Nothing fixes the 137GB limit! Nothing!

[Muftobration]

Ok, I just finished making a boot cd for windows 2000 with slipstreamed SP4 and made a 50GB partition on my hard drive to install windows onto. It still doesn't work! It says the drive is 137GB, then it asks to format it (even though I already did with that partitioning program in Knoppix, AND I had already tried it by partitioning it with a maxtor tool from thier site). When It formats, it restarts and starts up the whole process again! As if it had not already begun to install Win2K! Then I have all these crappy partitions ranging from 80GB to 500GB (on my 300GB HDD, mind you) and I can't install on them either. All I wanted was to install windows 2000, all I got was eternal damnation in hell!

 

[sparkyclarky]

Older mobo?

 

[spyordie007]

Have you tried a new controller card/updated firmware/updated drivers (F6) during the install? Are you doing a SP4 install? Have you verified that the drive is detected @ the proper size? If your hardware isnt reading the drive right it's not windows fault.

Also you're a lot more likely to get help if you quit complaining and start focusing on the symptoms and troubleshooting performed (your post has very little information about this "everything" you've tried).

 

[Nothinman]

What did Knoppix say the size of the drive was? If you have an IDE controller that doesn't do LBA48, no amount of software will save you.

 

[Muftobration]

My motherboard is fine, it says that both drives are 300GB, so did Knoppix. I don't need to install SATA drivers, that's for sure because it says so in my manual and I have had windows up and running before without those drivers. The only benefit I got from Slipstreaming SP4 was that my CD wasn't bootable before (it required floppies) and now it is. Sorry for sounding so annoying, but this is really getting to me. It took me 2 days to make the machine and it's taken me 3 to install windows with no success, you know the feeling?

Thses describe my problem:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=34&threadid=1719263&enterthread=y
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=34&threadid=1719540&enterthread=y

 

[Dahak]

I've had similar problems with sp4 as well with large capacity drives. The few times ive uses a slipstreamed cd for sp4 it didnt seem to work, but with installing it manually it did.
But there is a fix

1) Maxtor Big Drive Enabler This works on any drive as it just turns on the registry bit that is needed

2) MS KB Article Tells you which registry key to change.

Uses either one and reboot. Should show full 300GB provided the motherboard sees it as a full 300gb

 

[networkman]

It is possible to get past this problem, although it was also incredibly frustrating for me as well. Like you, I also have Windows 2000, although I was trying to install a 250 Gig drive. The motherboard was recent, BIOS current, OS patched current, etc., and still no joy, until I found this site:

http://techpatterns.com/forums/about260.html

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
Value name: EnableBigLba
Data type: REG_DWORD
Value data: 0x1
4. Quit Registry Editor.

I rebooted and then went to Disk Management, viola! - all space accessible.

 

[Muftobration]

Well, I have tried that registry thing before and it didn't seem to work. However, I had not gone to disk manager to look for the extra space, I had just assumed it would be there! Now I feel stupid. One more question, can I make the partition for my C: drive smaller after that enable big HDD thing? I don't want it to be 137GB, I'm looking for around 50GB. Then I can make a partition for games as a 250GB one and a Data partiton at 300GB (Yes, I have a lot of data). Does anybody know if I can safely resize my windows partiton after installing windows? I've tried installing onto a smaller partition in the first place (it was 50GB), but I run into the problem I described in my first post.

I think you guys have finally brought me to the point where I can at least have windows running with all 600GB of my spcae, and I'm very grateful for that. If someone could guide me on that whole partitioning deal then I would be the happiest I've been since I started this project. Thanks

 

[spyordie007]

can I make the partition for my C: drive smaller

You can, but you'd have to use a 3rd party partitioning application such as partition magic to perform the re-partition.

 

[networkman]

Edit: Oops - misunderstood the question. Yes, spyordie007 is correct.

 

[Muftobration]

Thats just the thing with me though. I can't make partitions. If I make them and try to install windows on it then it just says they are unformatted (although I had just formatted them to NFST) and it tries to format them. It fails, of course, and wont continue installing. I'll just install it on the 137GB partition that it creates, get into windows and activate my 300GB drive, then repartition my windows drive to be 50GB for windows and 250GB for games and applications. Sounds like a plan! Sort of raoundabout, but I think it will work.

BTW, you are probably all sick of my questions, but does anybody know if I can make a permanent partition for a drive of that size with the trial version of Partition Magic? Thanks!

EDIT: disregard the first part of this post if it doesn't make sense, I was responding to networkman, but he edited his post.

