32GB Limit

[mcp6453]

Over Thanksgiving, a friend is going to take a new hard drive to install
into his elderly father's computer. Friend is not very technically
adept. I maintain the computer by logging into with pcAnywhere. How can
I tell whether the computer BIOS limits hard drive size to 8GB or 32GB.
Because of the age of the computer, I'm sure it is not over 32GB.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Over Thanksgiving, a friend is going to take a new hard drive to install
into his elderly father's computer. Friend is not very technically
adept. I maintain the computer by logging into with pcAnywhere. How can
I tell whether the computer BIOS limits hard drive size to 8GB or 32GB.
Because of the age of the computer, I'm sure it is not over 32GB.

Basically you have to try it. You also have to try whether
the BIOS refuses drives over the limit or just limits the
capacity.

I would advise to use an IDE controller like the Promise Ultra
100tx2 or the like to attach the new disk. Then you can use one
as large as you like.

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

Over Thanksgiving, a friend is going to take a new hard drive to install into
his elderly father's computer. Friend is not very technically adept. I
maintain the computer by logging into with pcAnywhere. How can I tell whether
the computer BIOS limits hard drive size to 8GB or 32GB.

There isnt any easy way except putting a drive thats
over 32G in that system and see how it shows up etc.

There's various ways to get it to work if it doesnt initially,
particularly reflashing the bios with a later version.

There are other ways to get around it if you cant do that.

Because of the age of the computer, I'm sure it is not over 32GB.

You cant be sure of that, the 32G limit is just a
wart in the award bios and if it doesnt even have
one of those, it likely wont have a problem.

The 8G limit isnt seen very often with
systems people are still using now.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Over Thanksgiving, a friend is going to take a new hard drive to
install into his elderly father's computer. Friend is not very technically
adept. I maintain the computer by logging into with pcAnywhere.
How can I tell whether the computer BIOS limits hard drive size to
8GB or 32GB. Because of the age of the computer, I'm sure it is
not over 32GB.

There is a larger 137GB limit as well. What operating system
(including service packs) will be running and how large is the new
hard drive?

*TimDaniels*

 

[mcp6453]

There is a larger 137GB limit as well. What operating system
(including service packs) will be running and how large is the new
hard drive?

The operating system is Windows 98. There is no need for a drive over
100GB. So, the new drive will be either 8 GB or 30 GB, depending on the
computer's capability. (It's 500 miles away, so I cannot just install
the drive. I'm trying to do some homework before my friend keeps me on
the phone half a day when he gets there.)

 

[Rod Speed]

Timothy Daniels wrote

The operating system is Windows 98. There is no need for a drive over 100GB.
So, the new drive will be either 8 GB or 30 GB, depending on the computer's
capability.

You're unlikey to be bitten by the limit at 8G, and
you cant buy drives that small new today anyway.

And all drives bigger than 32G have a jumper to
limit the capacity to 32G and there are a variety
of quite viable ways of installing a say 100G drive
in a system that has a problem at 32G which cant
have the bios flashed to get rid of that problem.

(It's 500 miles away, so I cannot just install the drive.

Someone will have to install it sometime.

I'm trying to do some homework before my friend
keeps me on the phone half a day when he gets there.)

Like we said, it just isnt possible to work out in advance
if it will have a problem at 32G and the workarounds
when it has that problem are pretty easy to implement.

Do you know what motherboard the system has ?
Thats one way to be sure that if the bios has a problem
at 32G that there is an updated bios available for it.

 

[CJT]

Over Thanksgiving, a friend is going to take a new hard drive to install
into his elderly father's computer. Friend is not very technically
adept. I maintain the computer by logging into with pcAnywhere. How can
I tell whether the computer BIOS limits hard drive size to 8GB or 32GB.
Because of the age of the computer, I'm sure it is not over 32GB.

It should say in the documentation. If the documentation isn't
available, then welcome to the world of PCs.

 

[Peter]

Over Thanksgiving, a friend is going to take a new hard drive to install

into his elderly father's computer. Friend is not very technically
adept. I maintain the computer by logging into with pcAnywhere. How can
I tell whether the computer BIOS limits hard drive size to 8GB or 32GB.
Because of the age of the computer, I'm sure it is not over 32GB.

When he boots up his computer what numbers show up on the screen?
That would help to identify his motherboard and bios version number.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Over Thanksgiving, a friend is going to take a new hard drive to install
into his elderly father's computer. Friend is not very technically
adept. I maintain the computer by logging into with pcAnywhere. How can
I tell whether the computer BIOS limits hard drive size to 8GB or 32GB.

