Windows won't boot if any partition extends past 120 GB on 250 GBdrive

[Will Pittenger]

Yes, SP2 is INSTALLED. I have stated that many times. I have also
stated that PartitionMagic causes all of Windows to crash. Even when
that did not happen, PM insisted the drive was just 137 GB. The floppy
version of Partiton Magic gives Error #114. The CD complains about some
internal error and dumps me at a Y: DOS prompt.

Have you installed SP2 yet? Or you could use Partition Magic.

 

[Andy]

You state that your Windows XP CD incorporates SP1, which means that
Windows setup should be able to access past 137GB on the 250GB disk.
This means that when you created the second partition during Windows
setup, the extended partition that was created at that point should
have begun at the end of the primary partition and ended at 250GB. If
the extended partition stops at 137GB, then the XP CD does not contain
SP1.

Did you create the partitions during Windows setup, or did you use
some other program?

Actually, I already have 4 partitions on that drive. The problem
happens if ANY of those partitions extend past 137 GB.

When you install SP2, and get to be able to see the whole drive with the
unpartioned remainder disk space, you can either just keep it that way, or
resize it to max, OR create and format a second partition in there, which is
what I would do. Your call. Personally, I find it convenient to have at
least two partitions (and even more, frankly).

 

[JS]

Latest Promise drivers/bios installed?
My Promise card required a BIOS update before it would support Large Drives.
See:
http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=18&category=bios&os=0&go=GO

JS

 

[Will Pittenger]

Either GParted or Partition Magic created all but the boot drive. I
know the Windows CD is SP1. It states so on the disc.

You state that your Windows XP CD incorporates SP1, which means that
Windows setup should be able to access past 137GB on the 250GB disk.
This means that when you created the second partition during Windows
setup, the extended partition that was created at that point should
have begun at the end of the primary partition and ended at 250GB. If
the extended partition stops at 137GB, then the XP CD does not contain
SP1.

Did you create the partitions during Windows setup, or did you use
some other program?

 

[Will Pittenger]

I suspect so. The BIOS you mentioned was dated 2002. This system was
built in 2003.

Latest Promise drivers/bios installed?
My Promise card required a BIOS update before it would support Large Drives.
See:
http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=18&category=bios&os=0&go=GO

JS

 

[Will Pittenger]

So do I have any options other than to start with a brand new Windows
install? That would be a pain.

 

[Anna]

Incidentally, as the attached screenshot shows, parts of Windows
correctly see the size of the drive.

Will:
(NOTE: Screenshot of Disk Management OP attached indicates HDD capacity
totaling 111.79 GB - 3 partitions + 1 of unallocated disk space)

Bear with me if this is a silly question - but bear with me, OK?

Is there any possibility - any possibility at all - that your "250 GB" HDD
is, in reality, a 120 GB HDD?

It's interesting that Disk Management reflects total disk capacity of 111.79
GB. Interesting because that's virtually the *precise* disk capacity (in
binary terms) of a 120 GB HDD.
Anna

 

[JS]

So if you right click on the 'Free Space' in Drive 0 and create a new
logical drive (assuming you are able to) this is when your problems begin?

JS

 

[Will Pittenger]

I got 232.87 GB. Either you math is lousy -- or you looked at my
external drive -- which is 120 GB.

 

[Will Pittenger]

Correct.

So if you right click on the 'Free Space' in Drive 0 and create a new
logical drive (assuming you are able to) this is when your problems begin?

JS

 

[JS]

Did you use Partition Magic or Windows Disk Management
to create the Extended partition and then the logical drives D:, E: and F: ?

JS

 

[Will Pittenger]

Not sure. It was either Partition Magic 8 or GParted.

Did you use Partition Magic or Windows Disk Management
to create the Extended partition and then the logical drives D:, E: and F: ?

JS

 

[Will Pittenger]

Are you suggesting I run that program? Where do I get it?

Supposedly, XP SP2 (which is installed) supports 48-bit LBA addressing.'[image: http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/4861/32344102qx7.th.gif]'

(http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=32344102qx7.gif)

 

[JS]

Only thing I can think of is that your partition table information has been
mucked up.
You are probably not going to like this but ...

Backup you data on the drives
Grab your Windows CD (must be either SP1 or SP2 version)
Perform a 'Clean Install' of Windows, using the Windows CD to delete all
existing drives/partitions.
Then create the 'Primary' C: partition, install Windows and then use Disk
Management to create
the Extended partition and logical drives.

Another option would be to use Acronis True Image (see note about product
test below)
to make an image backup of all the files on each partition (including C to
your second drive.
Then use the Windows CD to remove the existing partitions (as stated above).
Next create the primary partition and the restore the image of your C:
drive,
you do this by using the True Image emergency boot CD to access and
restore the image file stored on your second drive.
Then use Windows Disk Management to create the remaining partitions
(including the free space you could not access before).

Note: Since you appear to be using a Promise card I would test Acronis
emergency CD
by removing the hard drive that has Windows installed and see if Acronis can
see your other drive
which I assume is also connected to the Promise card.

Acronis True Image
(has a 15 day trial version although I have not tried it, I use Norton
Ghost, both products support an Emergency Boot CD)
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

How to do a Clean Install of Windows XP
Start by changing the BIOS setting to Boot from CD drive first.
Then see below:
From Michael Steven's: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
more info: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm
and: http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_installation_of_windows_xp.htm
also: http://www.bootdisk.com/

Also make sure you have the drivers you need for your motherboard, video
card, sound card, Etc.

