Using a 45gig hd on an old bios that only sees 8 gigs?...

[cpr]

Hello,
My friend has on old acer computer. Unfortunatly, he is crazy (not literally) and bought a 45 gig western digital hard drive.

The problem is, the bios is so old, it won't reckognize about 8 gigs. So he's just lost a ton of money.

I haven't had luck finding the bios update for it, so I've been looking into other options. The Abit Hot Rod 66 caught my eye. I was wondering if he used one of those, would he be able get the other 37 gigs? Or would the bios restrict that too?

Thank You for your time,
~cpr

[Faramir]

If the hard drive didn't come with an EZ-bios diskette have him check the WD website. It will trick the bios into accepting the larger HD.

[howste]

Faramir is right. Go to their website here: http://www.westerndigital.com/service/ftp/drives.html and download Data Lifeguard Tools. This will create a self-booting floppy with all the install utilities you need for Western Digital drives.

Good luck

Steve

[alondra]

I dont believe EZ bios will give one large drive, but will devide it into several drives, on mine it devided an 8 gig in to 4 drives, c,d,e,f dont think id want one drive that big anyway. EZ bios is the answer tho.

[cpr]

Hello,
Unfortunatly, EZ Bios was one of the first things I tried, but for some rease it just sat there and stayed at the screen for 30 mins (twice) with no activity. It might have been an incompatibility with teh BIOS, because the computer uses an Acer bios (not Award, AMI, Pheonix).

ny other suggestions? Would the Hot Rod card work?

Thank You,
~cpr

[Faramir]

cpr... I've never worked with that BIOS before but you could try to d/l Maxtor's Max-Blast and see if maybe it might work with it. I don't know anything about the Abit Hot Rod so someone else should help you with that. Also, if the motherboard isn't proprietary, try getting a used one from a local computer shop. I've gotten a couple pretty cheap ($15-$20). It would save ya some headaches, but also defeats the purpose of this site...lol

[Dave_H]

This page gives some suggestions to try if ez-bios locks up the system.
http://www.westerndigital.com/service/FAQ/jumpers.html
Hope it helps.
Dave

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

Don't know if this really helps any but,.. I have a 20GB Maxtor in an old Pent100 working perfectly (Pheonix BIOS though). I devided it into two partitions but it had recognized the entire 20GB originally with ez-bios.

Oh, Faramir, I have tried to used Maxtor's Max-Blast with non Maxtor drives and it wont work... just for future information, Max-Blast detects what brand drive you have and will ONLY work with a Maxtor HD.

good luck cpr

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

Sorry.. double clicked the submit button

feel free to delete this one....

[This message has been edited by Mr. Mojo Risin (edited 09-07-2000).]

[Faramir]

Mojo... I haven't tried Maxtors latest version but I have used older versions on other brand HDs. It is easier to use than WD version too.

cpr... let us know whether you get it working or not

[cpr]

Hello,
Thanks for all the info you guys have given me. Unfortunatly, I won't have a chance to work on his comp for a while, and I really don't trust him with a screwdriver and jumpers

Thank You,
~cpr