JorgeA

Just to make sure I understand: If I went with the latter of these two, would I be doing the partitioning right on the laptop (as opposed to off another PC)? Yes. rloew, Thank you. What do you think of the BIOS Setup "User" options for configuring the HDD that I reported? I'm wondering if they suggest that maybe the disk could be configured manually. --JorgeA

rloew, Thank you for the explanation of TEST1. The BIOS Setup main menu offers (under Primary Master) a choice of Type to either autodetect the drive's values ("Auto"), or to enter the values manually ("User"). (I can also select "CD-ROM," or "None.") There is no menu choice labeled simply "Mode," but if I change the Type to User, then all the values become modifiable, including (among others) LBA Mode Control, Transfer Mode, and Ultra DMA Mode. The default values for these three when set to Auto are, respectively: Enabled, Fast PIO 4, and Mode 2. Just to make sure I understand: If I went with the latter of these two, would I be doing the partitioning right on the laptop (as opposed to off another PC)? --JorgeA

jaclaz, I can clear up the question of the exact model number. According to the Toshiba PDF that you linked to (thanks!), the *ZV is a 10GB drive, while the *ZF is a 15GB drive. The HDD I have is definitely the 15GB variety: Both the sticker on the back and the report by the DEKSI Hard Disk Manager program, indicate that its capacity is 15.1GB. The unformatted capacity is 14403MB, and the total sectors are 29498112 (29264 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors). Hopefully that will help to guide your investigation. --JorgeA

rloew, I ran the TEST1. It returned a single line: Test Passed What do you think? --JorgeA

jaclaz, Here's the drive model number: TOSHIBA MK1517GAP Firmware Revision A1.14 B Let me know if you need anything else. Thanks for the 5317.ZIP (and for changing it to a more common format!). I'll download it and the PHFLASH utility, and report back to you. What about the idea, discussed earlier in this thread, to take out the drive, connect it to the Win98 tower that does recognize HDD >8.4GB, and create a new partition there out of the unallocated space? --JorgeA

rloew, Thanks very much for TEST0.EXE. I downloaded the program, took it to the Win98SE notebook via USB thumb drive, copied it onto a floppy, then exited Windows using the "Restart in MS-DOS Mode" option, and then ran the program. I'm attaching a text file of the output. What does the program do? Further info: I didn't notice any jumpers on the HDD when I installed it, nor does the drive that I took out for replacement have any. As it was the first time I'd ever done anything like this, I was careful to inspect everything to make sure that, for example, all the pins matched all the holes and also that the pin arrangement on the new drive matched that of the old one. But I'll crack open the case if necessary. --JorgeA TEST0RPT.TXT

jaclaz, Too bad. I didn't have any luck either. Looks like we are at a dead end down this particular route, what do you think? Considering the severity of the risks involved in flashing the BIOS, I'm not sure that I'd want to use something "blindly" from a site where I can't read the descriptions. Edit: One question about the BIOS Setup. It includes an option called "Large Disk Access Mode," under which I can select either "DOS" or "Other." The default value is DOS. Is it worth a try to change it to "Other"? --JorgeA

rloew, I ran 48BITLBA.EXE in DOS by shutting down, then rebooting to a floppy. Here's what it returned: Drive 1: 8.4GB = 16513875 Sectors Not 48-Bit Disk Efforts by jaclaz and me to find a suitable BIOS update haven't turned up anything. If I understand the issue, we still have the choice of either running drive overlay software or (as Mijzelf and dencorso discussed) partitioning the disk off another PC -- or, have the alternatives narrowed down further? Thanks for kindly offering the tool for download. --JorgeA

jaclaz, That was a neat piece of investigative work you did there, to find these pages! Thank you very much for the links, although I see what you mean about the loose translation from Korean. (Machine translation is not a threat to my business, except among customers who actually think that MT is a viable alternative.) I especially liked the line warning the reader that, “you will overload your a*s down to 133.” The talk about the BIOS update seems to focus mainly on Y2K and serial port issues, so maybe the update wouldn’t help us anyway. What's your impression? Edit: I found this. See section 8C on page 42. Does it shed any light on the issue? Found this also. If it shows up correctly on your screen, you'll see nine listings for the 430TX chipset, which is what my notebook has. Does it help? Then there's this. Search for "addressing" and you'll find references to LBA on pages 11 and 28. Hope this helps -- you're much better qualified than I to tell whether it does help. Finally, there is this page which appears to offer driver downloads (but I don't read Korean). I’ll follow up on the thread from the Wimsbios forum and see if anything turns up. --JorgeA

