Member Avatar for Hellodear

I have an old PC with a Intel motherboard installed, and an Award Software BIOS identified as follows:

Award Modular BIOS V6.00PG, An energy star Ally
BIOS ID String: 09/25/2001 - i810(e)- W8362-6A69MTRAC-00

I tried to install a 80GB Seagate ATA harddisk but the disk autodetection feature from the BIOS setup always recognizes only 71GB. And when i tried to partition the disk with FDISK, it only recognised as 10GB.

As far as I could find, this is a known limitation that could be solved by updating the motherboard BIOS. However, since both the machine and the installed BIOS version seem to be a bit old, I could’t find any available update for it.

Please, any help on where can I download a suitable BIOS update to solve this problem?

Thanks a lot

MY PC AT A GLANCE:

System Manufacturer: INTELR
System Model : AWRDACPI
System Type : X86-based PC
Processor : x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 10 GenuineIntel ~935 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date: Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG, 9/25/2001
SMBIOS Version: 2.2

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

Generated

This looks like the classic BIOS/OS translation problem rather than a faulty disk. Older BIOSes and DOS-era partition tools use legacy INT 13h / CHS addressing or outdated LBA implementations, so a modern large drive can appear much smaller to the firmware or to FDISK. Background reading: INT 13h (BIOS disk services) and Logical block addressing.

As pointed out, check whether the motherboard exposes INT 13h/LBA extensions. As suggested, run a hardware-ident tool — prefer a modern tool or a Linux live environment rather than old DOS utilities. Useful tools: GParted Live to inspect the disk independent of the BIOS/Windows FDISK, or HWiNFO for Windows.

Practical steps (in order):

  1. Boot a live CD/USB (GParted, Ubuntu live) and verify the physical size (for example: 
    sudo fdisk -l

    ). If the live system sees the full capacity, the problem is the BIOS or the OS partitioning tool.

  2. Check the drive label/jumper settings (some older drives include compatibility jumpers).
  3. In BIOS look for options named LBA, Large disk access, or Int13h extensions and enable them if present.
  4. If BIOS lacks support, either update the motherboard BIOS only from the board vendor’s support/download page (match the exact board model) or add a modern IDE/SATA controller card with its own BIOS. If neither is possible, use a newer machine to partition/install the OS or consider a controller card.

Cautions: only flash BIOS with the exact vendor image and follow vendor instructions; flashing the wrong image can brick the board. Back up any important data before experimenting. For vendor BIOS downloads, start from the motherboard maker or Intel support pages (search by the exact board model printed on the PCB).

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Member Avatar for Suspishio

Try this info site:

What operating system? What version of FDISK?

Does your BIOS allow you to control Int 13h?

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