Problem reformatting hard drive

I am trying to reformat a hard drive on a Gateway Pentium II computer
using Windows NT 4.0 (sp 6). At some point, additional memory was
added to this computer. I can only get so far with the reformat
before I get the following message:

"Setup has determined that one or more of your hard disks has more
than 1024 cylinders."

I believe this is because of the additional memory that was added to
the computer, but I'm not totally sure. On the next screen, I get the
following message:

"Setup is unable to locate the hard drive partition prepared by the
MS-DOS portion of Setup."

Does this mean that the hard drive will have to be repartitioned in
order to reformat the computer? If so, can you tell me how to divide
up the space so that the computer will accept the reformat?

Any help any of you can suggest would be greatly appreciated. Thank
you for your time.

Diane

<> wrote in message
news: m...
> I am trying to reformat a hard drive on a Gateway Pentium II computer
> using Windows NT 4.0 (sp 6). At some point, additional memory was
> added to this computer. I can only get so far with the reformat
> before I get the following message:
>
> "Setup has determined that one or more of your hard disks has more
> than 1024 cylinders."

It has nothing to do with the additional memory.

1. Consult your mainboard manual and make sure the
BIOS settings are correct for your hard drive.

2. If the settings are OK, go to the mainboard manufacturer's
website and check to see whether there's a BIOS update.

-- Bob Day
http://bobday.vze.com

If i recall correctly WinNT must be installed on a primary partition that is within the first 1024 cylinders (approx. 8 GB). This has nothing to do with the amount of memory.

wrote:
>
> I am trying to reformat a hard drive on a Gateway Pentium II computer
> using Windows NT 4.0 (sp 6). At some point, additional memory was
> added to this computer. I can only get so far with the reformat
> before I get the following message:
>
> "Setup has determined that one or more of your hard disks has more
> than 1024 cylinders."
>
> I believe this is because of the additional memory that was added to
> the computer, but I'm not totally sure. On the next screen, I get the
> following message:
>
> "Setup is unable to locate the hard drive partition prepared by the
> MS-DOS portion of Setup."
>
> Does this mean that the hard drive will have to be repartitioned in
> order to reformat the computer? If so, can you tell me how to divide
> up the space so that the computer will accept the reformat?
>
> Any help any of you can suggest would be greatly appreciated. Thank
> you for your time.
>
> Diane

--

When replying by Email include NewSGrouP (case sensitive) in Subject

Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.

Bob, thank you for taking the time to respond to my message. I will
attempt this direction. Thanks so much.

Diane

"Bob Day" <> wrote in message news:<q2VEc.116$>...
> <> wrote in message
> news: m...
> > I am trying to reformat a hard drive on a Gateway Pentium II computer
> > using Windows NT 4.0 (sp 6). At some point, additional memory was
> > added to this computer. I can only get so far with the reformat
> > before I get the following message:
> >
> > "Setup has determined that one or more of your hard disks has more
> > than 1024 cylinders."
>
> It has nothing to do with the additional memory.
>
> 1. Consult your mainboard manual and make sure the
> BIOS settings are correct for your hard drive.
>
> 2. If the settings are OK, go to the mainboard manufacturer's
> website and check to see whether there's a BIOS update.
>
> -- Bob Day
> http://bobday.vze.com

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wrote:

> I am trying to reformat a hard drive on a Gateway Pentium II computer
> using Windows NT 4.0 (sp 6). At some point, additional memory was
> added to this computer. I can only get so far with the reformat
> before I get the following message:
>
> "Setup has determined that one or more of your hard disks has more
> than 1024 cylinders."
>
> I believe this is because of the additional memory that was added to
> the computer, but I'm not totally sure. On the next screen, I get the
> following message:
>
> "Setup is unable to locate the hard drive partition prepared by the
> MS-DOS portion of Setup."
>
> Does this mean that the hard drive will have to be repartitioned in
> order to reformat the computer? If so, can you tell me how to divide
> up the space so that the computer will accept the reformat?
>
> Any help any of you can suggest would be greatly appreciated. Thank
> you for your time.
>
> Diane

Diane, as Mike and Bob noted the additional memory has no effect here.
Also, as noted by Mike, NT 4.0 recognizes a partition of 8 gig under NTFS
and 2 gig (as I recall) under the FAT file system.

The MS-Dos portion of Setup initially deals with a FAT partition table.
During the setup phase you can choose to format as NTFS but (again, as I
recall) the system needs to be rebooted before that can take place.

If you're attempting a new installation of NT 4.0 on the drive, the most
reliable method seems to be creating two primary partitions: one of 1024
cylinders (8 gig or smaller), and one the balance of the drive space.
The base NT installation will easily fit in the 8 gig partition.

It's been awhile since I last touched NT 4.0 so my recollection may not be
what I hope.


- --
Ron n1zhi

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Hi

As others have said, the RAM has no effect here.

NT4 must be installed in the first 1024 cylinders of the disk. If you
partition the disk with the NT setup program, as NT only supports FAT
and NTFS and not FAT32, the highest FAT partition you can create with
the NT installer is 2Gb.

Install NT onto a new 2Gb FAT partition at the begining of the drive,
which you can convert to NTFS later. Create your other partitions
later using Disk Administrator. As long as you use NTFS, these new
partitions can be any size.

- Tom

wrote in message news:< om>...
> I am trying to reformat a hard drive on a Gateway Pentium II computer
> using Windows NT 4.0 (sp 6). At some point, additional memory was
> added to this computer. I can only get so far with the reformat
> before I get the following message:
>
> "Setup has determined that one or more of your hard disks has more
> than 1024 cylinders."
>
> I believe this is because of the additional memory that was added to
> the computer, but I'm not totally sure. On the next screen, I get the
> following message:
>
> "Setup is unable to locate the hard drive partition prepared by the
> MS-DOS portion of Setup."
>
> Does this mean that the hard drive will have to be repartitioned in
> order to reformat the computer? If so, can you tell me how to divide
> up the space so that the computer will accept the reformat?
>
> Any help any of you can suggest would be greatly appreciated. Thank
> you for your time.
>
> Diane