Hi David, Thanks for the info; if I purchase any additional very large drives, I know I'll have to be very careful, and that I may not be as fortunate as I was with this first obsolete system... ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Mandala" To: Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 12:02 AM Subject: Re: Big (> 137GB) Drive Support > The BIOS just hung as long as the drive was turned on. Once I set the > BIOS to no drive in the slow the machine booted. > > As to the age of the machine it's not too old, it's an ATX MB dual proc > PII 400 MHz. I bought it new when the PII 400's were release. (Paid > through the nose as I recall.) AMI BIOS if I recall, I've not rebooted > the system in a while so I don't remember the exact age or BIOS > revision. I'd guess around 1998 but I really don't remember. Also it > can not handle a 512M stick of RAM either. > > On Wed, 2002-11-06 at 21:06, Darrell Shandrow wrote: > > Hi David, > > > > Just for purposes of reference, how old was this computer that would flat > > refuse to boot the 120 GB hard drive? Do you know any particular reason why > > this happened? Which BIOS did it run? I have a late-1997 to early-1998 > > ventage machine on which I will be installing RH 8.0 soon, and I'd like to > > have an idea what I'll be able to get away with; again, nothing fancy like > > dual-booting... > > > > Thanks. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "David Mandala" > > To: > > Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 8:14 PM > > Subject: Re: Big (> 137GB) Drive Support > > > > > > > You thoughts are for the most part correct. However, it is possible for > > > some machine to refuse to boot on big hard drives, in that case even a > > > small partition will not work. > > > > > > For example when I hacked my TIVO's I put a 120G HD in my old computer > > > to prep it for the TIVO, the machine would not boot until I turned off > > > that HD in the bios completely! Since Linux does not use the PC's BIOS > > > for anything past the initial boot once I was in Linux all was fine, > > > Linux saw the HD and I was able to prep it. But I would not have been > > > able to ever boot from in in my PC. > > > > > > The Linux BIOS project is quite nice, if you are using a mother board > > > that they support you can get a sub 5 second boot time into Linux vs the > > > up to 1 minute boot time of some PC's. > > > > > > Cheers, > > > > > > Davidm > > > > > > On Wed, 2002-11-06 at 20:02, Darrell Shandrow wrote: > > > > Hi Fritz, > > > > > > > > Drive geometry and how it relates to a system's BIOS is still something > > > > which I have a bit of difficulty getting my mind around. I know that a > > > > motherboard with an obsolete BIOS will not work with modern very large > > hard > > > > drives, and that various limits in cylinders, heads and sectors values > > in > > > > BIOS have resulted in size limitations, such as the 8.4 GB limit. > > > > > > > > But, I think some of this can be gotten around through the operating > > system. > > > > For example, I installed a 20 GB hard drive into a 1997 ventage system, > > > > performed auto-detection on the BIOS, then successfully installed RedHat > > > > Linux 7.2 onto that drive. I thought I'd run into some sort of > > BIOS/drive > > > > size limit, and have to make multiple partitions, but that turned out to > > be > > > > unnecessary. I was able to have a small boot partition at the beginning > > of > > > > the drive, followed by the large partition (somewhere around 18 or 19 > > GB) > > > > and a swap partition, with no trouble at all! Note that this is a > > > > single-boot system; only Linux has been installed. There's nothing > > fancy > > > > happening like dual-booting. > > > > > > > > From the research I have done, here's what I think is happening. The > > BIOS > > > > is auto-detecting the drive, and coming up with CHS for a smaller drive > > size > > > > than the 20 GB limit, even after doing some sort of LBA translation. > > > > Unfortunately, since I can't see the BIOS screen (that happens long > > before > > > > the OS loads, and thus no screen reader is running) I can't tell you the > > CHS > > > > figures the BIOS is generating. The system then proceeds to boot from > > the > > > > hard disk's boot sector at the beginning of the disk. Since that points > > to > > > > Linux, the Linux kernel loads. The Kernel is in the boot partition, > > which > > > > is also the first partition on the drive, so this fits well within > > whatever > > > > the BIOS drive size limit would be. At that point, the Linux kernel > > takes > > > > over disk access functions, and is smart enough to work around the size > > > > limitations. Am I in the right ballpark on this? Additional > > information > > > > would be great. > > > > > > > > Thanks. > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > > From: "Fritz" > > > > To: "PLUG-Discuss" > > > > Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 10:22 AM > > > > Subject: Big (> 137GB) Drive Support > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello, > > > > > > > > > > Does anyone know the status of the support for the new > > > > > big (greater than 137GB) IDE drives that are starting > > > > > to appear? I would imagine there are prerequisites > > > > > such as a fairly new mobo, BIOS updates, etc. > > > > > > > > > > Do most of these drives (e.g. Western-Digital, Maxtor) > > > > > include a controller card in their "boxed retail" > > > > > versions (or do they rely on the mobo IDE controller)? > > > > > > > > > > Reply to list ... TIA. > > > > > > > > > > Fritz > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > > > > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > > > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > > > > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > > > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > > > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > > > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > -- > > > David IS Mandala > > > gpg fingerprint 8932 E7EF CCF5 1B8C 1B5C A92E C678 795E 45B2 D952 > > > Phoenix, AZ (480) 460-7546 HP, (602) 321-8277 CP > > > http://www.them.com/~davidm/ > > > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > -- > David IS Mandala > gpg fingerprint 8932 E7EF CCF5 1B8C 1B5C A92E C678 795E 45B2 D952 > Phoenix, AZ (480) 460-7546 HP, (602) 321-8277 CP > http://www.them.com/~davidm/ > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss