Help me

[ryanfowler1]

I have a old 486 computer and i have just acquired a new hard drive and disposed of the old one.this new hard drive is 580mg and it has win 98 installed on it,when i pluged it in i tried to modify the type of hard drive in bios but there wasn't one the right size.what can i do because the only thing i can acess is the bios which is a very old version.please please help,thanks alot Ryan

[Vernon Frazee]

Somewhere under the hard drive settings there is a User Defined type ... usually up around 46 or 47. Once you select this you can manually enter the correct parameters for the hard drive (such as number of heads etc.).

If you don't know the particulars about the hard drive, post the manufacturer and model number and we'll see what we can find.

[Eeyore]

Since your hard drive is 580mb, the 486 BIOS may not support more than 512mb. Find the brand and model of the hard drive and go to the manufacturer's site, as Vernon said. Look for the settings for the drive (cyl, heads, etc.). If those numbers cannot be recognized by the BIOS, Download the Drive Manager overlay program (EZ-BIOS, On Track, DISK Manager, etc.) from the manufacturer's site. This allows you to use a drive larger than what the computer was designed for.

Let us know if this works.
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[This message has been edited by Eeyore (edited 01-07-2001).]

[PCSolutions]

Another thing to consider with this is that the new drive has 98 on it. I wouldnt put 98 on a 486 system. If it runs at all it will be dirt slow. MIcrosoft says it will work with a 486 but will it work well? I doubt it

I think that the size if the drive posted is acutally incorrect. ITs most likely a 540. As posted, there might be a BIOS limitation if the system doesnt support LBA

[D EARL C]

Ryan, I would be very leery of (EZ-BIOS, On Track, DISK Manager, etc.). They use address space, place themselves in the boot sector, and can, on occasion corrupt other files on the disk. I tried both EZ- BIOS and On Track when I upgraded to a larger drive on the 486. They caused all kinds of problems. You can get a new bios form this company, http://www.unicore.com I bought the BIOS upgrade from them in 1996 for the 486, cost 80 bucks. It has never has caused a bit of problems. It is a reputable company and will treat you right and give tech help if needed. The web site has a feature to figure out your old bios type.
Originally posted by ryanfowler1:
I have a old 486 computer and i have just acquired a new hard drive and disposed of the old one.this new hard drive is 580mg and it has win 98 installed on it,when i pluged it in i tried to modify the type of hard drive in bios but there wasn't one the right size.what can i do because the only thing i can acess is the bios which is a very old version.please please help,thanks alot Ryan