scooter98
asked on
new hard drive
i have an ibm aptiva 2137-E34 with a 4.3 hard drive.i just bought a maxtor 13.6 gig drive, i want to install as my primary master drive. right now it is set as slave, and it only acknowledges 8.0 gigs out if 13.6 i used fdisk to partion and format the drive, since i couldn't get the software that came with it to work, it would just show me a maxtor screen and hang there. when i set it as master and boot the comp., nothing happens. what am i doing wrong? do i need a bios upgrade, if so where could i find it? my current bios is APM BIOS Version 1.2 i really wanted to remove the other drive, but this is all i could get to work so i am sort of stuck here. also if anyone can tell me how to get every thing from my old drive to the new. i know this is more than one question but if you guys can help me at all, i would sure appreciate it.
thanks, scooter98
thanks, scooter98
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q175/6/29.asp
I'd suggest you to upgrade your BIOS. IBM is wellknown to recommend a BIOS upgrade as soon a problem arise.
http://www.pc.ibm.com/support?lang=en_US&page=brand&brand=IBM+PC&lang=en_US
Enter 2137-E34 in the "Quick Path" field down on the left side. Click "Go". You'll end up at the support-
page for your very model. You'll find the latest BIOS there.
The 8GB limit is an usual problem, which is oftenly classified as BIOS-problem. Not always though.
If and when you get the HDD at it's full size, you can use a software called Norton Ghost for transferring
all information on your old HDD to the new one. Afterwards, you just disconnect the old HDD and put the
new one as master and boot up on that one instead. You can find a time-limited evaluation copy of that
wonderful software at http://www.ghost.com It's fully functional during the evaluation period. Also
not that it's a DOS software, which means you have to create a boot-disk, put Ghost onto the disk
and boot using the disk. Then run Ghost from there. Also notice which harddisk and partition you choose
as source and destination. You don't want to end up copying your new HDD onto your old one? That'd
render a copy of an empty HDD. Not fun. Done it and learnt not to do it again.
I hope you succeed gaining the remaining 5.7GB
//Mooie
http://www.pc.ibm.com/support?lang=en_US&page=brand&brand=IBM+PC&lang=en_US
Enter 2137-E34 in the "Quick Path" field down on the left side. Click "Go". You'll end up at the support-
page for your very model. You'll find the latest BIOS there.
The 8GB limit is an usual problem, which is oftenly classified as BIOS-problem. Not always though.
If and when you get the HDD at it's full size, you can use a software called Norton Ghost for transferring
all information on your old HDD to the new one. Afterwards, you just disconnect the old HDD and put the
new one as master and boot up on that one instead. You can find a time-limited evaluation copy of that
wonderful software at http://www.ghost.com It's fully functional during the evaluation period. Also
not that it's a DOS software, which means you have to create a boot-disk, put Ghost onto the disk
and boot using the disk. Then run Ghost from there. Also notice which harddisk and partition you choose
as source and destination. You don't want to end up copying your new HDD onto your old one? That'd
render a copy of an empty HDD. Not fun. Done it and learnt not to do it again.
I hope you succeed gaining the remaining 5.7GB
//Mooie
I'm withdarwing my answer because I confused your question with another one that I had just read. Sorry.....
ASKER
mooie, i downloaded and installed what they said was their latest bios upgrade, but it still shows only 8 gigs.the bios upgrade i downloaded said it would prevent lockups due to using via voice, but i didn't see anything to imply that it would allow me access to the remainder of my harddrive.
scooter98
scooter98
Are you sure the drive actually is 13gigs? Sometimes people stuff up.
> i downloaded and installed what they said was their latest bios upgrade, but it still shows only 8 gigs.
Call it "planned obsolescence".
Hardware vendors want you to purchase new hardware; so you (likely) won't find an updated BIOS.
Partition Magic (http://WWW.PowerQuest.Com) is a useful tool for many things, including copying a partition from one drive to another drive.
Call it "planned obsolescence".
Hardware vendors want you to purchase new hardware; so you (likely) won't find an updated BIOS.
Partition Magic (http://WWW.PowerQuest.Com) is a useful tool for many things, including copying a partition from one drive to another drive.
ASKER
if i need to purchase new hardware to fix this, what is it i need?