Bios will tell by hanging on POST or just by the size reported.
If not, Fdisk will tell if the bios just limits.
If not then Findpart by Svend Olaf Mikkelson may find the much
more difficult to find capacity foldback that then is likely to occur.

 

[The_Jase]

if it's just a matter of finding out what the bios can accept then all
you have to know is the make/model of the motherboard. then look it up
on that brand of motherboards site e.g. www.abit-usa.com. you may have
to poke around for a while (especially for some older ones) but you
should be able to find it. if not, just e-mail the company and u'll
probably get a response in 24hours.

 

[Jim]

Believe the Western Digital website offers software that checks bios HD
capacity limitations. Runs off a boot floppy. Test it yourself, then mail
to your friend with instructions.

 

[Rod Speed]

if it's just a matter of finding out what the bios can accept then
all you have to know is the make/model of the motherboard.

Its more complicated than that, with quite a few motherboards,
it isnt at all clear if they have the 32G problem from the web
site with rather elderly motherboards like this one.

then look it up on that brand of motherboards site e.g.
www.abit-usa.com. you may have to poke around for
a while (especially for some older ones) but you
should be able to find it.

Quite a few dont even mention the problem,
particularly the low end generic motherboards.

if not, just e-mail the company and u'll
probably get a response in 24hours.

Or not get one at all. With quite a few of the generics, it
isnt even possible work out what name it was sold under,
let alone which web site is appropriate. There just isnt
one with many of them with those older motherboards.

There's really only one viable approach with those older
motherboards, try it with a drive that's bigger than 32G.

 

[Rod Speed]

Believe the Western Digital website offers
software that checks bios HD capacity limitations.

That only works with a drive bigger than 32G installed.
If you have one installed, its completely obvious if there
is a problem or not, you dont need any software.

The WD ute is only really useful for the 132G limit
where its harder to check if the drive is supported.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

How can I tell whether the computer BIOS limits hard drive size to 8GB
or 32GB. Because of the age of the computer, I'm sure it is not over 32GB.

Have you checked www.wimsbios.com, especially the forum about BIOS HD
size limits?

There are two tiny DOS programs, tint13e and ext13h, that can check if
the BIOS supports the 32GB limit (you'll probably have to use a DOS
boot disk), and at www.48bitlba.com is a program that can check if
drives larger than 137GB are supported or not. But I don't know of a
program that can tell if the BIOS supports >32GB and <137GB, at least
not without an HD attached.

If the BIOS is Award ver. 4.51, then it supports 32GB, and some of the
people over at Wim's BIOS can modify this for 137GB support. I think
that 32GB support was added by Award and AMI in late 1997 or early
1998, while 137GB support was added in late 1999 by Award, 2000 by AMI.

 

[Rod Speed]

mcp6453 wrote

Have you checked www.wimsbios.com,
especially the forum about BIOS HD size limits?

There are two tiny DOS programs, tint13e and ext13h,
that can check if the BIOS supports the 32GB limit
(you'll probably have to use a DOS boot disk),

The problem at 32G is the wart in the award bios.

and at www.48bitlba.com is a program that can check
if drives larger than 137GB are supported or not. But
I don't know of a program that can tell if the BIOS supports

No program can.

If the BIOS is Award ver. 4.51, then it supports 32GB,

It aint that black and white.

and some of the people over at Wim's
BIOS can modify this for 137GB support.
I think that 32GB support was added by
Award and AMI in late 1997 or early 1998,

The problem at 32G is the wart in the award bios.

while 137GB support was added in
late 1999 by Award, 2000 by AMI.

It aint anything like that black and white with
when it showed up in the motherboard bios.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

The problem at 32G is the wart in the award bios.


No program can.

No program can what, Roddles?

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

No program can what, Roddles?

Is there a program that can tell if a BIOS directly supports IDE hard
drives > 32GB, even when no HD is attached to the computer and when the
BIOS doesn't support 48-bit LBA?

 

[Rod Speed]

Is there a program that can tell if a BIOS directly supports
IDE hard drives > 32GB, even when no HD is attached to
the computer and when the BIOS doesn't support 48-bit LBA?

Nope.

A bios that does support 48 bit LBA wont have a problem at 32G.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Is there a program that can tell if a BIOS directly supports IDE hard
drives > 32GB, even when no HD is attached to the computer and when the
BIOS doesn't support 48-bit LBA?

Not that I'm aware of.