 

[Seeruk]

It sounds to me like (from the limited info above) that the drive used to be part of a RAID array?

e.g. after disabling raid you often see the raid partitions + the non-raided partitions due to what is written in the mbr


My 2 x 35gb raptors have appeared as 2 x 25gb partitions plus a 50gb one (=100gb!)after disabling RAID but not formatting the mbr

Is this a new hard disk? Is it just one disk? What sort of disk (SATA or IDE)? Have you had anything insalled on it before? What are you using to partition it now?

 

[Muftobration]

They are brand new and have never been in any RAID. I'm partitoning will MaxBlast 4.0 from the maxtor site, but I also tried the one in Knoppix.

 

[Seeruk]

OK - well it seems like your mbr is totally screwy at the moment and 1st thing to do is clear that out


(PRESUMING YOU HAVE NO DATA YOU WANT TO SAVE ON THE DISK...

try booting using your win2k disk and enter repair mode

once you get to the repair part try

format /mbr

Then start fdisk and create your partitions.... maybe just create one primary partition to get started so you dont have to worry about extended partitions etc, and then one Win2k is installed, do the reg hack and use diskmanagement to create any further partitions.

 

[Muftobration]

Well, I'm writing the drive with zeros (zero fill) as we speak, so that should solve all my problems as far as corrupt partitions I should think.

BTW, what it mbr? And will fdisk allow me to make partitons that will actually work with windows? Keep in mind that nothing else has made successful partitions (for windows 2000 at least, I havn't tried another OS).

 

[Seeruk]

mdr = Master Boot Record

A small section of your disk that has the record of what partitions are on the disk and what filesystem.

Fdisk is the partitioning tool that comes with MS operating systems and in the good old days you had to use this to create your partitions before installing the OS. If fdisk cant partition it then nothing can!!

 

[Muftobration]

Ok, thanks for the info. I think you mean mbr for master boot record though, not mdr, correct? And does anyone know if the trial version of PM works with large drives incase fdisk doesn't?

 

[Nothinman]

format /mbr

You mean fdisk /mbr. Or from a Win2K/XP rescue console, fixmbr.

And I must say that this thread is extremely entertaining simply because it contradicts the whole "Windows is so easy" crap we see in 1/3 of the Linux threads.

 

[TGS]

I know the max blast cd installs the enables the reg hack if it doesn't see it already. You should only need SP3 or better, with the reg hack. I just prefer the quick and dirty way of loading SP4 then the reg hack. You really don't need the maxtor software unless you prefer to use that over windows functions.

 

[Canterwood]

The simplest thing you could do would be to boot from the Win2k SP4 cd and delete all your existing partitions.
Then create a new 50GB partition for the OS to be installed on a leave the rest of the space unpartitoned.
Once the operating system is installed, follow the steps outlined HERE.
Reboot. (Maybe not essential, but wont hurt)

Afterwards, when you go into Disk Management, you will then be able to format the rest of the drive(s) using the full ammount. (over 137gb)
I've done it, it works and its pretty simple to do.

 

[hooflung]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

format /mbr

You mean fdisk /mbr. Or from a Win2K/XP rescue console, fixmbr.

And I must say that this thread is extremely entertaining simply because it contradicts the whole "Windows is so easy" crap we see in 1/3 of the Linux threads.

I was waiting for this post... QFE!

 

[Muftobration]

The only problem with all that is that windows wont allow me to make a partition when I install it. These are the steps it does when it boots from cd: Put windows in a temp folder>ask if you want to install, repair, or quit>I select install and it asks me to choose a partition>the only two are my 300GB hardrives(which show up as 137GB each)>It says it has to format them and it does, leaving me with a 137GB C drive. At no point does it ask me to specify a partition, which I find strange bacause I remember it asking me for windows 98. Oh well, I'm just going to use XP anyway, people seem to think that's better than 2000. For some reason, I thought I heard many people say 2k was better than XP, but I must have been mistaken. Hopefully XP will solve all my HDD problems without creating too many more in other departments.

 

[Nothinman]

The Win2K installer does let you partiton the drive, it's not a very good tool but it's definitely there.

 

[xtknight]

Isn't it a limit of the controller or controller's BIOS version, not the operating system?

 

[Nothinman]

Isn't it a limit of the controller or controller's BIOS version, not the operating system?

It can be either, the controller, it's firmware and the driver all have to support LBA48. And he said that a Knoppix disc worked just fine so that seems to point to Windows as being the problem.