On 20:06:57 May 13, Roshan wrote: > List, > > I have a very odd hardware problem, and I cannot > guess, which hardware is at fault. > (It might turn up to be a BIOS problem too, but read > on to help me out, if you can) > > I have a SAMSUNG HDD, 80 GB, and everytime I power my > system up, the BIOS shows up the disk space as 33280MB > (32/33 GB approx) of HDD space, leading to GRUB also > failing to recognize the partition to boot from (or > at-least display the GRUB menu). > > To actually determine what the problem is, I pop in a > LIVE CD, which should automatically mount FAT32 > partitions but doesn't. So, I start a terminal and > mount them manually. I restart the machine, and voila! > the BIOS now detects the HDD as a 80 GB HDD, and the > grub menu is seen. > If I later, shutdown the computer (with AC supply > still in) this configuration of 80 GB is lost. It > again shows up 332xx MB (32/33 GB approx) in the BIOS > and I have to reboot it through the LIVE CD and do > everything all again. Though I don't mind doing this, > I guess, it is simply a (machine) killer for the > DVD+-RW drive that I have recently purchased. > > I initially assumed it to be a problem with the Data > Cable, but it isn't so. > Next, I assumed it to be a problem with the HDD > itself, but that is unlikely, since once it boots, > there are no problems. The partitions don't throw > Filesystem errors. > Third, I assume it to be a problem with the motherboad > (the /bridges/ ?), but that too is *very* unlikely, > since, once the 80 GB is detected, it works without > problems. > So, it could be a BIOS problem, but can anyone confirm > on this? If I have to upgrade my BIOS (2002 version, I > guess) I think, it is a very risky thing to do (that's > what manuals say). > > How do I further go about analysing or solving this > problem? > Is the Linux kernel able to invoke some hardware that > reports the size to the BIOS which has failed?
Your mail is pretty good. It is due to BIOS doing CHS addressing instead of LBA addressing. I have seen this problem before. (I dunno if the reasoning is correct but at least it seems so). The BIOS is too old and so is the hardware. ;) But I never solved it. ;) I didn't have to. Went for a faster newer machine and graduates from IDE to SATA. Have you tried changing addressing mode in the BIOS? I had a 40G disk that was always reported as 33 GB. And remember. If the BIOS does not set up things for you the OS cannot doc much. I don't follow how your liveCD changes things on the next boot. -Girish _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe <password> <address>" in the subject or body of the message. http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
