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Bob P
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Joined: 20 Oct 2004
Posts: 3374
Location: USA
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 Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 7:26 pm Post subject: Old PC BIOS Won't Recognize a 120 GB Hard Disk [SOLVED] |
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I've got an old Pentium-class PC with a retarded BIOS (1992 AMI BIOS 1.00.10 BR0T) that won't recognize a 120 GB hard disk. The objective is to use this PC on a 10/100 LAN as a backup server.
I've just completed a Stage 1 on 3 installation on the old P133 boatanchor using one of those new WD JB1200 (120 GB) disks. Everything went fine during the Gentoo install until it came time to reboot from the new drive. Instead of a quick bootup, the BIOS is confused and takes forever to recognize the HD. It eventually reports the disk by name and model number, but a successful boot of Linux is hit or miss. Sometimes I get a lockup with Grub error 16, sometimes I get a boot through a blank screen (no grub menus) to a perfectly functional Gentoo system, and sometimes I get a prompt asking for the insertion of bootable media.
The problems seems to be that the drive is larger than the BIOS can handle, even though the BIOS does LBA. It a P133 that was built in the era when a 33.8 GB drive was hard to imagine. Here is the info on the drive: | Code: |
# hdparm /dev/hda
/dev/hda:
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 0 (default 16-bit)
unmaskirq = 0 (off)
using_dma = 1 (on)
keepsettings = 0 (off)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 256 (on)
geometry = 16383/255/63, sectors = 120034123776, start = 0
# hdparm -i /dev/hda
/dev/hda:
Model=WDC WD1200JB-00GVA0, FwRev=08.02D08, SerialNo=WD-WMAL92634373
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq}
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=74
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=234441648
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 *mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5
AdvancedPM=no, WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: device does not report version:
* signifies the current active mode |
| Code: | # fdisk /dev/hda
The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 14593.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and in certain setups could cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
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To address the problem, I tried partitioning the drive into a smaller boot sector that the BIOS could handle:
the partition plan:
| Code: |
Partition File System ID Size Description
/dev/hda1 ReiserFS 3.6 83 100 MB Boot partition
/dev/hda2 (swap) 82 512 MB Swap partition
/dev/hda3 ReiserFS 3.6 83 Remainder Root Partition |
the results:
| Code: | Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 14 76 506047+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda3 77 14593 116607802+ 83 Linux |
unfortunately, even though my boot partition is only 100 MB, the BIOS still has trouble recognizing the device. That is to say, the BIOS takes a LOOOONG time recognizing the device, and successfully identifies it by name and model number as Hard Disk 0, and it recognizes the CD on the other IDE channel as an ATAPI device, but then the boot seems to stop for an exceptionally long time.
Using LBA or Extended CHS IDE translation protocols I get the following results:
1. If HD autodetection is specified in the BIOS setup, then the BIOS recognizes the C/H/S as 16320/16/63 and 8033 MB. When booting the drive is recognized, but after a couple of minutes a message is finally issued asking for the insertion of bootable media.
2. If user-specified settings are provided in the BIOS table (C/H/S = 16383/255/63 or C/H/S = 14593/255/63) the BIOS setup program reports the capacity of the drive as 65535 MB. When booting, the drive is recognized, but after a couple of minutes the floppy device is recognized, then another long pause ensues, and another message is issued asking for the insertion of bootable media.
If I drop the drive into a Pentium 3 PC, everthing works fine.
Unfortunately, the behavior of the BIOS/device on the older PC is not consistent. Sometimes I'm locked up, and sometimes Grub eventually boots to my default selection via a totally blank screen, and sometimes Grub issues Error 16. if boot works, it takes what feels like 10 minutes to happen.
So after telling a long story, I have a couple of questions:
1. The HD came with software that can be installed on the Boot Sector to address the size/BIOS problem on older PCs. Before I do anything with it, I wanted to ask if its safe to use this software with Linux. Specifically, is it going to be incompatible with GRUB? Its not a problem if I have to install the Western Digital software and then re-install Grub, but I don't want to bork the Gentoo install that I've just a few days putting on the disk.
2. IDE Translation: LBA or Extended CHS? I had always defaulted to LBA in the past.
3. Any other ideas on how to solve the problem?
i'd prefer to avoid the kludge method of putting a 350 MB drive in the PC as the boot drive, and then shutting it off after the kernel boots. the PC only has two bays, and I have RAID 1 plans for both of them.
TIA!
Last edited by Bob P on Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bob P
Advocate
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
Posts: 3374
Location: USA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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Just in case anyone finds this thread by searching for a similar problem:
I learned something new today in a response that came from Neddy Seagoon.
You can "clip" the reported capacity of the HD at bootup so that the BIOS is happy with it. In this case, an additional jumper setting speeds up the bootup remarkably. The essense of the fix is that the drive falsely reports the capacity of the drive as 32 MB, which the BIOS can handle.
Because I have a "small" 100 MB boot partition in the addressable space, the HD boots under BIOS just fine. When the linux kernel loads, the full size of the drive is recognized.
There is also a LARGE HDD HOWTO at tldp.org, but it doesn't address WD drives very well. Here is the PDF.
Here is a link to the tech page on the WD site that describes the required alternative jumper settings in better detail. |
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tkdfighter
Apprentice
Joined: 14 May 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Bludenz, Austria
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| How about using a bootfloppy? Put grub on it and use it to boot your kernel from your hd. |
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Bob P
Advocate
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
Posts: 3374
Location: USA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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| a boot floppy doesn't seem to be a reliable long-term solution for booting a backup server. i don't think of data stored on floppy drives as permanent, and i want to solve the boot issue once and for all, instead of having to revisit it every time a floppy drive's data becomes corrupted. |
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NeddySeagoon
Administrator
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 54793
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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tkdfighter,
Many BIOSs won't boot at all nver mind eventually. They will just not work with an oversize drive.
_________________
Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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darklegion
Guru
Joined: 14 Nov 2004
Posts: 468
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 3:04 am Post subject: |
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| You might need to install a drive overlay as many of these older bioses had a limit of around 31Gb I believe.The overlay bootdisks can usually be found on the manufacturers site,but can be also be found on multi-boot cds such as Hiren's Boot CD and the Ultimate Boot CD,which will have a number of other useful utilities should you need them. |
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NeddySeagoon
Administrator
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 54793
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 11:31 am Post subject: |
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darklegion,
Disk Managers such as you mention are an option but they have additional complications:-
1. They install in the same disc space as Grub
2. Some change the sector numbering by a fixed amount, so the kerenl needs to be aware of that to live with them
_________________
Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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