KT7A-RAID + 300GB Maxtor + Win98SE = no joy :(

The drive was aggressively priced; I had to have it.

I was fairly certain that my old Win98SE system wouldn't do the 300GB.
But I went to the Abit site and, after a few false starts, I managed to
flash my BIOS up to the 7N version. This is said to recognize drives
over 137GB.

Went into the BIOS and, sure enough, it saw that I had a 300GB drive
attached. (Oddly, the HighPoint controller _didn't_ see the whole drive.
shrug I attached to the 2nd IDE channel. The MaxBlast software didn't
see drives on the HighPoint anyway. :P ) On booting Windows for the
first time with 7N BIOS, it grabbed 3 new device drivers from the Win98
disc.

So anyway... the MaxBlast software balked at partitioning to 300GB! It
reported that -- based on an ATA-6 test, it said -- my version of
Windows couldn't go beyond 137GB. ????

Isn't that what the new drivers were about? (Though I admit I was
suspicious that such capabilities came with Win98SE. There are driver
files on the VIA site *but they don't say what they do*!)

N.B. -- The Win98 manual says on page 81:

The FAT32 file system has the folowing advantages over FAT16:

.. It allows a hard disk of up to 2 TB (yes! terabytes!) to be formatted
as a *single* drive, eliminating the need to partition the hard disk.

[Later edit: Just realized that MS is only claiming this capability for
*FAT32*, not for Windows98. GRRR!!!]

Well! How do I get my 300GB?! There *_MUST_* be a way! The BIOS knows
it. Win98 claims to know it. The MaxBlast software says that Windows
won't do it.

I've now partitioned/formatted to 137GB and have TWO entries in Windows
Explorer. TWO drive E:'s. I kid you not. And one of my startup items
IPFs on boot now. :P

On Wed, 06 Sep 2006 02:05:16 -0400, MalcolmO wrote:

Went into the BIOS and, sure enough, it saw that I had a 300GB drive
attached. (Oddly, the HighPoint controller _didn't_ see the whole drive.


You'd have to upgrade the HPT diver for it to see the drive. There are
bios versions with this already done floating around, or you can get
drivers from the Highpoint website and folow their instructions if there
are any.

So anyway... the MaxBlast software balked at partitioning to 300GB! It
reported that -- based on an ATA-6 test, it said -- my version of
Windows couldn't go beyond 137GB. ????

Never heard of maxblast, but I don't mormally run windows. I do have W98
installed and fdisk refuses to run here with a couple of 300GB drives
installed. WIn is on a 120G drive.

Isn't that what the new drivers were about? (Though I admit I was
suspicious that such capabilities came with Win98SE. There are driver
files on the VIA site *but they don't say what they do*!)

You got me. There's no support for W98 any longer.

Well! How do I get my 300GB?! There *_MUST_* be a way! The BIOS knows
it. Win98 claims to know it. The MaxBlast software says that Windows
won't do it.

Well, I can tell you how to partition it and format it, but I can't tell
you if it'll work with W98. Get a live Linux CD something like knoppix and
boot it, open a terminal and type su and hit enter. Hit enter again for
password. now run fdisk /dev/hdX , where X is the drives real location
a,b,c,d drive. Contoller 0 drive 0 is a, 0-1 is b, 1-0 is c, and 1-1 is d.
And it is case sensitive. Type m for menu. Partiton drive, to fat32, make
sure you write the new partiton table and exit. Now use mkfs (make file
system) to format the drive. That should do it. DOn't know what w98 will
do with it though.

I've now partitioned/formatted to 137GB and have TWO entries in Windows
Explorer. TWO drive E:'s. I kid you not. And one of my startup items
IPFs on boot now. :P

Don't you think it's about time you upgrade your OS? Any current Linux
version that you can dl for free would work just fine.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

MalcolmO wrote:
|
| The drive was aggressively priced; I had to have it.
|
| I was fairly certain that my old Win98SE system wouldn't do the
| 300GB. ... snip

You're correct .. Windows 98SE will never do 300GB. It'll never do greater
than 137GB.

The reason is that Microsoft never updated their drivers for 48-bit LBA in
Windows 98SE.

Windows 98SE only implements 28-bit LBA, which only has enough address bits
to achieve approximately 137GB (decimal). You need the extra address bits
provided by 48-bit LBA to achieve the theoretical maximum of 2 terebytes
that FAT32 will address.

Partitioning the drive with Maxblast might solve the problem for you. Read
up on it on Maxtor's website. You won't have a single partition, but should
be able to go forward with three partitions on the drive.

When you finally do upgrade to a supported OS, you'll need to delete the
partitions in order to remove Maxblast from them.

Incidentally, I've modded the latest KT7_A9 BIOS for that board to support
greater then 137GB on the Highpoint controller. I've picked up the drivers
and BIOS that support 48-bit LBA from Highpoint's website and changed out
the 28-bit LBA Highpoint BIOS in Abit's release. To achieve this, you need
a 48-bit capable OS as well (Windows 2000 SP3 or later or Windows XP SP1 or
later .. and virtually all Linux builds).

You can read up on my mod and pick up the BIOS (along with a link to
Highpoint's version 2.351 drivers) at my personal web space:
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jefn/kt7.html

Jef

You're correct .. Windows 98SE will never do 300GB. It'll never do greater
than 137GB.

The reason is that Microsoft never updated their drivers for 48-bit LBA in
Windows 98SE.

