I'm having more HDD partition issues...

[citronym]

I picked up a new 250gb Maxtor PATA hdd last week, and initially threw it on the secondary channel as master, with a DVDR as slave. I spent several days benchmarking it and setting up the partitions how I wanted them, and this morning I rearranged the drives in my system, setting up the new Maxtor as primary master. When I booted up to a dos prompt to install Windows onto it, the partitions I made were gone. So I rebooted and went into the BIOS, and noticed that it had been auto detected as CHS. I don't know for sure how it was detected when I initially put it in, but I'm pretty sure it was LBA because when I forced it to LBA my partitions were back. So I fired up PM8 and it gave me this error: "Disk 1 (239366 30515c 255h 63s) appears to have partitions created using a different drive geometry (16h 63s). This serious problem can lead to data loss, back up data and repartition..." So, obviously something is still off. I won't lose any data by repartitioning, but I want to know what I did wrong. Is it perhaps supposed to be on LARGE setting instead of LBA? What would cause my BIOS to detect it as CHS?

I would like to understand everything going on here before I continue, so that I don't lose any data.

TIA

I tried it with the LARGE setting in the BIOS, and got a similar (if not, the same) error. What mode is it supposed to be detected as? (CHS, LBA or LARGE). Could this mean I may have damaged the drive somehow when I was switching them around?

[Know Nuttin]

Most drives are set for LBA in the BIOS.

What did you use to partition them before?

The only thing is, that by the BIOS changing the mode, it may have ruined the partitions. I can't explain why it would have detected them as something other than LBA.

[citronym]

I've used Partition Magic to partition them every time.

What would cause the BIOS to want to use CHS mode for the HDD? The only way to run it in LBA is to force it.

[citronym]

Yes, the system in my sig. OS is XP (although IDK why that matters for a BIOS issue). The BIOS I'm using is 17de82ts.

It was working fine when I first installed this 250gb, and I don't know what changed.

I don't have a problem just repartitioning and trying again, but I'm curious about what the underlying cause of my BIOS using CHS by default, so I can avoid this in the future. I've always used the BIOS auto detect settings, and all of a sudden its a problem and I have to manually set it.

I tried the latest BIOS from the Abit website, and it didn't have an effect.

[citronym]

When I first set up the 250gb in my computer, I had the following configuration. Primary master was Hitachi 200gb, and slave was Maxtor 60gb. (I use master/slave and not CS if that matters). Secondary was the new 250gb as master, and a DVDR as slave (LiteON 1693s). I am not certain, but I am assuming it was configured as LBA automatically. I never even went into the BIOS when I installed it, I accepted that it was recognized and was happy. I had it this way for a few days, doing various testing such as HD-Tach so I would have an understanding of how this drive performed compared to my other drives. I used PM8 and set up my partitions, with a primary, and a few logicals in an extended partition. I was replacing my 200gb with this drive, so I copied the contents of the corresponding drives from the 200 to the 250. Once I was prepared to install windows onto the 250, I shut my computer down and rearranged all the drives (at which point I could have caused damage to a piece of hardware for all I know). I put the 250gb on the primary channel as master, and threw in a Seagate 150gb in place of the Maxtor 60gb (another upgrade) as primary slave. I then put the 200gb as the secondary master, and continued with the DVDR as the slave on that channel. I am certain that all drives were jumpered properly. I used a boot disc and ran PM8 for DOS (so I could delete the primary partition on the 200gb, and make the primary on the new 250 active). When I ran PM8 for DOS, there were no partitions. So I rebooted and went into the BIOS and noticed it was operating as CHS. I turned off auto detect and forced LBA. I rebooted and ran PM8 for DOS again, and this time I got the error telling me that the 250gb had been partitioned using a different geometry, and that I should back up the data and repartition it. I thought it might be PM8 for DOS being wacky, so I booted off my 200gb which still held a primary partition with windows installed on it. I ran PM8 in windows, and I got the same error. I opened the Windows Disk Manager, and it didn't mention anything about the partitions.

I assume it was running in LBA when I first installed it, and not CHS, since I could view my partitions with it running in LBA mode and not in CHS mode.

I tried putting the drive back how it was when I first installed, as a master on the secondary channel with the DVDR as slave, but it was still auto detecting CHS mode. I tried various other configurations, including single drive on the channel, all with the same results.

I have installed windows with it forced LBA, and everything seems to be working fine. If I can't figure this out I will just have to be sure to force LBA mode in the BIOS from now on, but again, I would still like to figure out what changed.

I hope that doesn't seem like a rant, but I wanted to make clear my step by step process. I appreciate your input so far, one step at a time.

[citronym]

not at all a rant ... just a clear description of your actions.

-before you put in the MX250, were you configured as:
WinXP SP2
PM: Hit200
PS: MX60

SM: DVDR
SS: -None-
Yes.

It was boot disk emulation from a 98 boot disk put on a CD. PM8 for DOS that I ran was from the rescue diskettes that PM8 asks to make during installation, also put on the CD.

[citronym]

I'm not sure if it was 98 or 98se. I can check that out later. I am familiar with 48bit LBA and the previous lack of support for it. I have been using the same tequnique with large drives and it works fine, as long as I don't try and access large partitions from DOS. I have been using 200gb drives for a couple years now, and never had a problem (well, I did have a problem when I first got a large drive and didn't understand what 48bit LBA was, several years ago). My BIOS supports 48bit LBA, and always recognized the drives properly before. So while I will look into the DOS version and 98 or 98se, I am convinced this has nothing to do with my BIOS wanting to use CHS instead of LBA.

I named the title as partition problems before I fully understood what was going on. Now I'm leaning towards a BIOS problemrelated to HDDs.

I've done quite a bit of poking around today and it seems like other people have had their BIOS suddenly use CHS access mode instead of LBA, and their only option was to force LBA. Just knowing this isnt a random unheard of problem makes me more easy.