This particular Compaq type (I have the Deskpro 4000-5133, to be precise) with the Bios updated to version 6 ( 05/05/98 ) is supposed to handle HD with capacities larger than 8 GB.
I'm trying to get my 60 GB IBM deskstar (IC35L060AVV207-0) recognized by the bios. It will only see about 130 MB.
When I reduce the disk size to 8 GB (using Hitachi's Ftool, note that Hitachi is the actual manufacturer of these disks), it will recognise the disk as 70 MB only.
It does recognise my 6 GB Quantum Fireball ST drive correctly.
I have a few questions I hope this forum might answer:
- Does anybody have such a system working with a HD >8GB?
- Is a Bios patch needed to get it working, and is it available?
Luke
60GB: Compaq Deskpro 4000-5133
If you go to Compaq's website, at www.compaq.com, and follow the appropriate links starting from other HP products, you will find a BIOS update for your PC which adds support for hard disks larger than 8GB, although it is not stated what the upper limit is. I found this under the MS-DOS drivers section.
If you have the same experience with the site as I did you may come across several internal errors, however with some patience you can get past these.
If you have the same experience with the site as I did you may come across several internal errors, however with some patience you can get past these.
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Lucky Luke
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Thanks, Ritchie,
I already have installed this:
ROMPaq for Deskpro 4000/6000 (686G5 ROM)
version 98.05.05 (5 May 98)
That's why I mentioned my system is supposed to recognised HD > 8GB.
The fact is, it fails to decently recognize my IBM HD, even when I cut it down to 8GB. In fact I've cut down all fancy features of this drive and still the Compaq won't recognise it as any decent size.
The drive is fully recognised by my other computer, containing an ASUS mb with updated bios.
So I'm still hoping for a solution...
Regards,
Luke
I already have installed this:
ROMPaq for Deskpro 4000/6000 (686G5 ROM)
version 98.05.05 (5 May 98)
That's why I mentioned my system is supposed to recognised HD > 8GB.
The fact is, it fails to decently recognize my IBM HD, even when I cut it down to 8GB. In fact I've cut down all fancy features of this drive and still the Compaq won't recognise it as any decent size.
The drive is fully recognised by my other computer, containing an ASUS mb with updated bios.
So I'm still hoping for a solution...
Regards,
Luke
If you have access to one (ie: if you have one or can borrow one), try a drive between 8GB and 32GB capacity, to see if this detects properly.
If it does, the BIOS I directed you to and which you have already installed may, although detecting larger than 8GB, have the 32GB bug, meaning that drives larger than 32GB in size (such as the 60GB you are attempting to use) will not be recognised.
If it does, the BIOS I directed you to and which you have already installed may, although detecting larger than 8GB, have the 32GB bug, meaning that drives larger than 32GB in size (such as the 60GB you are attempting to use) will not be recognised.
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Lucky Luke
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Thanks, Ritchie,
I've tried everything, like I wrote, even cutting it down to an 8 GB drive, and the BIOS still fails to recognize it properly.
Furtunately (its not for nothing that I'm "Lucky" Luke) I was provided with an IDE interface add-on card that handles drives in excess of 128 GB, after installing this card and attaching the 60GB drive it is now recognised by the system.
But still, the BIOS shows strange quirks. It is now equipped with
1st IDE: 1.6 GB HD (Cable select)
2nd IDE LS120 drive (Cable select)
3rd IDE 60 GB HD (Master)
I've tried to add a CDrom player as (also cable select) on the 2nd IDE but is wasn't recognised. Then I set the CDrom to slave and the LS120 to master, but somehow this makes the system unstable. Sometimes it boots, somtimes it doesn't. These compaq machines are really strange stuff.
Anyway,
Thanks!
I've tried everything, like I wrote, even cutting it down to an 8 GB drive, and the BIOS still fails to recognize it properly.
Furtunately (its not for nothing that I'm "Lucky" Luke) I was provided with an IDE interface add-on card that handles drives in excess of 128 GB, after installing this card and attaching the 60GB drive it is now recognised by the system.
But still, the BIOS shows strange quirks. It is now equipped with
1st IDE: 1.6 GB HD (Cable select)
2nd IDE LS120 drive (Cable select)
3rd IDE 60 GB HD (Master)
I've tried to add a CDrom player as (also cable select) on the 2nd IDE but is wasn't recognised. Then I set the CDrom to slave and the LS120 to master, but somehow this makes the system unstable. Sometimes it boots, somtimes it doesn't. These compaq machines are really strange stuff.