Wouldn't the VIA chipset drivers (including the IDE/ATA driver) help
this? The OP didn't mention loading those drivers so, here's the
link:

http://www.viaarena.com/Driver/VIA_4in1_443v.zip

Incidentally, I've modded the latest KT7_A9 BIOS for that board to support
greater then 137GB on the Highpoint controller. I've picked up the drivers
and BIOS that support 48-bit LBA from Highpoint's website and changed out
the 28-bit LBA Highpoint BIOS in Abit's release. To achieve this, you need
a 48-bit capable OS as well (Windows 2000 SP3 or later or Windows XP SP1 or
later .. and virtually all Linux builds).

You can read up on my mod and pick up the BIOS (along with a link to
Highpoint's version 2.351 drivers) at my personal web space:
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jefn/kt7.html

Jef

I would definitely suggest flashing to one of the above bios's on this
site OP, however MAKE SURE you flash the proper one for your
motherboard! And also take care to run the latest driver from
highpoint (last I knew was 3.51, matches the 3.51 HPT bios integrated
into the bios's on the website from Jef). Flashing to the latest
bios/HPT bios, loading the 3.51 HPT drivers and hanging the drive off
the HPT controller just might do the trick. However, I really don't
play with 98 anymore (can't you at least run win2k? lol)

Good luck OP.

-GV

On Wed, 06 Sep 2006 09:29:53 +0000, Wes Newell wrote:

Well, I can tell you how to partition it and format it, but I can't tell
you if it'll work with W98. Get a live Linux CD something like knoppix and
boot it, open a terminal and type su and hit enter. Hit enter again for
password. now run fdisk /dev/hdX , where X is the drives real location
a,b,c,d drive. Contoller 0 drive 0 is a, 0-1 is b, 1-0 is c, and 1-1 is d.
And it is case sensitive. Type m for menu. Partiton drive, to fat32, make
sure you write the new partiton table and exit. Now use mkfs (make file
system) to format the drive. That should do it. DOn't know what w98 will
do with it though.

If it's just the partition size W98 doesn't like, partiton the drives into
3 100GB partions. You should be able to then format them in W98 I would
assume.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

Try this place :
PS Win98 does not support drives this large

http://www.48bitlba.com/

and specific for win98 and lba
http://www.48bitlba.com/win98.htm

--
Jon Hildrum
DTS MVP

www.hildrum.com
"MalcolmO" wrote in message
...
The drive was aggressively priced; I had to have it.

I was fairly certain that my old Win98SE system wouldn't do the 300GB. But
I went to the Abit site and, after a few false starts, I managed to flash
my BIOS up to the 7N version. This is said to recognize drives over 137GB.

Went into the BIOS and, sure enough, it saw that I had a 300GB drive
attached. (Oddly, the HighPoint controller _didn't_ see the whole drive.
shrug I attached to the 2nd IDE channel. The MaxBlast software didn't
see drives on the HighPoint anyway. :P ) On booting Windows for the first
time with 7N BIOS, it grabbed 3 new device drivers from the Win98 disc.

So anyway... the MaxBlast software balked at partitioning to 300GB! It
reported that -- based on an ATA-6 test, it said -- my version of Windows
couldn't go beyond 137GB. ????

Isn't that what the new drivers were about? (Though I admit I was
suspicious that such capabilities came with Win98SE. There are driver
files on the VIA site *but they don't say what they do*!)

N.B. -- The Win98 manual says on page 81:

The FAT32 file system has the folowing advantages over FAT16:

. It allows a hard disk of up to 2 TB (yes! terabytes!) to be formatted
as a *single* drive, eliminating the need to partition the hard disk.

[Later edit: Just realized that MS is only claiming this capability for
*FAT32*, not for Windows98. GRRR!!!]

Well! How do I get my 300GB?! There *_MUST_* be a way! The BIOS knows it.
Win98 claims to know it. The MaxBlast software says that Windows won't do
it.

I've now partitioned/formatted to 137GB and have TWO entries in Windows
Explorer. TWO drive E:'s. I kid you not. And one of my startup items IPFs
on boot now. :P

Jon_Hildrum wrote:

Try this place :
PS Win98 does not support drives this large

http://www.48bitlba.com/

and specific for win98 and lba
http://www.48bitlba.com/win98.htm

Good one. :-)

Qed.

Bird Janitor® wrote:
MalcolmO wrote:
|
| The drive was aggressively priced; I had to have it.
|
| I was fairly certain that my old Win98SE system wouldn't do the
| 300GB. ... snip

You're correct .. Windows 98SE will never do 300GB. It'll never do greater
than 137GB.

Something like http://www.siig.com/product.asp?catid=103&pid=437 will
take care of that, no?

Sparkle wrote:
|
| Something like http://www.siig.com/product.asp?catid=103&pid=437
| will take care of that, no?

The add-on card you reference will make no difference.

The BIOS for the KT7A-RAID board has been updated in the most recent
releases to support 48-bit LBA.

The BIOS for the add-on card you have referenced also supports 48-bit LBA.

What's missing here is support from Windows 98SE for 48-bit LBA. FAT32 is
limited to 28-bit LBA in Windows 98SE (and in Windows ME). 28 address bits
only allows for addressability of about 137GB (decimal) of disk space.

48-bit LBA provides additional address bits to break the 137GB barrier.

The problem here is not the motherboard .. it's the operating system.
Microsoft never released updates to Windows 98SE to support 48-bit LBA.
Both the motherboard BIOS *and* the OS must support 48-bit LBA for the 137GB
barrier to be broken.

Jef

Bird Janitor® wrote:

....snip...

The problem here is not the motherboard .. it's the operating system.
Microsoft never released updates to Windows 98SE to support 48-bit LBA.
Both the motherboard BIOS *and* the OS must support 48-bit LBA for the 137GB
barrier to be broken.

sniffle sniffle sniffle

Sad, what with wht_bx 500GB HDs going for $200USD, or less.

Qed.