Completely off topic but ....

[Lucifers_Ghost]

I have an intel P3-733 and an msi motherboard (not sure of the model) and windows XP (with all available updates)

I just bought a 120gig drive on sale (western digital caviar 8mb cache) and tried to install it. When I got into my bios and try to auto detect it, it freezes in the process, however the drive shows up with all the info EXCEPT the amount of cylinders.

If I reboot and dont auto detect the drive, it gives me a message (during the phase that lists all the drives) Primary Slave - Atapi compatible, then freezes. Even if i change it to secondary master or slave, it does the same thing.

Is it possible for a computer to not recognize a drive because it is too big? What else could it be?

I completely realize that this is off topic for DVD burning, but many of you out there are insanely wizardlike when it comes to stuff like this. So any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again

LG

[Capmaster]

Is it an older MB? You may need to run an overlay. That's a .BIN file that loads first on boot-up and cross-translates heads and cylinders so your BIOS can recognize it. Check with WD for the overlay, but first check with the MB vendor and see if there are any flash updates for the BIOS.

[Lucifers_Ghost]

The MB is about 3 - 4 years old. It was pretty good when i bought it. damn it. i wish i could find the box for it ... grrrr. I wouldnt be able to do a flash update anyway if i dont have the model of the mb right?

[Capmaster]

I wouldn't try it without the model # unless you feel lucky and the flash is for multiple motherboards, and the flash utility has some intelligence and can sort it out. Naaahhhh. You'll probably end up with a big, colorful paperweight going that route. Maybe the model or S/N is stamped on the ccircuit board somewhere, maybe in one of the corners?

[Lucifers_Ghost]

Dammit. And here I thought i was getting a good deal on this drive. Looks like i am bringing it back, unless i find that book. but lord knows where that is. i've moved twice since i got this. it could be anywhere by now.

Ah well. I thank you both for offering suggestions. It is greatly appreciated. I will keep you posted :P

LG

[Jayhawk]

Don't scrap it yet. IF it really is 4 years old or even 5 you should be fine. Have you used the Western Digital Lifeguard tools that came with it. They're not bad for partitioning and formating it (which you have to do anyway). I had a few minor problems when I added an 80g a couple of months ago but the Lifeguard Tools seemed to fix it.

Most of the size "barriers" went away prior to the mid-late 90's. Any MB past 1997 should support 120gb with XP. here's a link that will tell you everything you wanted to know (or didn't) about HD size issues.

http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_drives/hard_drive_size_barriers.htm

[Jayhawk]

Here's a link to an MSI page that will show you where to find your montherboard model and serial number. Just click on serial and part number search.

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/support_new.asp#

If you still can't identify it, see if you can read the Intel Chipset numbers. That might point us to the motherboard model. Another good source is AIDA32 (a free PC info program that seems to find information about almost everything). Run it and look under motherboard and chipset.

[Lucifers_Ghost]

Ok. i downloaded and ran AIDA32 and it says my MB is an MSI MS-6309



I found the bios update. but its telling me to use a flash utility. God h elp me haah

[gmatov]

The same page you found the BIOS update should have had full instructions on how to flash YOUR board.

Generally you copy the BIOS file, after an unzip, if it was zipped, and the flash utility to a bootable floppy, boot, get an A:\ prompt and type exactly what the directions tell you to. Helps much if you print the instructions so you can refer to them at each step.

As long as you do not lose power in the middle of the flash, you should be OK.

It was 1999 before Windows could see a larger than 64 gig drive. After your flash it might be a good idea to go to MS and download the boot disk patch for large drives It is named 263044USA8. When you execute it, it creates a new boot disk with large drive support for fdisk.

The only problem is the BIOS and fdisk will not register more than 5 digits, so your 117000MB drive will appear to be 17000MB till you get below 100000MB (100 gig), then you will see, for example, 97000MB left to be partitioned, 97 gig.

Easy as pie.

Go for it.

Cheers,

George

[Piccoro]

Could always buy a IDE Controller PCI card which supports large drives.

[Jayhawk]

The MS-6309 came out in 2000 and had several good reviews. It appears fairly state-of-the-art for socket 370 machines (ata66/100 support). Your using XP so that's not the problem. Strange that a 2000 machine wouldn't support a 120g drive.

If you can't solve it through bios (or WD Ligeguard tools), I think Piccoro's is an excellent one. A $30 Promise controller card would take care of it.