Anyway,
Thanks!
Isn't that 3rd 60GB device the drive you are trying to recognise, or is there still a problem there? Maybe it is just being detected as a Secondary Master instead of a Primary Master, and is on the wrong cable. If the drive is not plugged into the mainboard it should not be detecting at all. Looking at your post I suspect that our BIOS is somehow picking up the drive correctly.
When you say you cut the drive down to a 8GB, does this mean you simply limited the capacity through a jumper or through manual IDE BIOS settings? If so, I was referring to trying a different physical drive whose total capacity was between 8GB and 32GB. For example, with Western Digital drives, I am not sure if there is a capacity limiting jumper.
When you say you cut the drive down to a 8GB, does this mean you simply limited the capacity through a jumper or through manual IDE BIOS settings? If so, I was referring to trying a different physical drive whose total capacity was between 8GB and 32GB. For example, with Western Digital drives, I am not sure if there is a capacity limiting jumper.
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Lucky Luke
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Ritchie,
Maybe I expressed myself unclear in my previous post.
My harddisk is an IBM, and you may know that these are manufactured by Hitachi.
Hitachi provides for a software tool that allows to change features of the harddrive, it's called "Feature Tool". With that you can turn off write caching, change the interface mode (PIO stuff etc) and you can change the size of the drive (make it smaller). Such changes are probably written to an EEPROM on the hard drive itself, or a piece of reserved disk that no-one else can access, because they remain even after powering down, moving the drive to a different PC and powering it up there. One requirement is: you need a system that is capable of correctly recognising the disk at all. I'm so lucky to have at least one such PC, but its not the compaq.
I do not have disks between 8 and 32 MB available for experimenting, so I used this Feature tool to change my 60 GB to a 32 GB and even to an 8 GB, to no avail with respect to the Compaq's bios.
But with an additional IDE interface card installed in my Compaq, and connecting the 60 GB to that interface it is now recognised by that interface card its bios, and the drive is useable from my OS. So I finally got what I wanted: having the 60 GB in the compaq.
The strange quirk occurs when I want to add yet another IDE device to the compaq: a CDrom player.
From my experience, the compaq is most happy with one device per its own (on-board) IDE ports. These devices should be set to "Cable select". For instance, merely setting the LS120 to Master (of the same secondary IDE port) renders it unaccessible. Same is true for the 1.6 GB HD in the primary IDE port. I know that I can add another HD on the primary IDE, then I have to set the 1.6 GB to Master and the added HD to slave. This worked with a 6.4 GB HD that the compaq was willing to recognise.
But when I added a CDrom player as the master to the second IDE port of the IDE add-on card I probably got an interrupt conflict, the system wouldn't boot. I know that my interrupts are used up, so that doesn't surpise me.
Adding the CDrom as a slave to the 1st IDE port of the add-on card doesn't seem to work either (I don't know why). So I decided to install it as a slave to the secondary on-board IDE port (with the LS120 set to Master. This worked fine, but when I closed the box and tried to boot up again, it wouldn't start. So I disconnected it. Next thing is to try to add the CDrom to as a slave to the 1.6 GB HD on the primary IDE port.
In short. The problem with my 60 GB harddrive is solved. But I'm facing new challenges when I add more IDE devices.
Luke
Maybe I expressed myself unclear in my previous post.
My harddisk is an IBM, and you may know that these are manufactured by Hitachi.
Hitachi provides for a software tool that allows to change features of the harddrive, it's called "Feature Tool". With that you can turn off write caching, change the interface mode (PIO stuff etc) and you can change the size of the drive (make it smaller). Such changes are probably written to an EEPROM on the hard drive itself, or a piece of reserved disk that no-one else can access, because they remain even after powering down, moving the drive to a different PC and powering it up there. One requirement is: you need a system that is capable of correctly recognising the disk at all. I'm so lucky to have at least one such PC, but its not the compaq.
I do not have disks between 8 and 32 MB available for experimenting, so I used this Feature tool to change my 60 GB to a 32 GB and even to an 8 GB, to no avail with respect to the Compaq's bios.
But with an additional IDE interface card installed in my Compaq, and connecting the 60 GB to that interface it is now recognised by that interface card its bios, and the drive is useable from my OS. So I finally got what I wanted: having the 60 GB in the compaq.
