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WIN 2K does not recognize 250 GB HD

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by rbanner

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I HAVE A 250 GB HD WITH WIN 2000 INSTALLED ON IT. I UPGRADED THE BIOS AND STILL ONLY READS 20 GB HD. IF I VIEW INFO UNDER ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS, SYSTEM INFORMATION, COMPONENTS, STORAGE, AND DRIVES, IT READS THE DRIVE SIZE OF 250 GB, BUT THE FREE SPACE AND SIZE ONLY ADD UP TO 20 GB. IN ADDITION, I REVIEWED THE REGISTRY TO MAKE SURE IT READ EnableBigLba DWORD 0x1.
HOW DO I MAKE THIS OPERATING SYSTEM RECOGNIZE THE ENTIRE HD? HELP PLEASE

10 replies

by rbanner

Well, unfortunately, when I boot the computer and press the key to go into BIOS set up, I can't see it because the screen goes white and freezes. At this point, I can't even get to the BIOS screen. I was able to upgrade it by connecting to the Internet and letting it search for the correct upgrade on the GIGABYTE website.

by thechas

Often when you update the BIOS the storage register used for the BIOS settings in the CMOS change.

Start by performing a CMOS reset using the clear CMOS jumper on the motherboard.

You also may have lost the drive manufactures BIOS overlay utility when the BIOS updated.

While the NTFS file system that Windows 2000 uses can work with very large drives, the built in tools in Windows 2000 have drive size limitations.

Check with the hard drive manufacture and verify how to recover the drive utility partitioning.

I would back up any data files before working with the drive utilities. Just in case.

Chas

by wild biker bill

If you have a bootable floppy or CD and can get into either PowerQuest PartitionMagic, Acronis TrueImage, V-COM PartionCommander, or even FDISK, you should check to see if Windows somehow got installed into a 20 GB partition.

With either PartitionMagic, TrueImage, or PartitionCommander you can resize the partition to whatever size you want, up to occupying the whole disk. But I would only resize AFTER you have fixed the BIOS problems. Until then, all bets are off.

by rbanner

THANK YOU FOR THE SUGGESTIONS, BUT I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO CORRECT IT YET. I CLEARED CMOS, BUT I'M STILL UNABLE TO GET TO BIOS SET UP WHEN I BOOT THE COMPUTER. I DID CHECK IN WINDOWS (DISK MGMT} AND THE REMAINDER OF THE DRIVE IS UNALLOCATED. AS FAR AS GETTING TO FDISK OR THE OTHERS, I CAN'T GET THEIR EITHER. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

by wild biker bill

That is good - in Disk Management it sounds like you have in fact confirmed:
1. Your operating system sees the whole disk, correct? The space is there, your OS partition just isn't occupying it.
2. Your operating system is installed to just a 20 GB partition on it.

As to not being able to get to a bootable floppy or CDROM with Partition Management software....your choices are rapidly becoming

1. Either you get there OR
2. You reinstall the operating system.

In option #2 you should be able to see the first 128 GB of the drive, so install using all that you can initially see of the drive.

Then reinstall Service Pack 4. Among other things, this extends Win2K ability to see and manage drives larger than 128 GB.

The OS partition will still be 128 GB, but now you can create a partition of the remaining space, format it, and use it.

The thing that makes me very leery is not being able to get into the BIOS. That sounds like it became corrupted somehow.

by ic-it

Right-Click on the Unallocated space, Create a Partition (or Partitions), Then Right-Click again and format it.

by ic-it

under Disk Management. It may have only been formatted for the 20GB. The rest will be displayed as Unallocated. A quick way to get there; Right-Click My Computer and select Manage. Expand the menu tree and select Disk Management and view the drive.

As the others have stated if you have at least SP3 (preferable SP4) and an updated BIOS you should see the entire drive.

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