Hard drive capacity vs BIOS

Gateway 3040GZ laptop
XP SP3
Phoenix BIOS W320.F07

installed a new Western Digital 250GB EIDE drive. only 127.9 GB or 137 GB, depending on where you look, is recognized by XP. i have tried every partition method available to XP including a clean install of the OS, as well as ubuntu, gparted and others to gain access to the remaining space. I have tried manufacturer tools from WD, Hitachi and most tools on Hirens boot CD.
the only thing i know of left is a BIOS upgrade. Gateway does not have a BIOS upgrade available. i have looked everywhere for one. biosagentplus says it has one, but i don't trust it, especially for $30 upfront. i have read too many reviews of that product to consider it except as a last resort.

i broke the drive into 3 partitions on a desktop machine and when i install it in the laptop i can't even get through a fresh XP install. it goes straight to BSOD. i'm all but convinced that this is a BIOS issue, i just can't seem to find a BIOS update anywhere i trust.
its almost pointless to put the 60GB drive back in and carry the 250GB around with me. there has to be a way to make this work.
im to the point where i need the space on the internal drive and am at a loss as to how to get there.
thoughts, ideas, flames, sandpaper?

thanks in advance

Thanks, but this is a laptop. at one time i did address LBA settings, but i don't remember exactly how i did it.

Very sorry! Please excuse my oversight.

I now see that you did mention "laptop" in your original post
(I didn't see it the first time I read your post).


LBA mode was invented to overcome the partition limit you are seeing:
the "137GB" is a telltale symptom.


> at one time i did address LBA settings, but i don't remember exactly how i did it.

Didn't you make a BIOS change to enable LBA mode?


MRFS

> check for a bios update to allow 48 bit lba.

He already tried: "Gateway does not have a BIOS upgrade available."


Here's the on-line form for Gateway email support:

https://support.gateway.com/support [...] ech1.shtml


MRFS

http://support.gateway.com/support [...] =&now=true


MRFS

ok, missed the part about no bios update avail.. looks like you may be forced to use a drive manager to get full size.. and I hate them more than I hate to eat spinach...

i have an enclosure for it now, but didn't really want to settle for that.
mtb, if a drive manager software like http://www.alexnolan.net/software/driveman.htm would give me access to full capacity, why wouldn't i like it?

> why wouldn't i like [drive manager software]?

... because they're a pain in the ass, generally!


MRFS

> could you recommend one that will accomplish what i'm after.


I did recommend one above -- repeating:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136130


120GB models won't encounter the 137GB limit that requires 48-bit LBA mode to exceed.


Western Digital's complete HDD product line is summarized here:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/pro [...] anguage=en


See the "Scorpio" models.


Hope this helps.


MRFS