400 GB drive only shows 32GiB (solved)

[MediumRare]

For various reasons that I don't want to get into (yet), I decided to replace the system hard drive (PATA) in my main computer.

I picked up a 400 GB Samsung HD400LD to replace a 120 GB Maxtor- figured bigger drives are faster and a couple more GB don't hurt. Unfortunately, when I tried to install it, the BIOS only showed a capacity of 32 GiB.

Is there some IDE limit in drive size at work here? Is it a BIOS problem or even a chipset limit?

The motherboard is an Epox EP-8RDA3+ (nVidia nForce2-400 chipset), ca. 3 years old. I'm not sure if I'm running the latest BIOS- the newest avaialble dates from Feb. 2004.

I'd appreciate some help from the hardware gurus here.

G
edit: updated title

[Ian]

You'd think a 3 year old motherboard would be able to detect a 400GB hard drive. Then again, hard drives have come a long way since then.

I ran into a similar problem with my nForce4 board. The BIOS saw it fine, but Windows didn't recognize the correct size without installing the IDE drivers first.

[Bhairav]

G: Couple of things you may need to try:

1) Is there a jumper limiting the capacity to 32GB?

2) Upgrade motherboard BIOS?

3) Ensure the jumper is set to Master or Slave, NOT cable select.


If these fail, you may need to use an add-in IDE controller, with XPSP2.

[MediumRare]

I never use cable select- it's primary slave right now and will go to master when (!!) I get the data transferred.

I'm at work right now, so I can't look for another 9 hours... But I remember some information on jumpers (including the capacity limit) printed on the label. I couldn't find this jumper though.

I ran across another report just now that seems to indicate that the capacity jumper may be the problem. I'll have another closer look when I get home- the capacity limit may be combined with the master/slave setting.

G

[bill]

Hi guys

It's kind of strange the way Samsung set up the jumpers for that drive- main page . (edit- deleted incorrect link)


Good luck, G.

[MediumRare]

It was the jumper- I removed it and the full 400 GB are accessible now. Thanks for helping me look.

@bill: that document is not very clear to me. Just what does "Lower 32GB", "Upper 32GB" or "With capacity limitation in upper 32GB" mean? I have 3 Samsung SATA drives, but this is the first time I've had to decipher their jumpers on a PATA drive.

The drive came with one jumper, set for "Master in lower 32GB (capacity < 32 GB)" and I initially just moved it over by one, with these disastrous results. I guess I'll have another look via Google or do some trial and error before finishing this off.

Anyway- the main problem is solved- bring on the next one....

Edit: I just found the Installation guide and I'm home free (page 3 says it all).

G

[bill]

Sorry about the bad jumper link posted above (now deleted), glad you found the correct settings. FWIW, I just took a look at my HD300LD drive and it uses the same jumper settings as the HD400LD.

Any particular reason why you bought the Samsung instead of another Maxtor?

[MediumRare]

Any particular reason why you bought the Samsung instead of another Maxtor?

100 Euros vs 130, basically.

The Maxtor had some defective sectors which their disc utility "repaired" (probably by marking them as unusable). As I mentioned, I have 3 Samsung SATA drives of varying ages and they're very quiet, inexpensive and more than fast enough for my needs. So I saw no reason to spend more.


G