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Bios won't recognize true HDD capacity.

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6 replies

by jacklbrt

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I recently replaced an old 4gb secondary HDD with a newer 160GB HDD (Samsung SP1604N/R).
Both WinXP and the BIOS (Phoenix Award) show the HDD capacity as 33 GB!!
Why?? I have swapped HDD's many other times on other machines without ever seeing this. My primary HDD is 80 GB so I would think that the BIOS would recognize at least the same capacity. I do have the secondary HDD on the second channel with the DVD/RW drive the same way that I had the previous dive hooked up.
I'm sure that someone out there has seen this happen before and I would appreciate any assistance or insight that you could provide.

6 replies

by maniacman

Go to the motherboard manufacturers website and see if there is a BIOS flash update for your system. Also, I cannot overstate how important it is to thoroughly read the flashing instructions to make sure you have downloaded and are applying the proper flash update for your system. If you make a mistake, which I hope you won't, your motherboard will be toast and you'll have to replace it, so please read the instructions thoroughly before you proceed.

by rob miners

As Manicman says your Bios may not support it. Something to check though. Did you use a jumper to se it as Slave? If you did you have locked it at 32GB. Try removing the jumper. If it gets picked up your Bios will support it. If it dosn't you can either Flash the Bios that may or may not help or leave the jumper on.

by jacklbrt

I experimented with a couple of jumper settings and got one to work. I really did not want to flash the bios.
Thanks

by rob miners

mark the answer as helpful as it may help someone else.

Rob

by oh smeg

If updating the BIOS doesn't solve the problem you have 2 options replace the M'Board or use a PCI Controller Card for that big HDD.

Sorry there is no other option available. Just a word of warning here as you can trash a M'Board with a faulty BIOS Flash I now replace the BIOS Chip with a new one with the latest version of BIOS burnt to it from BIOSMAN Inc. They are very good and fast and for the few $ involved it's not worth taking the risk on loosing a M'Board with a Faulty BIOS Flash.

Also check the jumpers on the IDE Drive as it's possible that the drive is limited in size by a jumper. This was quite common with IBM Drives but some others can be limited to around 30 or 40 GIGS to allow their use in older systems.

Col

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