120GB: Samsung sp1213n

[iamthecheese]

My problem isn't really the bios, but it is kind of related and I just wanted to see if anyone has run into a similar situation.

I initially had the drive reporting that it was only 6.5GB. My problem was the exact one described in:

Collected Knowledge --> Resetting full drive size:
http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2746

However, I got the hard drive utility from Samsung, and somehow instead of changing the current drive size (which was set to 6.5GB) to its native size of 114498MB, it set the NATIVE size to approx. 6657MB. Now I cannot get back the original size because the native size of the drive is incorrectly set to a size much smaller than its actual size.

The amazingly useful utility from Samsung cannot change it back and actually wouldn't have helped me at all because it's a newer version that lacks the "SET MAX ADDRESS-->RECOVER NATIVE SIZE" option. I got an older version that works, but it doesn't help me anymore because the native size has already been set wrong.

I am 99.9% sure this is not a BIOS problem because I have already tried it in two computers with different bios's and that both already had large drives in them (80GB and 120GB). The drive is just incorrectly identifying itself as smaller than it really is.

Sorry for the huge post, but if anyone has any idea what's wrong and how to fix it I'd be very appreciative.

[KachiWachi]

What has Samsung Support said about all this?

[iamthecheese]

Nothing very helpful from Samsung yet. At first they gave me the generic "Bios limitation" thing. They haven't replied to my follow-up emails yet (three or four days now). I called yesterday, but the "hard drive expert" wasn't there. I'm going to call again today. I'm trying everything to find a solution on my own, too, though.

Usually, I've found there's always at least one person who's had the same problem and figured out how to fix it. Haven't found anything yet. Hopefully Samsung can help me out eventually, and that it's not some physical damage to the drive. Then I have to go through all the hassle of shipping it back, etc. But it has a three year warranty so I'm not too worried...

But on the off chance that anyone knows what the **** went wrong, I'd really appreciate some help...

[iamthecheese]

Just for anyone who's interested I actually fixed the problem. I got a freeware harddrive utility called hdat2 (extremely useful). It was able to detect the actual size of the drive and change the current size AND the native size back to 120.6GB. After that the BIOS detected it the first try and I formatted it and did a complete diagnostic and it's fine.

[NickS]

Excellent tip, I'll add it to the "Collected Wisdom".
http://www.hdat2.com