137GB limit on Laptop

  • Thread starter Thread starter mscotgrove
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mscotgrove

The 80GB drive on Sony VGN-B3XP was about to die, so I purchased a new
160GB drive. Cloned the old one, fitted new one and works fine except
for the 137GB limit. The boot up BIOS says 137GB IDE for the drive.

I contacted Sony and they said there was no BIOS firmware update to
break the 137GB limit

Without a firmware update, do I just accept that I have 23GB I cannot
access? Not a big issue, just rather annoying.

Does anyone know of a reliable firmware update for the problem?

Michael
 
The 80GB drive on Sony VGN-B3XP was about to die, so I purchased a new
160GB drive. Cloned the old one, fitted new one and works fine except
for the 137GB limit. The boot up BIOS says 137GB IDE for the drive.
Click to expand...
I contacted Sony and they said there was no BIOS firmware update to
break the 137GB limit.
Click to expand...

So that is only a problem in DOS. Do you still use DOS?
In which case you may want to know if it wraps or just provides
access to only 137GB and errors out on access over 137GB.
Without a firmware update, do I just accept that I have 23GB I cannot
access?
Click to expand...

Like that you don't kow about drive overlays.
Not a big issue, just rather annoying.

Does anyone know of a reliable firmware update for the problem?
Click to expand...

There's people that produce patched versions of some BIOSes for a fee.
 
The 80GB drive on Sony VGN-B3XP was about to die, so I purchased a new
160GB drive. Cloned the old one, fitted new one and works fine except
for the 137GB limit. The boot up BIOS says 137GB IDE for the drive.
Click to expand...
I contacted Sony and they said there was no BIOS firmware update to
break the 137GB limit
Click to expand...
Without a firmware update, do I just accept that I have 23GB I cannot
access? Not a big issue, just rather annoying.
Click to expand...
Does anyone know of a reliable firmware update for the problem?
Click to expand...


http://www.community.windowsreinsta...ads&req=download&code=confirm_download&id=116

Try to download this utility and start it, enable the 48bit LBA support and
see if it's OK now...


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By runf

Damir Lukic, calypso@_MAKNIOVO_fly.srk.fer.hr
http://inovator.blog.hr
http://calypso-innovations.blogspot.com/
 
(e-mail address removed) wrote in

So that is only a problem in DOS. Do you still use DOS?
In which case you may want to know if it wraps or just provides
access to only 137GB and errors out on access over 137GB.




Like that you don't kow about drive overlays.



There's people that produce patched versions of some BIOSes for a fee.






- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

I am not using DOS, but Windows XP SP3

The BIOS is where the limit appears to be

Am looking at the www.48bitlba.com site the next poster pointed me
to. It may help.
 
The 80GB drive on Sony VGN-B3XP was about to die, so I purchased a new
160GB drive. Cloned the old one, fitted new one and works fine except
for the 137GB limit. The boot up BIOS says 137GB IDE for the drive.

I contacted Sony and they said there was no BIOS firmware update to
break the 137GB limit

Without a firmware update, do I just accept that I have 23GB I cannot
access? Not a big issue, just rather annoying.

Does anyone know of a reliable firmware update for the problem?

Michael
Click to expand...

Could you partition and format the drive as two logical drives in a
48-bit LBA capable machine, and then install it in your VGN-B3XP
machine? Wouldn't this allow the BIOS and XP to boot from the first
partition (in 28-bit LBA mode), and wouldn't XP's drivers then take
over from the BIOS and provide 48-bit LBA access to both partitions???

- Franc Zabkar
 
Could you partition and format the drive as two logical drives in a
48-bit LBA capable machine, and then install it in your VGN-B3XP
machine? Wouldn't this allow the BIOS and XP to boot from the first
partition (in 28-bit LBA mode), and wouldn't XP's drivers then take
over from the BIOS and provide 48-bit LBA access to both partitions???

- Franc Zabkar
Click to expand...

I will try that - though couriously, the computer management program,
part of XP, only sees a 128GB drive with three partitions. The
original 2 making about 75GB, and the third or 50GB being currently
unallocated. If XP skips the BIOS I would expect to see the full 160
GB

Michael
 
Previously [email protected] said:
The 80GB drive on Sony VGN-B3XP was about to die, so I purchased a new
160GB drive. Cloned the old one, fitted new one and works fine except
for the 137GB limit. The boot up BIOS says 137GB IDE for the drive.
Click to expand...
I contacted Sony and they said there was no BIOS firmware update to
break the 137GB limit
Click to expand...
Without a firmware update, do I just accept that I have 23GB I cannot
access? Not a big issue, just rather annoying.
Click to expand...
Does anyone know of a reliable firmware update for the problem?
Click to expand...
Michael
Click to expand...

I would advise against trying that. Any solution you can come up
with can break your installation, possibly at inconvenient times
without much warning. If this were Linux, I would say you could
probably reassign the rest of the drive with the known-to-be
reliable lvm and turn it into another drive. But under XP, I
would say it is a pretty high risk.

Arno
 
I will try that - though couriously, the computer management program,
part of XP, only sees a 128GB drive with three partitions. The original
2 making about 75GB, and the third or 50GB being currently unallocated.
Click to expand...
If XP skips the BIOS I would expect to see the full 160 GB
Click to expand...

For some odd reason the partitioning app included in windows still uses
BIOS routines. You need to use something else to work around that.
Like Franc said, use a different machine or use a partition app that
uses it's own 48-bit code or does not use BIOS to size the drive.
 
Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]
I would advise against trying that.
Click to expand...

He said "reliable", moronic Babblebot.
And he could always shortstroke the drive to 137GB and not be in any
risk of address wrap around.
Any solution you can come up with can break your installation, possibly
at inconvenient times without much warning. If this were Linux, I would
say you could probably reassign the rest of the drive with the known-to-
be reliable lvm and turn it into another drive.
Click to expand...
But under XP, I would say it is a pretty high risk.
Click to expand...

Idjut zealot Babblebot.
 
It is both Software and Bios support that needs to be in place to support LBA natively.
Click to expand...

Wrong. The BIOS support doesnt matter much, easily got around.
The workaround for years has been to use a drive overlay disk supplied
by the manufacturer of the drive, be it Maxtor, Seagate. WD etc...
Click to expand...

Which just happens to be software.
 
I said natively.
Click to expand...

Nothing will do it natively, you always need some software, even if thats just the OS.
Yes its easily got around by using a drive overlay.
But if the bios support is there in the first place, the need for a drive overlay is negated.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the bios alone isnt enough, you still need some software.
 
Eric Gisin wrote in news:p[email protected]
Ah, now I get it. You meant: besides yourself.
Sorry, missed that.
It sure is, FolkNazi.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's what I thought.
And that dares to accuse John Turd of dodging questions.
Not one hair better. Not a single one.
Use Google groups
Click to expand...

To read what all the other '****ing morons' have to say about it, Gisin?
 
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