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NT 4 (compatability issue Pentium 4 PC)

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by mmci2002 1 view

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Can anyone give me more information on the compatibility issue surrounding running NT 4.0 on a Pentium 4 system (512 RAM, 20GB hard drive).

The situation is such:
install NT 4.0 (partitioning at 4GB)
I apply the service pack 6 and I try to partition the remaining hard drive (15GB)it fails on reboot asking me to insert a startup disk.
I have tested this with two different hard drives and I receive the same results.

HELP!

13 replies

by cavedweller

It sounds like a BIOS issue. If the BIOS doesn't detect the full capacity of the drive you will have problems. Check with the motherboard manufacturer and if there is an update available, install it.

Some drives come with BIOS extensions, a utility you use to prep the drive before installing the OS. These usually work OK but some don't support NTFS boot partitions.

A better option is to install a modern IDE interface card that supports large drives and disable the on-board interface.
I have used both methods on old machines with good results.

by mmci2002

I have heard this is a compatibility issue with NT 4.0 surrounding the Pentium 4 Architecture. I am looking to see if anyone has worked around the architecture issue.

I can install NT 4.0 with no problems, as long as I don't partition the remaining drive.

by gigelul

Hi,
You made the remaining space (15Gb) as extended partition and then logical drive?
When your system failed how is boot.ini? And also you tried to boot with a bootable NT floppy disk?
I don't heard about a compatibility issue.

by tracertheart

Hi,

Use FDISK and Partition the entire disk as Primary partition and then install install NT4.o in NTFS File system.

See your Hardware supports otherwise Upgrade you BIOS Software from the manufacture Web site.

or Install NT 4.0 in 4GB NTFSPartition.APply Service pack 4 instead of SP6 then create a logical drive from the remaining space

by lordinfidel

I'm going with poster #1 on this. Check for a Bios update.

There are no issues that I have ever heard of with regards to P4 and NT4.

I have had NT4 installed on a P4 system with a 200 gig array with no issues.

I am also confused when you say "start up disk". What is asking you for a startup disk?

You should see 1 of 2 messages, unable to locate OS, please insert a system disk or unable to find ntldr.

What screen does it get to? Does it ever get to the black text screen for anOS choice? Or is it stuck in Bios.

What kind of drive is it, IDE or SCSI?

Do not use Fdisk to partition an NT4 machine unless you are dual booting for some odd reason.

Let the OS format the primary partition as NTFS.

When you used disk mgr to format, what steps did you format. Did you install SP6 immediately after the install, before any other drivers?

Did you reboot after installing the SP?

by isys

What are you using to do the additional partition? It should be disk manager. If you are using something else, that might be the cause of your problem.

by vh_s

You are using an IDE drive.

Pentium 4 system IDE controller is not recognized by NT4, since it use a new system archictecture. That's why you are having difficulties to reclaim the remainder of the harddisk space.

You should get the IDE driverfirst, so that it would recognize the full capacity of the harddisk.

So the sequence of installation, to my opinion should be (I'm not so sure?): application of SP3/4 (new ATAPI), installation of IDE driver and application of SP6.

In case of SCSI harddisk array, there will be no problem, since it is not really dependent to the on-board IDE controller.

vh_s

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