 98 install. It said it was installing
everything then, after about half and hour it says it must restart to
finish the Windows 98 install. So, it restarts and a black and white
screen comes up and says type in the location of command.com. No
matter what I put in it doesn't accept it. It won't go any farther
from here. This has happened three times. Any idea what the problem
could be ?

Thanx,
Roskoe

Roscoe,

If you have not taken any steps to change the hardware by adding a hard disk
BIOS card to handle the 10GB drive properly, there is no point in
troubleshooting what you have done. Resistance is futile.

Please explain any and all changes you have made to your system hardware and
describe its current configuration. What has happened is quite irregular.

.... Ben Myers

On 7 Apr 2004 21:00:51 -0700, (Ross) wrote:

>"Elector" <> wrote in message news:<q6dbc.18033$>.. .
>> "Ross" <> wrote in message
>> news: om...
>> > Elector,
>> >
>> > It is a Gateway 200 MMX, originally had Win 95, upgraded to 98SE.
>> > Its got nothing now. I'm trying to install a 10 GB hard drive as the
>> > only drive and re-install 98SE. In FDISK it never asks if I want
>> > large disk support. In the BIOS it is set for autoselect but, there
>> > are no entries under the number of heads etc. It came with a 3.8 GIG
>> > HD and worked fine so, it must be able to support them.
>> >
>> > Roskoe
>>
>> Roscoe:
>> I see that a few of my friends answered this already. I will concur that 10
>> GB will not be able to be handled unless you have a BIOS update to support
>> large drives and or a controller card as I already and others suggested.
>>
>> Since this is the Packard Bell group and not a Gateway forum I am not sure
>> if the BIOS string will help, but then again many manufactures use the same
>> BIOS so maybe it will help, I am so confused. Another point to ponder is did
>> you or do you have LBA (Logical Block Addressing) enabled in the BIOS many
>> times if the BIOS is capable of handling drives larger then 8 GB it can be
>> set manually with cyl. Heads, etc.
>>
>> Oh another idea, get another boot disk for Windows 98 and make sure
>> format.com and fdisk.exe are on it. You could have a faulty boot disk. Or
>> even a non formatted boot diskette. Just a suggestion.
>>
>> Elector
>
>
>
> OK, Elector I've got it to this point now. I did fdisk, format,
>sys C: and then ran the Win 98 install. It said it was installing
>everything then, after about half and hour it says it must restart to
>finish the Windows 98 install. So, it restarts and a black and white
>screen comes up and says type in the location of command.com. No
>matter what I put in it doesn't accept it. It won't go any farther
>from here. This has happened three times. Any idea what the problem
>could be ?
>
> Thanx,
> Roskoe

"Ross" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> OK, Elector I've got it to this point now. I did fdisk,
format,
> sys C: and then ran the Win 98 install. It said it was installing
> everything then, after about half and hour it says it must restart
to
> finish the Windows 98 install. So, it restarts and a black and
white
> screen comes up and says type in the location of command.com. No
> matter what I put in it doesn't accept it. It won't go any farther
> from here. This has happened three times. Any idea what the
problem
> could be ?
>
> Thanx,
> Roskoe

Well lets see, I noticed Ben also gave a response so I will try and
get another spin on this. That message can occur when the cd you are
using hits a flaw in the disk, it can also be from a faulty FDISK and
FORMAT procedure.

When you have a formatted diskette in the drive you must then make a
copy of the system files, you can do this from bootdisk.com as I
stated before or you can do so from a friends Windows 98 or Windows ME
machine. You take the diskette after it is created and place it in a
turned off machine. Push the start button and when the system boots up
you should be at the "A" Prompt.

a:>

At this prompt type the following:

a:>format c/s[hit enter]

you will get a warning message that all media will be erased and you
then would have to select "Y" then hit enter.

after this is done you will again insert the diskette and restart the
machine, you may not need to do a FDISK if you have already done one
properly before the FOMAT PROCESS that is why I said to just do the
format in this post.

After the system starts select option 1 for full cd rom support, I
think its then going to say that a virtual drive has been installed on
"D" but when you get to the "A" Prompt do this:

a:>e:[hit enter]

if you have the cd rom found and supported you now insert the Windows
98 etc. cd in the drive and from the prompt you type:

e:>setup.exe[hit enter]

the system will say its going to prepare the drive and run some tests
and it will then say its installing windows to drive "C" and click OK
to proceed. Now if you had transferred the system over properly in the
format process there should have been a "command.com" on the diskette
which is now on the root drive of "C" you can easily check this via
the

c:>dir p/w[hit enter]

It will show what is on the root drive of "C" and it will pause if it
has a load of files so you can view them and it will be shown in a
wide format on the screen.

If the CD with Windows is functional and runs properly the system will
stop and ask for your previous version of Windows 95 or Win 3.1 in
which case you insert the old cd rom and it will scan to see you have
the rights to install Windows 98 it will then tell you to place the
Windows 98 back into the cd rom drive. It will then continue with the
install, if there is no hitches the system will restart its self 2-3
times. When it states the process is complete remove the cd and any
other media from the machine and restart and see if the opening of the
Windows Program starts. You then of course will have to either have a
the original drivers disks to load software not covered by the windows
install ort search the net for them.

My guess is that you did not FDISK the drive or FORMAT the drive
properly with a proper boot disk.

Elector