I have an old eTower 400ix that im trying to install XP pro on. I know its
not tested and built for XP, but i've had 2003 server on it, and it worked
fine, so i know it can hold the OS. I have an 80 Gig Seagate in it, and the
eTower supposedly has a 20 gigabyte limitation, so each time i try to install
xp pro, i run into errors and data loss, because of the inability to handle
such a large drive. Its a seagate, which is pretty good. Is there anything i
can do to trick the BIOS into only seeing 20 Gigs.. or anything that anyone
knows that can help me solve this issue. I need the PC for a web server, and
i think it would be kinda hard to find a HD under 40 gigs.. very unlikely 10
- 20. any suggestions would help.

Get a PCI IDE card, that way you completely bypass the etowers bios. I use a Promise card in my
system as I have 4 hard drives, a dvd-rom, and a dvd-rw. The cards own BIOS will take care of the
drive limitation issue.
--
Dave Vair
CNE, CNA, MCP, A+, N+

"w00t" <jdirtyatdirecwaydotcom> wrote in message
news:55D67ACB-D7C3-41E7-A95E-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have an old eTower 400ix that im trying to install XP pro on. I know its
> not tested and built for XP, but i've had 2003 server on it, and it worked
> fine, so i know it can hold the OS. I have an 80 Gig Seagate in it, and the
> eTower supposedly has a 20 gigabyte limitation, so each time i try to install
> xp pro, i run into errors and data loss, because of the inability to handle
> such a large drive. Its a seagate, which is pretty good. Is there anything i
> can do to trick the BIOS into only seeing 20 Gigs.. or anything that anyone
> knows that can help me solve this issue. I need the PC for a web server, and
> i think it would be kinda hard to find a HD under 40 gigs.. very unlikely 10
> - 20. any suggestions would help.

"w00t" <jdirtyatdirecwaydotcom> wrote in message
news:55D67ACB-D7C3-41E7-A95E-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have an old eTower 400ix that im trying to install XP pro on. I know its
> not tested and built for XP, but i've had 2003 server on it, and it worked
> fine, so i know it can hold the OS. I have an 80 Gig Seagate in it, and
> the
> eTower supposedly has a 20 gigabyte limitation, so each time i try to
> install
> xp pro, i run into errors and data loss, because of the inability to
> handle
> such a large drive. Its a seagate, which is pretty good. Is there anything
> i
> can do to trick the BIOS into only seeing 20 Gigs.. or anything that
> anyone
> knows that can help me solve this issue. I need the PC for a web server,
> and
> i think it would be kinda hard to find a HD under 40 gigs.. very unlikely
> 10
> - 20. any suggestions would help.


Other than David's suggestion to use a controller card whose BIOS will
handle larger drives, check if the motherboard maker has a BIOS flash update
on their web site, or use the drive overlay manager (Seagate should have
one, too, just like Maxtor and Western Digital have theirs).

--
_______________________________________________________
** Post replies to the newsgroup. Share with others. **
For e-mail, remove "NIX" and append "#VC811" to Subject.
_______________________________________________________

There is no 20GB bios limitation.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....i=&p_topview=1

Next...
.............
Jonny
"w00t" <jdirtyatdirecwaydotcom> wrote in message
news:55D67ACB-D7C3-41E7-A95E-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have an old eTower 400ix that im trying to install XP pro on. I know its
> not tested and built for XP, but i've had 2003 server on it, and it worked
> fine, so i know it can hold the OS. I have an 80 Gig Seagate in it, and
> the
> eTower supposedly has a 20 gigabyte limitation, so each time i try to
> install
> xp pro, i run into errors and data loss, because of the inability to
> handle
> such a large drive. Its a seagate, which is pretty good. Is there anything
> i
> can do to trick the BIOS into only seeing 20 Gigs.. or anything that
> anyone
> knows that can help me solve this issue. I need the PC for a web server,
> and
> i think it would be kinda hard to find a HD under 40 gigs.. very unlikely
> 10
> - 20. any suggestions would help.

Buckets of them here $20-30

http://www.pricewatch.com/

w00t wrote:

> I have an old eTower 400ix that im trying to install XP pro on. I know its
> not tested and built for XP, but i've had 2003 server on it, and it worked
> fine, so i know it can hold the OS. I have an 80 Gig Seagate in it, and the
> eTower supposedly has a 20 gigabyte limitation, so each time i try to install
> xp pro, i run into errors and data loss, because of the inability to handle
> such a large drive. Its a seagate, which is pretty good. Is there anything i
> can do to trick the BIOS into only seeing 20 Gigs.. or anything that anyone
> knows that can help me solve this issue. I need the PC for a web server, and
> i think it would be kinda hard to find a HD under 40 gigs.. very unlikely 10
> - 20. any suggestions would help.