INSTALLATION
7 System Setup
The following procedures are designed for systems using the DOS 5.0 (or higher), Windows 95 and Windows 98 operating systems. For other operating systems (e.g., Windows NT, OS2, UNIX, LINUX and Novell NetWare), refer to the operating system user’s manual for the BIOS setting and other installation requirements.
For drives with capacities larger than 8.4 GB, the full installation set for Windows 95A or 95B (OSR2), Windows 98 or equivalent, is required. Operating systems that do not support extended interrupt 13 cannot access or format a drive larger than 8.4 GB. This is true regardless of BIOS, mother board or interface card support. DOS based operating systems do not support this interrupt and are limited to a maximum drive size that they can format and access of 8.4 GB. It is not possible to upgrade from a DOS operating system to Windows 95 and obtain the full capacity of a drive larger than 8.4 GB.
Setting the BIOS (CMOS)
The SETUP (BIOS) program identifies the system configuration information (e.g., floppy disk drives, hard disk drives, video, etc.) used to identify devices attached to the computer during system boot. This includes the information about what kind and how many IDE hard drives are attached to the system.
IMPORTANT: Please Note – Major BIOS manufacturers like AMI, Award and Phoenix provide their core BIOS programs to system board manufacturers and OEM’s who have the capability of making modifications to some of the descriptions and definitions to meet their unique requirements. These changes include, but are not limited to, how to access the BIOS, the appearance of the information on the screens and the location of parameters within the BIOS. Refer to the system or BIOS manufacturers documentation or contact the system manufacturer for the correct procedure to enter the BIOS setup program for your computer. Some manufacturers may use their own unique BIOS definitions and configurations and will also have their own methods for accessing and setting the BIOS. If you have a system that uses such a unique BIOS, refer to the system user’s manual or contact the manufacturer for assistance.
WARNING: When entering settings for the Maxtor hard drive, be careful not to change any of the other BIOS settings, or other parts of the system may not work correctly.
BIOS (CMOS) Parameters
In order for the computer system to recognize the new Maxtor hard drive, it is necessary to set the system BIOS with the correct information about the drive. To do this, run the system SETUP (BIOS) program.
The Maxtor hard drive must be identified to the system through the BIOS and it must be registered in the BIOS based upon its position relative to the other IDE devices connected to the system and recorded in the BIOS.
Most newer BIOS’ provide the descriptions of Primary Master, Primary Slave, Secondary Master and Secondary Slave (see section 2) which identify the device configuration and location on an IDE interface and its relationship to the other IDE devices on the same interface or ribbon cable.
Some older BIOS versions do not use this terminology for identification and it may be necessary to refer to the system user’s manual or BIOS documentation to determine where the drive settings should be set in that specific BIOS. If this information is not available, then it will be necessary to contact the system manufacturer for the correct terminology to correctly identify the drives within the system.
The following are the typical steps to be used to set the hard drive parameters in a BIOS:
ATurn the system ON. During the system
BOnce the SETUP (BIOS) program is active, do one of the following to set the BIOS parameters for the Maxtor hard drive.
1Enter the BIOS menu where the hard drive settings are displayed, select the correct entry (Primary Master, Primary Slave, Secondary Master or Secondary Slave or their equivalents) to set the parameters for the Maxtor hard drive.
If the SETUP program provides an “AUTO DETECT” capability, use this feature to detect the Maxtor hard drive. If the SETUP program does not have AUTO DETECT, set the drive parameters as defined in step 2. Typically, this feature is available for each individual IDE device. It may be necessary to exit the BIOS,
IMPORTANT After the SETUP program has detected the hard drive, verify that the Logical Block Addressing (LBA) mode is enabled for the drive - as not all BIOS versions set this feature during the AUTO DETECT process.
Comment: When LBA is enabled, some BIOS programs (typically Award) will change the values of the cylinders and heads by dividing the cylinders by 2, 4, 8 or 16 and multiplying the heads by the same value. This operation will not change the capacity of the hard drive.
If the system correctly detects the drive and does not hang during the boot process, proceed to Section 8. If the system hangs during the POST, proceed to Section 9. If Auto Detect did not find the drive and no error message was presented, proceed to step 2 below.
2Enter the BIOS menu where the hard drive definitions are displayed and select the appropriate entry (Primary Master, Primary Slave, Secondary Master or Secondary Slave – or their equivalents) for the Maxtor hard drive. If the SETUP program does not provide an AUTO DETECT capability, the drive parameters must be set using the User Definable Type (UDT).
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