Member Avatar for Paladine

Anyone have an idea of what I missed here?

I have Pentium 2 - 233MMX system
512RAM, Asus P2L97 Motherboard.

It had a 2.1 GB Maxtor HD with Windows 95 on it, but I have replaced it with a fujitsu 8.1 GB HD (from my Server System - so it works), and now the hard drive won't boot.

The system goes through POST, and looks like it is about to boot into windows startup, but nothing. No error. Just stalls with the Hardware CMOS List and a blinking cursor.

I can boot from the CD, and Windows 2000 can see the drive, format it, and copy the setup files for installation to it, but on reboot there is no booting from the hard drive?

Is there an issue with the hardware? That is my assumption, but what could it be.... GB limit for Hard Drive?

Thanks in advance

  • 5 Contributors
  • 11 Replies
  • 212 Views
  • 1 Week Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

Generated

Most likely cause: the motherboard BIOS is hitting the old INT13h/CHS addressing limit (the well‑known ~8.4GB barrier), so the BIOS can’t consistently access the disk’s early sectors where the MBR/boot code lives. That behavior fits ’s symptom (setup files copied by Windows 2000 but the machine stalls at a blinking cursor after reboot). Modern translation/LBA support fixes this, but older BIOSes just stop being able to boot drives past their addressable area. (flylib.com)

Practical checks before assuming the drive is bad: confirm the BIOS actually reports the drive and the reported size (enter CMOS setup, set the channel to Auto, look for an LBA/Large/Translation option). Verify the drive is powered, the IDE cable and master/slave jumpers are correct, and that the primary partition is marked active. Windows setup can format and copy files from the CD even when the BIOS can’t later reach the boot sectors — that’s why the installer appears to work and then the machine won’t boot. Basic IDE/config checks are the first troubleshooting step. (flylib.com)

If BIOS update is possible, that’s the clean fix (ASUS released P2L97 BIOS revisions addressing larger-drive support). If you cannot or will not flash the board, two common workarounds are: 1) create a small primary partition wholly within the BIOS‑addressable region (install the OS there and mark it active), or 2) use a translation/overlay product (OnTrack/EZ‑Drive), remembering overlays put code in the MBR and can complicate later installs or multi‑OS setups. Partitioning the front of the disk for the boot volume is the least risky path if flashing fails. (asus.com)

Notes and cautions: flashing the wrong BIOS image or using an incorrect flasher can brick the board—only use the exact P2L97 update for your revision and follow ASUS instructions. Drive overlays can recover access but may make future OS installs harder. Given ’s report that a 4GB drive worked when the larger one didn’t, the “small boot partition” approach is a reasonable, low‑risk solution.

Recommended Answers

All 11 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

so did you go into bios and audo detect harddrive older computers need to do ths .

Member Avatar for Zachery

that would be my best guess, you didnt update your bios settings so the pc is not decting the hd to boot from it as it still thinks its the older hd

Member Avatar for feigned

that would be my best guess, you didnt update your bios settings so the pc is not decting the hd to boot from it as it still thinks its the older hd

Actually, you don't have to enter the BIOS for the system to recognize a new drive, if the setting for that channel/primary:secondary is set to Auto. That's the default setting for all systems.

Member Avatar for caperjack

In a perfect World !

Member Avatar for feigned

In a perfect World !

:lol:

It's the default setting for most BIOS' though!

Member Avatar for Zachery

not from more than a few years ago, alot of OLD pcs didnt have this :) enabled by default

Member Avatar for Kinseeker69

Some older motherboards cannot see large HDD'a try
breaking up into smaller 2GB partitions that should help

Member Avatar for Paladine

I had no choice but to use a 4GB main drive instead of the 7 GB. I was unable to update the bios. Bios Flash Memory was not recognized by the ASUS Flash Program.

Thanks for the help anyway folks.

Member Avatar for caperjack

did you go int the bios and do a detect hard drive .

Member Avatar for Paladine

Yes, but that was not the problem...per say....it was not being detected exactly at the correct size!

Member Avatar for caperjack

You'll have to elaborate on that point ! just what is the right time .

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.