install and use of linux with a drive too big for bios
Have an old Asus k7m motherboard who's bios cannot handle the 120gig drive that replaced the 13gig that died. Any tips on how to get Linux installed and running again? thanks
make a small parition at the beginning of the drive and work with that, the linux tools will see the whole thing, if the kernel can. On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:15:58 -0600, hanasaki <hanasaki@hanaden.com> wrote:
Have an old Asus k7m motherboard who's bios cannot handle the 120gig drive that replaced the 13gig that died. Any tips on how to get Linux installed and running again?
thanks _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
-- David L Nicol You're striving for harmony, and, if you try to take too much, you'll come to grief. -- Michael Redmond
--- David Nicol <davidnicol@gmail.com> wrote:
make a small parition at the beginning of the drive and work with that, the linux tools will see the whole thing, if the kernel can.
The only potential problem here is that he might have to jumper the drive to be a lot smaller to fit under what I think is the BIOS 64GB limit for some older motherboards. If the BIOS can't read the drive in its 120GB state, then no amount of tiny partitions will allow him to boot. And if he jumpers the drive to be 64GB, then Linux will also agree that its 64GB and he loses half the drive size. His choices are boot from floppy, or boot from a smaller master hard drive.
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:15:58 -0600, hanasaki <hanasaki@hanaden.com> wrote:
Have an old Asus k7m motherboard who's bios cannot handle the 120gig drive that replaced the 13gig that died. Any tips on how to get Linux installed and running again?
thanks
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Dress up your holiday email, Hollywood style. Learn more. http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com
Anyone have an IDE drive they would be willing to part with? 5 - 20gig EMail me back directly with logistics. thanks Leo Mauler wrote:
--- David Nicol <davidnicol@gmail.com> wrote:
make a small parition at the beginning of the drive and work with that, the linux tools will see the whole thing, if the kernel can.
The only potential problem here is that he might have to jumper the drive to be a lot smaller to fit under what I think is the BIOS 64GB limit for some older motherboards. If the BIOS can't read the drive in its 120GB state, then no amount of tiny partitions will allow him to boot. And if he jumpers the drive to be 64GB, then Linux will also agree that its 64GB and he loses half the drive size.
His choices are boot from floppy, or boot from a smaller master hard drive.
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:15:58 -0600, hanasaki <hanasaki@hanaden.com> wrote:
Have an old Asus k7m motherboard who's bios cannot handle the 120gig drive that replaced the 13gig that died. Any tips on how to get Linux installed and running again?
thanks
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Dress up your holiday email, Hollywood style. Learn more. http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com
--- hanasaki <hanasaki@hanaden.com> wrote:
Anyone have an IDE drive they would be willing to part with? 5 - 20gig
EMail me back directly with logistics.
thanks
HyperTech computers at the mall at the corner of 87th & Farley in Lenexa fairly regularly has old 2GB-30GB drives they pulled out of older systems. Unlike the used computer stores they tend to price reasonably, anywhere from $8 for the 2GB drives to $25 for the 30GB drives. If you really get desperate and need something quick, and HyperTech doesn't have any to spare, you can always go to the Computer Swap & Shop between Lamar and Nall on Johnson Drive in Merriam, KS. They'll charge you $15 for a 1GB drive, $20 for a 2GB drive, or $25 for a 3GB drive. Its a very high price for what you get, but its a drive under the motherboard limits for hard drives. Also, MicroCenter at 93rd & Metcalf in Overland Park has some sub-64GB drives available. Last time I was there they had new and refurbished 20GB, 40GB, and 60GB drives for about $30, $50, and $65 respectively. You can always go the third route I didn't mention last time, which is booting from a USB pendrive, if your motherboard supports booting from a USB device. If you can still find one, I'd bet that 16-32MB USB pendrives are probably down around $10 (saw a $40 256MB USB pendrive package which included a 16MB pendrive for free), and 16-32MB is more than enough for a /boot partition. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
On Friday 31 December 2004 07:05 am, Leo Mauler wrote:
You can always go the third route I didn't mention last time, which is booting from a USB pendrive, if your motherboard supports booting from a USB device.
