updating bios?

[butch81385]

ok, i installed a harddrive in a friends old compaq presario 2200. this thing is old, but the hard drive is 40 gig. it only shows up as 8 gig. how can i get it to recognize all 40 gigs? i hear people talking about flashing the bios but dont know how. also, is there anyway to get it to recognize all 40 gigs without having to reformat the thing (it took for ever to get win 98 to load because of problems....)

[elroy]

Bios' have hard drive size limits. IE: They only recognize drives up to a certain size. These limits started at 528mb then went to 2.1gb, then 8.4gb and so on. You can either install a PCI controller card, or use drive overlay software. If the pc is very old it will not recognize 40gb even with a bios update. Overlay software is available from the drive manufacturers website. Maxtor has Maxblast, WD has Data Lifeguard and most others have their own that is similar to the others.

[jmichna]

To build on Elroy's post... go to the Compaq site and see if a BIOS update supporting larger hard drives for that Presario 2200 is even available. You may need to go to an "archive" section or email Compaq tech support. If it is, D/L the newer BIOS and come back here for detailed instructions on how to flash... it's not too hard, even for a novice... just need to take care and use patience.

In general, you are much better off if BIOS can support larger drives, rather than relying on drive-overlay software. Also, the other option Elroy mentioned -- a controller card -- makes the BIOS update moot... but why throw more money into an old machine?

[ytnyte]

Go to http://www.biosman.com and order a new BOS chip from them.

[butch81385]

well my friend coughed up the $50 and Best Buy did everything for him from upgrading the bios to installing the drive, partitioning and formatting it, and installing 98