4.3GB HD detected as 2GB

[Erik Jälevik]

I'm trying to get an oldish system up and running to put Linux on and am
having some problems with the HD detection. It's a Fujitsu MPC3043AT 4.3GB
drive and the Award BIOS dated 10/13/1998 detects it as 2112MB when left on
Auto.

I didn't think a BIOS with this date would have the 2GB limit so I don't
know why it's doing this. Would it be safe to just manually change the
number of cylinders to 8940 (as stated on the drive) or will this have other
implications? Would flashing the BIOS be better? And would it help?

Thanks.

 

[Rod Speed]

I'm trying to get an oldish system up and running to put Linux
on and am having some problems with the HD detection. It's
a Fujitsu MPC3043AT 4.3GB drive and the Award BIOS
dated 10/13/1998 detects it as 2112MB when left on Auto.

I didn't think a BIOS with this date would have
the 2GB limit so I don't know why it's doing this.

Most likely there is some geometry detail in the
MBR thats fooling the AUTO AUTO mechanism.

Would it be safe to just manually change the number of
cylinders to 8940 (as stated on the drive) or will this have other
implications? Would flashing the BIOS be better? And would it help?

I actually have one of those drives and it does get detected
as the correct size with an award bios of that vintage.

Try scrubbing all the crap from the drive with something like clearhdd from
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/clearhdd.htm
That should then show the correct size once partitioned and formatted.

If it doesnt make any difference, try updating the motherboard bios.