Ok, let's think about this for just a minute here - the motherboard doesn't support a 120G HD, but it's gonna support a USB boot device?
Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
On Friday 31 December 2004 07:05 am, Leo Mauler wrote:
You can always go the third route I didn't mention last time, which is booting from a USB pendrive, if your motherboard supports booting from a USB device.
Ok, let's think about this for just a minute here - the motherboard doesn't support a 120G HD, but it's gonna support a USB boot device?
I thought Hanasaki fixed this when he finally looked at the jumpers and found that the factory set some jumper that crippled the drive to 32GB. As seen on IRC. ---------------------------------------------- Somewhere there is a village missing an idiot.
--- Jonathan Hutchins <hutchins@tarcanfel.org> wrote:
On Friday 31 December 2004 07:05 am, Leo Mauler wrote:
You can always go the third route I didn't mention last time, which is booting from a USB pendrive, if your motherboard supports booting from a USB device.
Ok, let's think about this for just a minute here - the motherboard doesn't support a 120G HD, but it's gonna support a USB boot device?
I only mentioned it because I've got an Asus K7133C motherboard (with a 1.3GHz Duron) which has the "USB Device" option in the boot options in the BIOS...but the motherboard has a 64GB limitation on the boot drive. I upgraded the BIOS and everything, and the new 80GB drive I bought wouldn't boot on the motherboard. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
On Fri, Dec 31, 2004 at 05:05:34AM -0800, Leo Mauler wrote:
HyperTech computers at the mall at the corner of 87th & Farley in Lenexa
Computer Swap & Shop between Lamar and Nall on Johnson Drive in Merriam, KS.
Also, MicroCenter at 93rd & Metcalf in Overland Park
Thanks for the summary of shops like this in the area. KC is big enough that I know there has to be shops like these, but any time I visit, it's hard to know where to look for them, how far away they are, if they're still in business, etc. Tried to go to one for which I saw a sign in Lee's Summit, MO, but when I actually got into the strip mall, it had been turned into something else. Only thing I could find was a Best Buy. -- Joe
Should this list be added to the wiki? D. Joe Anderson wrote:
On Fri, Dec 31, 2004 at 05:05:34AM -0800, Leo Mauler wrote:
HyperTech computers at the mall at the corner of 87th & Farley in Lenexa
Computer Swap & Shop between Lamar and Nall on Johnson Drive in Merriam, KS.
Also, MicroCenter at 93rd & Metcalf in Overland Park
Thanks for the summary of shops like this in the area. KC is big enough that I know there has to be shops like these, but any time I visit, it's hard to know where to look for them, how far away they are, if they're still in business, etc. Tried to go to one for which I saw a sign in Lee's Summit, MO, but when I actually got into the strip mall, it had been turned into something else. Only thing I could find was a Best Buy.
--- Gerald Combs <gerald@ethereal.com> wrote:
Should this list be added to the wiki?
If it is, I should also note that "The Computer Garage" up on Merriam Drive has gone out of business. I haven't been there in awhile, but "Telectronics" is still at 80th & Santa Fe. Run by a nice Korean Family, they do a two page ad in "ComputerUser" and they always have inexpensive things such as $20 CDROM drives.
D. Joe Anderson wrote:
On Fri, Dec 31, 2004 at 05:05:34AM -0800, Leo Mauler wrote:
HyperTech computers at the mall at the corner of 87th & Farley in Lenexa
Computer Swap & Shop between Lamar and Nall on Johnson Drive in Merriam, KS.
Also, MicroCenter at 93rd & Metcalf in Overland Park
Thanks for the summary of shops like this in the area. KC is big enough that I know there has to be shops like these, but any time I visit, it's hard to know where to look for them, how far away they are, if they're still in business, etc. Tried to go to one for which I saw a sign in Lee's Summit, MO, but when I actually got into the strip mall, it had been turned into something else. Only thing I could find was a Best Buy.
