Problem: Overcoming the 8 gig limit in Windows 98

OK, I am fairly sure that I know the answer to this but I can't be sure. Is there a way to overcome the 8 gig limit in Windows 98SE? I did a fresh install on a 20 gig hard drive and it only reads 8 gig.

My suspicion is that I must upgrade the BIOS but that basically scares the living hell out of me. I have never done that before and I know that if it is unsuccessful that I have a new paperweight. I will try to post as much information as I can about the system. (This is not my system but my youngest son's and my ex is breathing down my neck to get this fixed)

System:

HP Pavilion 4540 with a 433Hz Intel Celeron processor and 128 meg of RAM.

The hard drive that I am trying to install is a 20 Gig Seagate Barracuda ATA IV Model Number: ST320011A

The Intel Chipset (I am a little proud of myself here... I did some heavy surfing) is a 440ZX/100

My BIOS is Phoenix Technologies LTD 1.09


OK... That is all I can think of to post. I am afraid that I am going to have to flash the BIOS and as I said... that scares me. So... are there any utilities that can help me backup the current BIOS before I install a new one? Also, where can I get a new BIOS? I really do not want to have to pay for an upgrade if I can help it.

Or, is there a registry patch or utility to make Windows 98SE 'see' the total drive?

That is it for now. Thanks everyone!

 

Crap... I didn't give the right information for the BIOS

It is: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0.C

 

You can download the DiscWizard utility from Seagate:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/drivers/discwiz.html

You want the "Starter Edition", NOT the 32-bit version for Windows, unless you're installing TWO harddrives, one of which already has Windows loaded. Since you've indicated that this is a SINGLE drive, not an extra drive being added to a Windows system, you want the Starter Edition of DiscWizard.

Read this page for more details:

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/use_dwse.html

Trust me; this can get somewhat complicated if you don't read and follow directions well, so take your time and you should be fine. I do hope you have some blank floppy disks on hand...

 

If I read this utility correctly, this means I must reformat and start all over?

That really wasn't on my list of things to do this evening.

I mean, if I have to, I will do so but there isn't another way?

 

Actually, there ISN'T another way. Even if you happen to find an updated BIOS to flash the system with, there is no easy way to incorporate the remaining 12GB of space on the harddrive into the existing partition. Of course, you COULD buy a copy of something like Partition Magic, which MIGHT be able to merge the two partitions without losing all the data, though even that would be risky. As much as I like PM, I've seen some catastrophic data losses over the years for no explainable reason; I think you'd be better off keeping the $75 in your pocket.

Here's a suggestion for re-installing Win98 when the time comes:

Insert the Win98 CD into the drive, reboot the system, then type this at the DOS-prompt:

SETUP /IE /IV

and press Enter. Those "switches" (/IE and /IV) will save you some time during the installation of Win98. The /IE switch tells Windows NOT to waste time creating ANOTHER Emergency Boot Disk, which will save you a few minutes, and the /IV switch tells Windows to turn off the stupid advertising, which only slows everything down; that will save you a few more minutes. Using those switches, you should be able to install Win98 in less than 30 minutes on that particular system.

The truth is, now that you've already created the partition, it has to be "UNcreated" (OK, it has to be DESTROYED), so the disk drive overlay (DDO) program can rewrite some sectors on the harddrive, which will "fool" the old BIOS into using the entire 20 GB. The BIOS will still only "see" an 8 GB drive, but the DDO software will manage all of the extra space, which will allow your son full use of the Seagate drive.

Wish I had better news for you, but once the DDO software is installed, it will re-write parts of the Master Boot Record, and that will completely wipe out the existing 8 GB drive parameters the BIOS can read. As I mentioned, it will replace those parameters with ones that will allow full use of the drive in that system, BUT at the expense of any existing data on the harddrive, which means you get to reinstall Win98 all over again!

OK, so I'm getting punchy now; I realize you probably had other plans for your time tonight, but I have no doubt your son will appreciate your hard work and buy you a beer someday...

Good luck with this; all dads everywhere are in this with you...

 

I have to admit to being confused, I have used and formated up to 135 Gig on Win98se. I've actually done more, but I was screwing up then. The only time I haven't is with older motherboard, which I installed a external disk controller in to use a 100 Gig in.

Is the 8 gig a limitation of the BIOS on this motherboard?

 

You've nailed it; that BIOS was written back in the days when harddrives had just crossed the 528MB (or thereabouts) barrier. The advent of EIDE helped solve the problem of addressing more than 2GB of space; Microsoft introduced FAT32 with Win95OSR2, and FAT32X with the release of Win98. In all the commotion, the lowly BIOS limitations were almost an afterthought. When 1.6GB drives were considered HUGE, an 8GB drive was something most people couldn't afford.

To workaround the limitations of the existing BIOS versions, you had to upgrade the BIOS (if one was available), or install a Disk Drive Overlay (DDO) program, which basically works as I described in my previous post. The DDO "tells" the BIOS that it is working with an 8GB drive, then intercepts the disk reads and writes. The DDO tracks where the data is ACTUALLY stored on the drive, but all of that is invisible to the BIOS.

Of course, the big system makers of the day (Gateway, Compaq, Packard-Bell, HP, and others) didn't want to release upgraded BIOS versions for the units they'd already sold, even if the BIOS chips were capable of managing the larger volumes. They MUCH preferred selling people a whole new computer...

Truthfully, many of the stone-age BIOS chips were NOT upgradeable; they only held 128KB internally, so they really couldn't be flashed with the new drive parameters, which required more room for the data tables.

Hope this answers your questions; I admit I've actually skimmed over a lot of the details, but with any luck, you now know all you need (or WANT) to know about the subject.

 

I want to thank you for your help and for all the information. I figured it would come to this and I was just hoping that I could skirt the obvious and maybe do some fancy footwork... Oh well, I am a lazy SOB some days.

I would like to flash a BIOS one day though... maybe I will buy the trench coat tomorrow.