BIOS Limitations

Question

I've added a 120GB second hard drive to my Dimension T500 as storage. It reads it ok but it doesn't read the full drive. The Seagate software that came with it says my BIOS has size limitations. Just before upgrading from Win 98se to Win 2K I flashed the BIOS from the original AO? to the A11 it said it flashed successfully and everything else appears to be working just fine. I can add to and access the second drive just fine but I can't get it to show past 33GB everytime I try and partition it.

Is there some way to verify absolutely that the BIOS update did infact go through?

And am I right in understanding that the A11 should support the 120GB drive?

The Seagate software is instructing me to use their (DDO) Dynamic Drive Overlay. I've had problems with that previously and would rather not do that again.

Thank you Alan

volcano11 · Answer

Try posting your question in the Dimension - Hard Drive forum where there is a lot more traffic and someone that has installed a 120 GB drive in the XPS-T series is more likely to see it. As far as I know, there is no BIOS limitation for the T-series for drives less than 137 Gb in size.

Steve

Duboisx4 · Answer

Ok thank you

Duboisx4 · Answer

Well it's easy enough to recheck. I'll see what it shows. I know that I've not made any setting changes sense I've originally installed the hard drive. Unless I had it wrong from the start.

TechnoHound · Answer

I would check the bios version and make sure you are running the most current version for that particular model.  The bios has the potential to only recognize certain harddrive sizes.

Duboisx4 · Answer

Like I pointed out in my original post I did down load the A11 BIOS which is the latest for my computer. And it said completed. Is there a way to verify for certain that it did in deed reflash?

volcano11 · Answer

Go into the BIOS setup program by pressing the Delete key immediately after you start the computer.  The BIOS version will be shown at the top of the screen. Steve

TechnoHound · Answer

Bios A10 was the version that gave the system support for drives over 64GB.  At least the release notes state that in the readme.

Duboisx4 · Answer

Well it definately says A11. Does A11 support a 120 GB drive?

Duboisx4 · Answer

If the jumper you're talking about is on the hard drive then no there is no jumpers on it. This Seagate is set up so that with no jumpers on it it is a slave drive. If the jumpers you're talking about are somewhere else then could you tell me where to look?

I've got the drive formatted to FAT 32.

Duboisx4 · Answer

Also I just rebooted and in the BIOS it show 120000mb for that drive. So does what does this mean?

Duboisx4 · Answer

Maybe I didn't understand right. Doesn't the A11 maintain the ability to read the larger hard drives just as the A10?  Or if it doesn't can I go backwards with the BIOS flash and use the A10?

volcano11 · Answer

Dell sold these systems with 80 Gb drives. If 80 Gb drives will work, then anything up to 137 Gb will work. Are you sure that you do not have a size limiting jumper set? Does the full capacity show up in the BIOS setup program? When you tried to partition the drive under Windows 2K, did you choose to create a FAT32 partition or an NTFS partition?

Steve

volcano11 · Answer

120,000 Mb = 120 Gb, so it is not a problem with the BIOS. I don't know about Windows 2K, but Windows XP, which is based on Windows 2K will not allow you to create a FAT32 partition larger than 32 Gb. If this limitation is also present in Windows 2K, then it would explain your problem.

Steve

Message Edited by volcano11 on 02-25-2004 10:23 PM

TechnoHound · Answer

That means that the entire amount of the drive is being seen 120,000MB is equal to 120GB.

TechnoHound · Answer

Go to this link and it should explain some of what I am talking about.   http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q314463

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BIOS Limitations

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