Tom's Guide | Tom's Hardware | Tom's Games
 |
 |
 |
Just recently I've been getting an error message on boot saying "Cant find the operating system" or something like that and I've tried everything to repair the boot section but it never works, so now I'm going to try and take a new hard drive and load a new os on it then use my old one as the slave. But my old one is a 80GB and I dont know the maximum capabilities of the motherboard and Bios(Award). If any one can help i would really appreciate it, I really don't want to lose all my information on my old drive.
Hi,
Wow... your running a pretty old system there! But here is what i found: it looks like you can run at least a 160GB HDD, provided your running an OS than can handle that large (WinXP SP2 should suffice).
Here is where I found it:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/1...
Hope that helps...
AMD Phenom X4 9850BE
Asus M3A78-T 790GX
4GB Corsair XMS DDR2 @ 1066
Diamond ATI Radeon 4870 1GB
Barracuda 7200.11 500GB
NZXT Tempest
0 
Before getting a new hard drive, does the 80 GB drive show up in the BIOS ? If not, perhaps there is a loose cable. You should also run some tests from the hard drive manufacturer to make sure it's still functioning.
"I've tried everything to repair the boot section" What exactly have you tried ?If you can get access to the 80 GB drive, then you can do an image so that you won't have to reinstall all of your programs, etc.
0
Sorry but how is the OP running an old system???? What makes it old??? As far as I can see, he/she is runnig and AMD cpu system with a 1gig RAM! or did I get it wrong?
Anyway.......... Xp will support your HDD no problem! BUT... you haven't mentioned the make and model of your motherboard?
If you get a new HDD, you can probably install XP on it and then add the original HDD and extract the info that you need!
Matt
0
It's not likely that motherboard is 48-bit LBA compliant which will limit the bios to seeing no more than about 120 gig. You can of course buy a 48-bit lba card and connect a larger drive that way.
0
>> Sorry but how is the OP running an old system???? What makes it old??? <<
At least five years and probably more and in computer terms that is old.
So old that it almost certainly does not support 48 bit LBA in which case 120 Gbs is going to be the largest hard disk that can be installed without additional hardware.
Stuart
0
Not that I recommend it, but he could always run a drive overlay.
http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_...
"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
0
Stuart is correct. That system is not 48 bit LBA compliant. That means it will not support drive sizes larger than 137GB. So a 120GB drive would be the largest size the system could support natively.
However, another option is to add a PCI based controller card. Other than the obvious advantage of using a large modern drive, a controller card that supports SATA drives could be used. That would allow the drive to more easily migrate to a newer system when the OP decides to do that.
You would need to buy a card that supports boot drives, which most do.
0
Thanks, so what you guys are telling me is I should be able to install a 40GB drive along side my 80GB drive and be safe at 120GB
0
You could install an 120Gb drive alongside the 80Gb for a total of 200Gbs.
It's the individual drives that matter, not the total of all drives.
Stuart
0
So let me get this right the motherboard just worries about individual drives and I'm guessing the total drives is dependent on the OS?
0
No, the total number of drives is dependant on how many interfaces you have to connect them to up to a maximum of 26 then you run out of drive letters.
48 bit LBA is dependant on both BIOS and the Operating System. If you have the capability of connecting 26 hard disks they can all be 120Gbs if thats what you need.
Stuart
0
One other point to note. If you connect an External hard drive to the computer the size limitations do not apply.
However, you wouldn't be able to run programs or Windows from an external drive.
0
I just had a look at the ASUS website & the final BIOS available for that board is "Beta BIOS 1010.01B". The update adds support for 48 Bit HDDs.
Download the BIOS file & the BIOS utility, then follow the instructions.
http://support.asus.com/download/do...
http://support.asus.com/technicaldo...
"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
0
Good find jam.
jon, if you update your BIOS as jam has noted above then you will be able to connect ANY size ATA or IDE hard drive.
0
So I have to download that file from this pc and upload it to mine thru a floppy and that will work with my award bios. Sorry just trying to confirm this.
0
You have the gist of it. Be sure to read and understand all instructions on the link below.
You also need to download the flash utility from this link.http://support.asus.com/technicaldo...
The other link jam posted is for the BIOS file itself. Please note that in addition to the model there are suffixes and possibly revision numbers. Those will be printed in the board somewhere. Something like rev 1 for instance. You MUST download the file for the EXACT model you have or you could render your computer inoperable.
Also, do not flash if there is any possibility of a power interruption. No not shut off the computer once you have started the procedure.
0
jon
One other point to make. The model you posted is the one with beta BIOS to allow 48 bit LBA compliance. Some other models with a suffix after that model string may not have an update to make the BIOS compliant.
There may be more information in the download that would indicate one way or the other.
You still have an option to install an add-in controller card in order to use larger drives of either type, IDE or SATA.
0
Here's how I would flash the BIOS.
1. copy the new BIOS file & the BIOS flash utility to a formatted floppy
2. create a WinME boot floppy
3. boot off the WinME boot floppy & select "minimal boot". When it stops at the A:\> prompt, remove the boot floppy & pop in the floppy wih the BIOS files.
4. type AFLASH.exe & press ENTER, then follow the instructions
"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
0
That correct but you can reverse steps 1 & 2 and copy the BIOS files to the boot disk.
You can create boot disk from Windows XP which will give you a minimal system specifically for this purpose with plenty of room for the BIOS files.
Stuart
0
I don't often disagree with jam but this time a think Stuart has a better approach.
Floppy disks don't have all that much space and you SHOULD save a copy of the original BIOS file on the floppy at the time you are flashing.
I want to emphasize again that the Bios update for the A7V133 without any additional letters after the 133 is the only board that seems to have the 48 bit update included in the update. If you look at the BIOS file numbers you will see they are all different.
So, is that the EXACT model you have?
editI should have read jam's post again. I was going by memory.
As it turns out I DON'T disagree with him. That method will yield the maximum space on the BIOS floppy.
0
I'm not sure what ME 'minimal boot' loads. If it bypasses config.sys it should be OK as most bios upgrades warn not to load any memory management drivers--himem.sys.
Using F8 on a 98 bootdisk and choosing 'safe mode command prompt only' also bypasses config.sys. Or, just doing a SYS A: from dos or 9X to transfer system files and copying the update and flasher to the disk also works.
Whenever possible I like to do it from the hard drive so you're not subject to the sometimes flaky nature of floppy disks and drives.
0  |
 |
 |
This post is quite old and has been locked from receiving new replies. Please create a new posting instead.
| Ads by Google |
