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
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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

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.

No can do, Wes. There's not enough bits in the standard driver to index
far enough into the disk to do the 2nd and 3rd partitions.

Should be able to do the partitioning with BootIt NG.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"MalcolmO" wrote in message
...
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.

No can do, Wes. There's not enough bits in the standard driver to index
far enough into the disk to do the 2nd and 3rd partitions.

Should be able to do the partitioning with BootIt NG.

Can do it with the software that comes with the drive. But only if the
driver supports it, which the Miniport does.

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

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.

As information, I'm not using the HPT at all. In fact, when I went to
the 7N BIOS, I had the drive on the HPT and it _still_ only saw 137GB
but the main IDE controller saw the full drive just fine. So I went with
that and HPT went back burner for me.

I've been told (and Jef has noted) that HPT didn't support it til
v2.something and the recommendation is to pick up the newest one. But
I haven't bothered yet. I'll just have the one HD in that machine.

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.

As information, I'm not using the HPT at all. In fact, when I went to
the 7N BIOS, I had the drive on the HPT and it _still_ only saw 137GB
but the main IDE controller saw the full drive just fine. So I went with
that and HPT went back burner for me.

I've been told (and Jef has noted) that HPT didn't support it til
v2.something and the recommendation is to pick up the newest one. But
I haven't bothered yet. I'll just have the one HD in that machine.

Right, the bios(es) directly from Abit will NOT have the latest HPT
bios included in them. I believe it was Jef (?) who posted a link
with the latest bios AND the latest HPT bios INTEGRATED to both give
your board the A9 bios for the BOARD and the 2.351 bios version for
the HPT Controller. Hope that helps clarify that a bit. Foolish/lazy
on Abit's part to not update the HPT controller bios in their last
bios for the board IMO.

In regards to the chipset driver I linked, I was just trying to make
your life easier, yes it's a conglomerate of drivers, but that's the
point. They help 98 (and other OS's for that matter) figure out what
to DO with the chipset in question, and I highly suggest loading the
package rather than piecemeal it.

-GV