On  Monday, December 13, 1999 11:42 AM,
 "Herbert Graf" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

<snip>  I have heard of a 8.4GB limit some older >BIOSes have, does  this
limit exist? I will be >installing Win95B with FAT32 support so  >partition
size won't be a problem. The >motherboard used is an ASUSTVP4
> Socket 7 board, latest BIOS (I think it's late 97 >early 98). Does anybody
know where this limit >stems from and workarounds to it if my board >indeed
has the limit? Thanks alot, TTYAL
>
 DOS and Windows cannot see a single drive larger than 2Gb unless it's first
been partitioned into two or more separate areas. Unless you do this, a 4Gb
EIDE drive will simply appear as a 2Gb one.

As anyone who's attempted to install a larger drive than 2Gb will know,
there's plenty of fun to be had working round the quirks of the modern PC.

 In order to properly support an 8.4 GB or larger IDE drive, your system's
BIOS must be capable of supporting INT13 extensions.  At this writing, only
a few BIOS's on some (but not all) new systems
support these functions. First, I rec that you contact your system
manufacturer to determine if your system supports INT13 extensions.  OTOH,
since you didn't mentioned what brand and type of hard drive you are
using/are installing and I use WD hard drives, I  will use it as an
"example".  From this viewpoint,  I  recommend simply using Data Lifeguard
Tools, which will make this determination for you, as well as a number of
other safety checks to ensure that your system can support the drive.  If
your system cannot support the drive, then Data Lifeguard Tools will install
EZ-BIOS on the drive, a special utility that will provide support to the
drive in place of the BIOS.  To download Data Lifeguard Tools, please visit
http://www1.wdc.com/service/FAQ/8-4.html#1

If for some reason this doesn't work, you can enter the correct information
by hand. Either select the drive type directly using the figure supplied
with the drive itself (if it conforms to one of the 40 or so drive types
incorporated into the BIOS), or select Type 47 (also referred to as User
type), which will
allow you to enter user-defined values. These should be provided with the
drive itself, or printed somewhere on the casing -- look before you bolt it
into the darkest recesses of your PC! When you exit the BIOS main screen,
save this new
information in the CMOS battery-backed-up memory by selecting the
appropriate
menu option, so that the new drive characteristics will be in place every
time you boot up in future.

Once the BIOS knows about your drive, it will dump you unceremoniously at
the C:/ prompt, now known only to people who remember the bad
old pre-Windows days of DOS. HTH. :-)

Walter R. Worth
[log in to unmask]

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