rloew, Thanks for the additional details. Let me see if I understand the purpose of 48BITLBA.EXE: It’s to check whether the BIOS does support LBA? And then, if it does support LBA, then there’ll be no need to look for a BIOS update? --JorgeA

dencorso, Good, that’s what I thought. Gives me hope that I can figure out this stuff. That CMOSSave/CMOSRest combo sounds very handy. I’ll put it on both of my Win98 machines. --JorgeA

jaclaz, That's amazing -- to find such a site. I've tried using the Wayback Machine a few times over the years, with mixed success. Two different stickers on the bottom of the notebook say that it's a CN530. They look legit, as far as I can tell. FWIW, "CN530" is a real model number for a Daewoo notebook. Is there anything else I can get for you to help things along? Maybe it's time to open the case and take a look inside. Let me know. --JorgeA

jaclaz, Thanks a bunch for the links to this adapter. VERY cool. B) You know, the model of this laptop never did come up in this thread. It's a Daewoo CN530. Did you check out the report from the Hard Disk Manager? It may have all the info that we need on the drive. --JorgeA

rloew, Thanks very much for the instructions, and for the info on BOOTMAN. I went on your website, and you have a variety of neat tools. PATCHMEM sounds particularly exciting, but the proper thing to do is to contact you privately. Before I try the Debug instructions, I have a question. You may have read on this thread that the CMOS battery is failing, and loses its charge (and the BIOS settings along with it) if I leave the computer unplugged for more than a couple of minutes. Then I have to go in and manually re-enter the values I had chosen. (It keeps defaulting back to disabled floppy booting.) Would that count as a reset, or should I still go ahead and perform the Debug procedure that you described? One more question. If we determine that LBA is not supported on this computer, should I perform this Debug procedure to reset the BIOS, anyway? --JorgeA

dencorso, Such an adapter would be fantastic! I no longer shudder to think of going inside a PC's case, but a solution that avoids having to do that is welcome for sure. What item names (kind of item, not necessarily brand names) would I search under for (1) the internal adapter connecting the disk and the cables, and (2) the kit with the 3-way USB connector? Thanks for the recommendation on the Ranish Partition Manager. It's always a plus in a product's favor when an expert endorses it! It sounds like there are two plausible ways to address (so to speak) the issue of this HDD: using drive overlay software, and partitioning it off another PC. It'll be interesting to see where the discussion leads us. --JorgeA

jaclaz, I went on the BIOS update website that you suggested, and they couldn't find any updates for my BIOS! I'm attaching a copy of the page with the BIOS information. Note that they couldn't find an ID string for it, either. Are we out of luck on that score (the BIOS ID string)? I found the following information. Check out what it says about the Phoenix BIOS. But we're in better shape with regard to the hard disk drive. I'm also attaching the report generated by the DEKSI Hard Disk Manager, redacted only for privacy (we ARE on the Internet, after all!). Just remembered I had done this. Incorporating the report to the text here, though, would make this post very long. That source seems to be pretty definite as to whether this HDD does LBA; look under ATA Features. (Never mind the "Power On Time," it always shows the same enormous value even if I've just turned on the computer.) Let's say that we determine that this drive doesn't do LBA. Where do we stand, then -- do I still have both of the partitioning choices discussed by rloew (drive overlay software) and by Mijzelf and dencorso (attach the HDD to another computer and partition it there)? Thank you for doing all this digging. --JorgeA BiosAgentPlus_com - BIOS Selection.htm Disk report 2010 06 16.txt

Hi Multibooter, That really is a weird problem. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the HDD that my notebook BIOS is burping at is only 15GB, so it's far from facing the 64GB issue, but maybe this means that Steunebrink's utility is still useful in this case? This notebook has exactly the same problem with the hinges that you mention! The hinges have deep cracks in them, but the screen does still stay upright. In some ways this little Daewoo notebook is like the Russian Mir space station, beat up and held together with wires and duct tape but still somehow chugging along. Can't find a revision number for this machine's BIOS, either in the POST screen or in System Information. My Win98FE tower, though, also has a PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0, and according to the POST screen it's revision A07. Norton SystemWorks reports the date as 03/15/99. That computer has always handled its 13GB hard disk without a hitch. I do remember looking into Partition Magic 8.01 at some point, but I forget why I didn't go that way. Maybe I just didn't know enough about the technical issues to just go ahead and try it (prudence being the better part of valor). I do remember thinking that I should first ask about it on this forum. Thanks. --JorgeA

