HD capacity issue

  • Thread starter Thread starter houdini3003
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houdini3003

Hello, I am trying to reformat a new HD on an older PC for a friend. His XP
SP2 disk is the upgrade disk, so I'm installing win98se full version first
and then upgrading to XP. I've done this a few times before without issues.
My problem is when I look at "my computer" after the XP install it shows only
7.85gb capacity. I've put in a new 160gb harddrive. What happened to he rest
of the HD space? I've never had this happen before. I talked to a couple guys
I know that mess with PCs and they haven't seen this either. Any ideas?
 
1. No need to install Windows 98 before installing an upgrade version of
Windows XP.

2. Never mind how big the hard drive is...how large is the partition
into which XP is installed?
 
houdini3003 said:
I am trying to reformat a new HD on an older PC for a
friend. His XP SP2 disk is the upgrade disk, so I'm installing
win98se full version first and then upgrading to XP. I've done this
a few times before without issues. My problem is when I look at "my
computer" after the XP install it shows only
7.85gb capacity. I've put in a new 160gb harddrive. What happened
to he rest of the HD space? I've never had this happen before. I
talked to a couple guys I know that mess with PCs and they haven't
seen this either. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

The Windows XP (yes - the upgrade CD too) is bootable and contains all the
tools you need to get WIndows XP installed. Since you have an upgrade CD,
however - you will need the Windows 98 CD you are now using to install
(assuming it is a true installation CD) Windows 98 on the machine and you
can perform a complete clean installation using only the WIndows XP CD and
with just a brief 'check' of the Windows 98 CD when it is asked for.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

(Step 9 if you want to cheat and see the 'upgrade CD' usage.)
 
Skip the Win98 install but keep the CD handy as
you will need it when you use an XP Upgrade disk.

How to do a Clean Install of Windows XP
Start by changing the BIOS setting to Boot from CD drive first.
Then see below:

From Michael Steven's: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
more info: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm
and: http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_installation_of_windows_xp.htm
also: http://www.bootdisk.com/

Note: If the PC is too old it may not be able to see the full capacity of
your 160GB drive and may report it as 137GB. This is a motherboard
BIOS issue. Check to see if the PC or Motherboard manufacturer has
a BIOS update dated typically 2003 or later available.

Also make sure you have the drivers you need for your motherboard, video
card, sound card, Etc.
 
I've tried creating one partition and multiple ones by alloting different
percentages. So whatever capacity it is giving me during the creation of said
partitions, is what I'm making them, 100%.
 
Perhaps the hard drive partition is being restricted by installing win98
first. Do as others suggest and boot from the upgrade disk and follow the
instructions.
Neil
 
Thanks to all who responded. I didn't know that you could boot from the
upgrade CD. Then it did ask for the quick "check" of win98 and allowed me to
create the partitions from there. That was much easier than the way I've been
doing it. Also, after talking with tech support from where I purchased the
HD, I found out that I had a bad HD. So I had to get a new one. Doing the
install now and everything looks good. Thanks again guys.
 
You don't need to install 98, just have the disk handy when you indtall XP,
because it will ask you to prove you have Windows if it does not find one on
the HD.

Jim
 
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