Try Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
It does a good job of providing a wealth of information including software
Key codes
and Devices you will need Drivers for.

I've said a lot and don't blame you if you decline, it's just my best guess
having used a Linux based partition tool
in the distant past and then trying to reinstall Windows.

JS

Not sure. It was either Partition Magic 8 or GParted.

 

[JS]

Another thought:
Disk Diagnostic Utilities from:

Western Digital's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=3

Seagate's SeaTools
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

Maxtor's (Now Seagate) PowerMax
http://www.seagate.com/maxtor/

Fujitsu's Utilities
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/support/utilities.html

Samsung's Disk manager software
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm

Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test software
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

JS

Not sure. It was either Partition Magic 8 or GParted.

 

[Will Pittenger]

I should note that my second drive is a USB external. It is NOT
attached to the Promise card.

Only thing I can think of is that your partition table information has been
mucked up.
You are probably not going to like this but ...

Backup you data on the drives
Grab your Windows CD (must be either SP1 or SP2 version)
Perform a 'Clean Install' of Windows, using the Windows CD to delete all
existing drives/partitions.
Then create the 'Primary' C: partition, install Windows and then use Disk
Management to create
the Extended partition and logical drives.

Another option would be to use Acronis True Image (see note about product
test below)
to make an image backup of all the files on each partition (including C to
your second drive.
Then use the Windows CD to remove the existing partitions (as stated above).
Next create the primary partition and the restore the image of your C:
drive,
you do this by using the True Image emergency boot CD to access and
restore the image file stored on your second drive.
Then use Windows Disk Management to create the remaining partitions
(including the free space you could not access before).

Note: Since you appear to be using a Promise card I would test Acronis
emergency CD
by removing the hard drive that has Windows installed and see if Acronis can
see your other drive
which I assume is also connected to the Promise card.

Acronis True Image
(has a 15 day trial version although I have not tried it, I use Norton
Ghost, both products support an Emergency Boot CD)
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

How to do a Clean Install of Windows XP
Start by changing the BIOS setting to Boot from CD drive first.
Then see below:
From Michael Steven's: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
more info: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm
and: http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_installation_of_windows_xp.htm
also: http://www.bootdisk.com/

Also make sure you have the drivers you need for your motherboard, video
card, sound card, Etc.

Try Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
It does a good job of providing a wealth of information including software
Key codes
and Devices you will need Drivers for.

I've said a lot and don't blame you if you decline, it's just my best guess
having used a Linux based partition tool
in the distant past and then trying to reinstall Windows.

JS

 

[Will Pittenger]

Does FDISK's Clean command do a low level format? Would it work on a
large drive?

Only thing I can think of is that your partition table information has been
mucked up.
You are probably not going to like this but ...

Backup you data on the drives
Grab your Windows CD (must be either SP1 or SP2 version)
Perform a 'Clean Install' of Windows, using the Windows CD to delete all
existing drives/partitions.
Then create the 'Primary' C: partition, install Windows and then use Disk
Management to create
the Extended partition and logical drives.

Another option would be to use Acronis True Image (see note about product
test below)
to make an image backup of all the files on each partition (including C to
your second drive.
Then use the Windows CD to remove the existing partitions (as stated above).
Next create the primary partition and the restore the image of your C:
drive,
you do this by using the True Image emergency boot CD to access and
restore the image file stored on your second drive.
Then use Windows Disk Management to create the remaining partitions
(including the free space you could not access before).

Note: Since you appear to be using a Promise card I would test Acronis
emergency CD
by removing the hard drive that has Windows installed and see if Acronis can
see your other drive
which I assume is also connected to the Promise card.

Acronis True Image
(has a 15 day trial version although I have not tried it, I use Norton
Ghost, both products support an Emergency Boot CD)
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

How to do a Clean Install of Windows XP
Start by changing the BIOS setting to Boot from CD drive first.
Then see below:
From Michael Steven's: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
more info: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm
and: http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_installation_of_windows_xp.htm
also: http://www.bootdisk.com/

Also make sure you have the drivers you need for your motherboard, video
card, sound card, Etc.

Try Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
It does a good job of providing a wealth of information including software
Key codes
and Devices you will need Drivers for.

I've said a lot and don't blame you if you decline, it's just my best guess
having used a Linux based partition tool
in the distant past and then trying to reinstall Windows.

JS

 

[Will Pittenger]

SeaTools is installed, but flaky. It gives me a lot of .NET exceptions.

Another thought:
Disk Diagnostic Utilities from:

Western Digital's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=3

Seagate's SeaTools
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

Maxtor's (Now Seagate) PowerMax
http://www.seagate.com/maxtor/

Fujitsu's Utilities
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/support/utilities.html

Samsung's Disk manager software
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm

Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test software
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

JS

 

[JS]

FDISK is not supported on XP (need a Windows 98 boot disk with FDISK
installed) and I don't think it supports large partitions (more than 32GB)
or NTFS.

For Windows XP see:
A Description of the Diskpart Command-Line Utility
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415

JS

Does FDISK's Clean command do a low level format? Would it work on a
large drive?

 

[Will Pittenger]

Older copies of Windows XP included a version that supported up to at
least 137 GB. Such a version is part of my BartPE CD. I would prefer
Partition Magic, but...

FDISK is not supported on XP (need a Windows 98 boot disk with FDISK
installed) and I don't think it supports large partitions (more than 32GB)
or NTFS.

For Windows XP see:
A Description of the Diskpart Command-Line Utility
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415

JS