The strange quirk occurs when I want to add yet another IDE device to the compaq: a CDrom player.
From my experience, the compaq is most happy with one device per its own (on-board) IDE ports. These devices should be set to "Cable select". For instance, merely setting the LS120 to Master (of the same secondary IDE port) renders it unaccessible. Same is true for the 1.6 GB HD in the primary IDE port. I know that I can add another HD on the primary IDE, then I have to set the 1.6 GB to Master and the added HD to slave. This worked with a 6.4 GB HD that the compaq was willing to recognise.
But when I added a CDrom player as the master to the second IDE port of the IDE add-on card I probably got an interrupt conflict, the system wouldn't boot. I know that my interrupts are used up, so that doesn't surpise me.
Adding the CDrom as a slave to the 1st IDE port of the add-on card doesn't seem to work either (I don't know why). So I decided to install it as a slave to the secondary on-board IDE port (with the LS120 set to Master. This worked fine, but when I closed the box and tried to boot up again, it wouldn't start. So I disconnected it. Next thing is to try to add the CDrom to as a slave to the 1.6 GB HD on the primary IDE port.
In short. The problem with my 60 GB harddrive is solved. But I'm facing new challenges when I add more IDE devices.
Luke
Hi - If I understand you better now the 60GB master detection you previously mentioned is the detection on the IDE add-on card - is that correct?
I have not had much to do with IDE add-on cards but if you decide to use the add-on card ports to which connect your IDE devices, disable the mainboard controllers to free up the resources as I suspect the ports between the mainboard and add-on card will clash. This may be responsible for some of your remaining problems that you just mentioned if you have not already disabled the mainboard IDE controllers.
PS: If your add-on card has a primary and secondary controller, I would use this to run all your drives off, and disable the mainboard IDE controllers. This way everything is consistent and you know that the add-on card's IDE controllers will handle disk sizes that you may otherwise have problems recognising.
Hope this info helps and that I am not again misunderstanding what you have already done.
I have not had much to do with IDE add-on cards but if you decide to use the add-on card ports to which connect your IDE devices, disable the mainboard controllers to free up the resources as I suspect the ports between the mainboard and add-on card will clash. This may be responsible for some of your remaining problems that you just mentioned if you have not already disabled the mainboard IDE controllers.
PS: If your add-on card has a primary and secondary controller, I would use this to run all your drives off, and disable the mainboard IDE controllers. This way everything is consistent and you know that the add-on card's IDE controllers will handle disk sizes that you may otherwise have problems recognising.
Hope this info helps and that I am not again misunderstanding what you have already done.
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Lucky Luke
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Ritchie,
You've got it.
I have though about using the add-on card only. I may want to try that if all else doesn't work and I still don't achieve what I want. The largest problem is to find out how the on-board IDE controller can be disabled......
Thanks again.
Luke
You've got it.
I have though about using the add-on card only. I may want to try that if all else doesn't work and I still don't achieve what I want. The largest problem is to find out how the on-board IDE controller can be disabled......
Thanks again.
Luke
Disabling the mainboard IDE controllers is fairly easy.
Although I have little familiarity with the BIOS setup pages of a Compaq BIOS, in most BIOSs when you go through the different pages and options available something like a setting for enabling and disabling an IDE controller usually is obvious and stands out when you come across it.
If you have a 1.6GB drive and an LS-120 drive attached to the mainboard primary controller it looks like the BIOS is showing that correctly. However, it is probably not a bad idea to move it all to the add-on card controller like you and I are thinking especially since the add-on card probably has more advanced and maybe faster controllers. And although I don't usually go to the trouble, a set of brand new ATA 100 cables probably wouldn't hurt either in achieving full compatibility and performance available out of your hardware.
Although I have little familiarity with the BIOS setup pages of a Compaq BIOS, in most BIOSs when you go through the different pages and options available something like a setting for enabling and disabling an IDE controller usually is obvious and stands out when you come across it.
If you have a 1.6GB drive and an LS-120 drive attached to the mainboard primary controller it looks like the BIOS is showing that correctly. However, it is probably not a bad idea to move it all to the add-on card controller like you and I are thinking especially since the add-on card probably has more advanced and maybe faster controllers. And although I don't usually go to the trouble, a set of brand new ATA 100 cables probably wouldn't hurt either in achieving full compatibility and performance available out of your hardware.
