Right, that's my impression as well. EZ-BIOS is actually referred to as
a "BIOS overlay", it loads after the BIOS. I have dealt with EZ-BIOS
and other pre-installed HD software (as on HP-distributed SCSI drives,
Compaqs, etc.) in various ways, including:
For EZ-BIOS, I've used unistall on the EZ-BIOS setup disk.
For any IDE disk, I often use clear.hdd (acquired from Western Digital's
site), which blows away any and all cylinder boundary markers in a few
seconds. I've never used it on any of the new huge IDE drives (18GB+),
so do so with caution. This is my preferred method, as it's quick and
final.
Finally, you should be able to use fdisk and format (DOS or Linux) to
kill any offending partitions/MBR code. Just don't try to deal with
this issue by reinstalling your BIOS!
-- Peter Yellman
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Peter Ogden wrote:
>
> Where did you get the idea that Hard Disk Drivers flash the BIOS? Every
> different model of motherboard has a different BIOS, there is no way they
> could provide BIOS changes for every motherboard. Yes, these drivers can
> cause problems and they can be difficult to remove (though some do now have
> uninstallation procedures), but they are simply a driver that starts from
> the MBR and intercepts all disk access code.
>
> - Peter Ogden
> Perth, West Australia
>
> E-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> WWW: http://www.esbconsult.com.au/ogden/
> or: http://surf.to/locost/
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Charles A Edwards [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: Thursday, 22 June 2000 9:03 pm
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: Re: [[newbie] Fw: LILO & Boot Magic install ?] new
> > explanation
> >
> >
> > The most likely causes of this error actually has nothing
> > to do with the
> > MBR, where it is at, or the size of any partitions. If your
> > hd was ever
> > formatted using a manufacturer floppy ( with IBM it is
> > EZDrive, Maxtor is
> > MaxBlast and I am sure others also have their own). The
> > program not only
> > formatted your drive but it also flashed your BIOS to fool the hd size
> > limitation and UDMA 66 incompatibility that older BIOSs had.
> > If this is the
> > case then neither LILO nor BootMagic can or will work as a
> > bootloader on
> > your system.
> > SystemCommander will work and in Mandrake 7.1 GRUB will
> > work.If neither
> > of these 2 is an option then the only be able to boot Linux is from a
> > floppy.
> >
> > Charles
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Michael Scottaline" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2000 5:06 AM
> > Subject: Re: [[newbie] Fw: LILO & Boot Magic install ?]
> >
> >
> > > "aifusionextreme" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > >
> > > <big snip>
> > > > The only Clue is the size:
> > > >
> > > > Boot magic actually gives an error message which says
> > that the primary
> > > partition must be in the first 1023 cylnders. Why is cares
> > about the rest
> > of
> > > the HD and not just the mbr I cant farthom. But there you
> > have it. Since
> > boot
> > > magic wont install and lilo does but fails I assume they
> > both cant handle
> > > larger drives. When I installed before I had nice neat
> > partitions around
> > the
> > > 2-4 GB mark. I assume this didnt exceed the 1023 cylders
> > option, assuming
> > that
> > > this is the cause. Currently I have a 14GB and a 40GB. Both
> > exitbite the
> > same
> > > behavoiur.
> > > >
> > > > if any body with the no-how can help in confirming this theory or
> > indictae
> > > what limitations the software might have the Please Help.
> > It is not just
> > me as
> > > you acan see from the posting.
> > > >
> > > > If there is a cyclionder limitation can you explain why a
> > boot manager
> > needs
> > > to know about anythning but the mbr ?
> > > >
> > > > More importantly how can go about fixing this bug ?
> > > >
> > > =========================================
> > > The size of the drive is NOT that critical, provided the
> > boot sector is
> > BELOW
> > > the 1024 limit (usually about 8 gig). Thus create a small
> > (10-12 meg)
> > boot
> > > partition below that limit (entirely) and linux should boot
> > just fine.
> > > Caldera has included a new booter in their eDesktop 2.4
> > distribution that
> > > evidently doesn't have this limitation. My guess is that
> > most distro will
> > be
> > > following suit with something similar in upcoming editions
> > of their own
> > > distros.
> > > Mike
> > >
> > > "Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol
> > > than alcohol has taken out of me."
> > > --Winston Churchill
> > >
> > > ____________________________________________________________________
> > > Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at
> > http://webmail.netscape.com.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