Scooter... I guess I'm not able to help you getting the last 5GB
accessible. One thing you could do is simply to call IBM and ask
them directly. They, if someone, _should_ know something about
their own products. To mention something similar, I'm also having
the same problem as you. My 9.1GB SCSI isn't used fully, only
the first 8GB.. It's due to the reason that the SCSI-card I have
has an old BIOS and isn't upgradable. I will never be able to
use the remainding 1.1GB unless I get myself another SCSI-
card, but I don't find it worth the hassle (yet) for only 1.1GB.
But in your case, 5.7GB is a slightly too big waste, IMO. So..
Give IBM a call and put them against the wall. It's their product,
which is fairly new.
Mindbender... To comment your comment, I don't think one get
a HDD and don't know what they purchase.
//Mooie
accessible. One thing you could do is simply to call IBM and ask
them directly. They, if someone, _should_ know something about
their own products. To mention something similar, I'm also having
the same problem as you. My 9.1GB SCSI isn't used fully, only
the first 8GB.. It's due to the reason that the SCSI-card I have
has an old BIOS and isn't upgradable. I will never be able to
use the remainding 1.1GB unless I get myself another SCSI-
card, but I don't find it worth the hassle (yet) for only 1.1GB.
But in your case, 5.7GB is a slightly too big waste, IMO. So..
Give IBM a call and put them against the wall. It's their product,
which is fairly new.
Mindbender... To comment your comment, I don't think one get
a HDD and don't know what they purchase.
//Mooie
> If I need to purchase new hardware to fix this, what is it I need?
A new motherboard will come with a new BIOS, which will handle "larger-than-8GB" hard-drives.
Which motherboard?
Pick one which:
- physically fits into your current case, i.e., the connector for the keyboard (and mouse??) matches the access-holes in your current case;
- has ISA/PCI/AGP slot(s) for your current add-in boards (video-card, modem, network-card, sound-card);
- has the same type of power-supply connectors (AT or ATX) as your current motherboard;
- has a CPU-slot which accepts your current CPU-processor.
This will minimize the amount of hardware which is incompatible with your new motherboard.
Maybe, the price of a motherboard-with-CPU is attractive?
This would depend on the speed of your current CPU, of course.
A new motherboard will come with a new BIOS, which will handle "larger-than-8GB" hard-drives.
Which motherboard?
Pick one which:
- physically fits into your current case, i.e., the connector for the keyboard (and mouse??) matches the access-holes in your current case;
- has ISA/PCI/AGP slot(s) for your current add-in boards (video-card, modem, network-card, sound-card);
- has the same type of power-supply connectors (AT or ATX) as your current motherboard;
- has a CPU-slot which accepts your current CPU-processor.
This will minimize the amount of hardware which is incompatible with your new motherboard.
Maybe, the price of a motherboard-with-CPU is attractive?
This would depend on the speed of your current CPU, of course.
I meant the sales people or the manufacturing plant....that the drive may be sold or labelled as a 13G but was 8.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Please reject that answer, as it's not the only way out. Yes, a mobo upgrade would do you good, but, there's still a few more options. Try www.westerndigital.com. They have a "Data Lifeguard" package avaiable free for download. It includes a program called "Ez-BIOS". This program will install itself onto the drive, and tricks the BIOS into thinking it's less than 8.4GB, but Windows will read the full size of the hard disk.
A new MBD is not even to be considered, since IBM use it's own formfactor
for them. I think even the PSU-connector is a IBM special one. It'd cost a
fortune. If IBM ever will give Aptiva support for larger than 8GB is out of my
knowledge.
Yes.. One possibility is to use something like the Ez-BIOS software sollution,
It's a sollution, not the best, but I guess it's unfortunately the only sollution
for the Aptiva.
I still would bonk IBM's heads a bit about it. It's their product, they should
atleast be trueful about what their products support or not.
//Mooie
for them. I think even the PSU-connector is a IBM special one. It'd cost a
fortune. If IBM ever will give Aptiva support for larger than 8GB is out of my
knowledge.
Yes.. One possibility is to use something like the Ez-BIOS software sollution,
It's a sollution, not the best, but I guess it's unfortunately the only sollution
for the Aptiva.
I still would bonk IBM's heads a bit about it. It's their product, they should
atleast be trueful about what their products support or not.
//Mooie
ASKER
thanks RBarbee, not the answer that i hoped for, but if that's all there is, thats all there is. thanks again to all you guys for your responses, and especially thanks to mooie. you definitly take our questions seriously. i will take your suggestion to comtact ibm. thanks again guys, you're the greatest.
scooter
scooter