dencorso, Oh, I see. I was thinking the adapter would be a cabley sort of thing, but it's not. It's the same device that Georg suggested in the Spybot thread to manually scan a hard disk on a different computer. So let me make sure I know everything I need to have if we decide to go this route. I'd need the adapter, plus a data cable and possibly a power cable (depending on how generous Dell was inside the tower case) to connect the notebook HDD. And then, if I read Mijzelf correctly, we could use the version of FDISK from the PC that does recognize drives >8GB. Let me know if I'm missing (or misunderstanding) something. --JorgeA

jaclaz, Before we get into the innards of the PC, check out the report (attached) that Jan Steunebrink's EXTBIOS.EXE utility generated. (I just rediscovered it sitting in a USB stick.) Maybe it will save us some work. From the looks of it, it appears that this drive maybe does support LBA. FWIW, the BIOS Setup does give a choice to use autodetect or to set the drive values manually. What do you think? --JorgeA BIOSRPT.TXT

Mijzelf, Thanks for the additional info! Please forgive the elementary question, but -- Let's say that we decided that the best way to go in creating a new partition for this notebook HDD is to connect it to a desktop PC. The adapter would connect at one end to the HDD. Where would the other end go, and would I also need a power cable for the notebook HDD? --JorgeA

dencorso, I continue to be amazed by the breadth of knowledge and the wealth of information possessed by the folks who participate in this forum. And by you all's willingness to share. BTW, going back to what I said about the CMOS battery discharging when the PC is unplugged, and losing its settings -- does that count as a reset, or only if I initiate the process? --JorgeA

I sell a version of my BOOTMAN Drive Overlay that would provide the support you require. You can reset the CMOS without removing the battery by corrupting it's checksum. rloew, Thanks very much for the offer. Where can I get more information on BOOTMAN? I will definitely consider it if the other approaches being discussed here don't work. Also, how does one go about corrupting the CMOS checksum? --JorgeA

Arminius, Thanks for the info on those dates -- that solves one mystery. Sadly, the manufacturer (Daewoo) went bust about ten years ago, and most of the company’s operations (including computers) were shut down. (No rebooting possible there...) Found this out when I searched for a BIOS update a few weeks ago. And it looks like the CMOS battery is soldered into place, so that approach appears to be out, too. That said, the CMOS battery is now old enough that it discharges every time I disconnect the machine from the AC adapter for more than a couple of minutes, forcing me to re-enter the desired settings. (To get around that, I just leave it plugged in all the time.) So I guess that could be one way to "remove" the CMOS battery!? To simulate your suggestion, I could unplug the AC adapter and remove the power battery, press the on/off switch for a few seconds, then stop and plug the AC back in and turn the computer back on. --JorgeA

Mijzelf, Discipline won't be a problem. OTOH, connecting a notebook HDD to a regular PC is an attractive idea, but I'm not very clear on how to do that. If I connect the laptop’s HD to another computer internally, can I “just do it” or will I have to be careful about jumper settings and other issues? Does it make any difference that it’s a physically small laptop drive? Will I need to get any special cabling that wouldn't already exist inside the case? Not ruling out doing this, I just want to know what I'd need to do and have in order to get the job done. And, keeping in mind that we're doing this for a Win98SE computer, could I connect the HDD to the Win98FE tower to do the partitioning? Changing the subject a little -- What do you think about drive overlay software as an alternative (assuming that I can find one that’ll work with this drive)? Sorry to pepper you (and everybody else) with questions! Gratefully, --JorgeA

jaclaz, A SECOND barrier at 8GB??? Aaaarrgghhh!!!! But the very informative articles, on how hard disks are structured, are much appreciated! I do remember answering “Yes” when FDISK asked if I wanted to enable large disk support. When (following your instructions) I booted to DOS and opened FDISK, there was a menu of choices. Which one should I select to get you the information that you asked for? Here is what “Display partition information” (choice #4) reported: Partition- C: 1 Status- A Type- PRI DOS Volume Label- NEWDRIVE (the creative, original name I gave it) Mbytes- 8062 System- FAT32 Usage- 100% Hope this helps. What do you think? --JorgeA