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
On Thursday 06 January 2005 01:24 am, Leo Mauler wrote:
I haven't been there in awhile, but "Telectronics" is still at 80th & Santa Fe. Run by a nice Korean Family, they do a two page ad in "ComputerUser" and they always have inexpensive things such as $20 CDROM drives.
Note that should you have any problems with items purchased there, the ability to speak Korean is essential - no-one who speaks English will be available. They make their living on price and price alone, quality is no object.
--- "D. Joe Anderson" <kclug@etrumeus.com> wrote:
On Fri, Dec 31, 2004 at 05:05:34AM -0800, Leo Mauler wrote:
HyperTech computers at the mall at the corner of 87th & Farley in Lenexa
Computer Swap & Shop between Lamar and Nall on Johnson Drive in Merriam, KS.
Also, MicroCenter at 93rd & Metcalf in Overland Park
Thanks for the summary of shops like this in the area. KC is big enough that I know there has to be shops like these, but any time I visit, it's hard to know where to look for them, how far away they are, if they're still in business, etc. Tried to go to one for which I saw a sign in Lee's Summit, MO, but when I actually got into the strip mall, it had been turned into something else. Only thing I could find was a Best Buy.
I happen to shop at these three stores. I found HyperTech in "ComputerUser". When they have used computer parts such as hard drives, they price them reasonably (like a 2GB hard drive for $8). MicroCenter was a store I ordered bulk floppy disks from, which happened to put a physical store into Overland Park. They're the "Wal-Mart" of computer stores. Finally, Computer Swap & Shop used to be a really good place to find used computer parts (like used PCI cards and suchlike), but they started selling complete systems and only have the used and cheap computer parts as a sideline now. The one thing you can say about them is that you'll always find a supply of used hard drives, used and cheap PCI cards, and bulk screws/motherboard spacers and the like. Everything except the bulk bits will be way too expensive (such as a 2GB hard drive for $24.95) but if you desperately need a sub-8.4GB drive and HyperTech has nothing, then go to Computer Swap & Shop. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Linux ignores the BIOS, but some motherboards (probably including the Asus K7M) don't allow you to boot from a hard drive which the BIOS can't read at startup. I too had this situation with my current Linux system (dual PII-450Mhz) and the 80GB hard drive I put in it. My solution was to mount a 1GB hard drive as the master, and the 80GB drive as the slave, on the Primary IDE. The 1GB drive is about 50MB /boot, and the rest I devoted to /var as I don't have a great many log files on this mostly personal desktop machine. Once the machine boots, Linux takes over and ignores the whining and moaning coming from the BIOS, allowing full access to the monster hard drive. If you can't find a hard drive to mount as slave (sounds like your motherboard has the 64GB limit, so anything up to 64GB should work as the master drive), you could always boot from a floppy disk. Its all just a matter of getting the system booted and handing over control of the hard drives to Linux. Or get one of the uber-geeks here to help you create a boot CD geared for your system. 8-) --- hanasaki <hanasaki@hanaden.com> wrote:
Have an old Asus k7m motherboard who's bios cannot handle the 120gig drive that replaced the 13gig that died. Any tips on how to get Linux installed and running again?
thanks
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
On Thursday 30 December 2004 05:15 pm, hanasaki wrote:
Have an old Asus k7m motherboard who's bios cannot handle the 120gig drive that replaced the 13gig that died. Any tips on how to get Linux installed and running again?
Have you flashed the BIOS to the latest firmware from Asus? That may take care of the problem. If not, a newer K7 motherboard would be around $60, and the older board could be re-tasked as a workstation with a smaller drive.
participants (7)
-
Brian Kelsay -
D. Joe Anderson -
David Nicol -
Gerald Combs -
hanasaki -
Jonathan Hutchins -
Leo Mauler