atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories Mystery Gigs

Hi all, been a long time since I've posted but it sure is nice to know you're still here.

I'm working on a computer that has a 250GB hard drive but windows xp can only see around 32GB of the memory. After reading up the issue one of the suggestions was to check the jumpers on the back of the drive and they appear to be in order. After throwing a linux disk in and running cfdisk I was able to see the remaining 220GB so I tried formatting them on a seperate ntfs partition hoping that windows would then be able to see it but no dice. Instead the computer wouldn't boot windows and got the blue screen of death. Loaded the linux disc back in, ran cfdisk and deleted the partition i had just made then rebooted to see if I had hosed the hard drive but no, windows then booted fine and was unchanged. By the way, BIOS shows the same approximately 32 GB.

After poking around system info I noticed an oddball in that the SMBIOS version is 2.2 which apparently from 1998 or so, I figure before hard drives were big enough for OS's to look for more than 32GB. I'm not certain that this is the issue with the mystery gigs but at any rate I have been unable to find any instructions as to updating the SMBIOS to a more current version.

I'm at a loss as to how to proceed with this machine to recover the missing gigs and any and all help/thoughts is greatly appreciated.

Gratefully,
J2

Many, many partitions! You are correct, in 98 I believe the max was 40-50 GB. I have run into the same problem with DOS programs. Most written before the AT hit the market are hard drive limited and will actually crash the computer if started! (Yeah, yeah, "Go back to sleep, ol' geezer")

So if I understand the advice, I should just make a bunch of small partitions around 30GB or so each? I didn't think of that (obviously) and sounds like a good idea, think I'll give that a shot.

I'm still curious as to why this computer (from around 2005) would have such an old smbios and I'm still wondering how to change/update/upgrade the smbios but for now a work around will do nicely.

Thanks lightninghorse.

Any other insights still appreciated purely for the benefit of understanding.

Windows XP should be able to see a partition larger than 32 GB. I have an XP machine w/ a 80 GB hdd and it has seen all 80 GB from day one.

Yes, but how old is YOUR computer, ffej010? It appears that the OP's is very old....maybe even had Win 98 on it to start with.

It all has to do with the drive geometry and the number of registers the BIOS supplies for sector mapping. Older MBs sometimes could be re-flashed with newer BIOSs to make them see larger drives. Since Windows XP employs a hardware abstraction layer (HAL), it relies on the BIOS to do the grunt work so it does not have to address the hardware dirctly as Linux would. It's time for an upgrade. As others have noted the only other solution is 9 32 Gb drives.

Try locating a newer BIOS version. If there is one available, you should be able to see *at least* 128GB or thereabouts, which would enable you to partition the drive into just two segments...

I deal a lot with old machines - mostly ThinkPad laptops - and anything newer than '00 will run larger hard drives (120GB +) with no sweat.

Good luck.

I seem to recall a bunch of WD hard drives for the Inter-Tel voicemails that were locked at 4GB even though the drives themselves were 20 or 40GB.