Windows Does Not See Full Drive

I've installed a 120 gig Seagate drive into an older HP computer. I
partitioned the drive as follows:

c: 16 gig primary - active
d: 25 gig logical
e: 25 gig
f: 25 gig
g: 24 gig

I can run a chkdsk and a scandsk on all of these in DOS. Windows 98,
however, can only see the C and the D drives. In Windows explorer, any drive
other than C or D gives the error, "X:\ is not accessible. A device attached
to the system is not functioning". If I open a DOS box, trying to read the
drive gives a "General failure reading drive X". If I then restart in DOS, I
am able to read the drive.

It is my understanding that Windows 98 can see a drive up to 137 gig. I
don't want to use a DDO (ontrack, etc). I know I can limit the drive to 32
gig if I must. My thinking is if the drive can be read in DOS and the newer
version of FDISK can see the partitions then I don't have a BIOS issue -- why
do I have a Windows issue? All help is appreciated!

I suspect you have an Award BIOS and, if so, see if there is a BIOS upgrade
on the HP web site. If you elect to update the BIOS, I suggest your
computer be running off from an UPS as a fluctuation in power can cause the
BIOS update to go south.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Tom Lisk" Tom wrote in message
...
I've installed a 120 gig Seagate drive into an older HP computer. I
partitioned the drive as follows:

c: 16 gig primary - active
d: 25 gig logical
e: 25 gig
f: 25 gig
g: 24 gig

I can run a chkdsk and a scandsk on all of these in DOS. Windows 98,
however, can only see the C and the D drives. In Windows explorer, any
drive
other than C or D gives the error, "X:\ is not accessible. A device
attached
to the system is not functioning". If I open a DOS box, trying to read
the
drive gives a "General failure reading drive X". If I then restart in
DOS, I
am able to read the drive.

It is my understanding that Windows 98 can see a drive up to 137 gig. I
don't want to use a DDO (ontrack, etc). I know I can limit the drive to
32
gig if I must. My thinking is if the drive can be read in DOS and the
newer
version of FDISK can see the partitions then I don't have a BIOS issue --
why
do I have a Windows issue? All help is appreciated!

Start the computer in Safe mode, then go to "Control Panel", "System",
"Device Manager" and remove the entries from the "Disk drives" and
"Hard disk controllers" sections. Then restart normally. You may be
prompted for your Windows 98 CD.

Ben

"Tom Lisk" Tom wrote in message ...
I've installed a 120 gig Seagate drive into an older HP computer. I
partitioned the drive as follows:

c: 16 gig primary - active
d: 25 gig logical
e: 25 gig
f: 25 gig
g: 24 gig

I can run a chkdsk and a scandsk on all of these in DOS. Windows 98,
however, can only see the C and the D drives. In Windows explorer, any drive
other than C or D gives the error, "X:\ is not accessible. A device attached
to the system is not functioning". If I open a DOS box, trying to read the
drive gives a "General failure reading drive X". If I then restart in DOS, I
am able to read the drive.

It is my understanding that Windows 98 can see a drive up to 137 gig. I
don't want to use a DDO (ontrack, etc). I know I can limit the drive to 32
gig if I must. My thinking is if the drive can be read in DOS and the newer
version of FDISK can see the partitions then I don't have a BIOS issue -- why
do I have a Windows issue? All help is appreciated!

Ron & Ben,

Thank you for your replies! I checked for an updated BIOS, no joy. This
machine uses Phoenix 4.06 BIOS with an Intel BX chipset. I was surprised to
find the BIOS itself showed the drive to be 64 gig. So I tried partitioning
so that the E drive was in the space between 32 gig and kept under 64 gig.
Again, worked fine in DOS but still could not be seen by Windows 98.

I decided finally to just make a C and a D drive keeping under 32 gig. This
machine belongs to my niece who goes to school about 2 hours away from me.
Stability is important or Uncle Tom gets the call!

Ben, I wasn't able to try your suggestion as I had to return the machine
yesterday. I will attempt it the next time I have my hands on it.

From a purely academic standpoint, I'd still like to understand the problem.
At one time I had a machine of this class with the Award BIOS. When I tried
to install a drive over 32 gig, the machine did not acknowledge it. I had to
install the 32 gig limit jumper until I was able to purchase a Promise
controller card. This machine sees the drive, is able to format the drive
and yet Windows will not read anything over 32 gig. Just doesn't make sense
to me.

Again, thank you for your help!

Tom