Hello everyone, i've built my first computer and had a couple of questions. First i need to update my bios and dont know how when i go the website there is a section for bios and drivers, do i do both of them? On the bios do i download it straight from the website or do i have to put it on a disk or something? Also i have a 200GB harddrive and it only reads as 128GB is there any way i can get the rest back, its a maxtor HD. i have not updated anything yet because i dont know which to do first. thanks for the help! OH and here are my specs. ECS 755-A2 MB AMD sempron 2800+ 512MB DDR 400mhz PC3200 maxtor 200GB HD PNY G-force FX 5500 AGP 8X 128DDR NEC 3550A 16X DVD ROM
unless theres something not working on your system then you dont need to update your bios and shouldnt. the hard drive wont actually read as 200GB it will come up as about 180Gig. what type of connection is the hd is it IDE or SATA
thanks for the fast reply syphertek! heres what i just found out, the 512MB is only reading as 256. The hard drive is IDE/133
u know what. if a 512mb stick is showing up as a 256 theres something wrong. id get that replaced. If you can id try out that hard drive in another computer to see if its still picked up as 128gb. if it is id go get that replaced to. Your motherboard can take SATA hard drives which are better than IDE ones so i would concider replacing your drive for one of these.
Macario To get your os to reconize the larger drive go here. https://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/olh_adp.php?p_faqid=960&p_sid=VxEG*1Xh&p_lva=#
i was looking around at other forums and some people were having the same problem with the ram and they solved it by updating the bios. What do you think i should do? As far as the hard drive i would replace it but i'm kind of on a budget, in the manual it says something about installing maxblast4, but dont know if that will help. I bought all these parts for the computer at different times when i had money, guess i have to stick with what i got. I appreciate all your help syphertek!
ah yes i forgot about that. bluto is right that link will help you fix the drive. but personally id still swap it out for a SATA drive for 2 reasons. 1. SATA is faster 2. Maxtor SATA drives dont get that problem (at least mine didnt anyway). (also it was cheaper than the IDE drive) you can try updating your bios but i dont like advising that as ive seen to many ppl screw up there pcs by getting it wrong so if you do give it a go make sure to download a copy of your existing bios incase it goes wrong.
thanks bluto ill look into it, think it will work since i already have xp pro installed? as far as updating the bios, what do i put it on a floppy or a cdr and also how do i do it?
Macario, has nothing to do with sata or ide but windows it self. does your motherboard sees the entire hd or as a 128meg? if using xp, do you have sp1 or sp2 installed? read this link about changing size to full capacity of hd even tho says seagate still the same for all manufacturers whether seagate, maxtor, quantum or western digital. http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/137_winxp.html
actually ddp the bios says 203GB. after i installed xp i didnt update anything wasnt sure if i had to do in certain order i.e. win,bios,drivers, etc. so i guess i should update first.
can be found using fdisk to make 2nd partition using a win9x bootdisk, by partitioning again in xp, use a disk from hd manufacturer, use partition magic or use my link or similar to correct the problem. also updating to sp1 or sp2 might work without having to do what i just said.
