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hard drive help in old computer

nikkigreg1974nikkigreg1974
edited September 2016 in Hardware
I have a old compaq presario 4704 with windows 95. It has a 4gb hard drive. I like to put a 10gb hard drive in it. But when i do the computer puts a code up telling me hard drive error. Anything above 4gb i get a hard drive area. I have the last bios update compaq made for this computer. To boot into the bios you need a computer setup floppy disk. But it won't even do anything until you put smaller hard drive back in. It's like the hard drive controller freaks out with a bigger hard drive. well i hope someone has a idea about this. thanks for the help.

Comments

  • yourepicfailureyourepicfailure
    That machine might not be able to take a 10gb drive. That's what it's looking like.

    Most PCs in the 95 era are unable to use higher capacities due to limits, and nobody cared to get over them because most users didn't need over 4gb disk space.
    You're stuck with that 4gb, unless your machine can take one between 4 and 10. Considering stock HDD with that machine(according to specs) is 1.6 gb.

    Could try a PCI --> IDE, dunno about the results.
  • altracker9altracker9
    I just saw a blog where a Compaq 4704 had a 20gb Samsung SV2044D installed. The hard drive was partitioned C: through L: with C: being 503MB.
    You might try this technique, partitioning the HDD into smaller partitions.

    I have (2) compaq PCs and both have very minimal Bios. Can't set the HDDs.
    On my Presario 5457, it turned out to have a Gigabyte GA-5SMM motherboard, so I flashed it with the Gigabyte Bios.
    Now I can set the HDDs with no problem. Of course, I was lucky to be able to find the Gigabyte Bios.
  • nikkigreg1974nikkigreg1974
    It will take a hard drive as big as 8gb. I thought it had a 4gb but it's got a 6.1gb hard drive. With the computer setup disk you can change the hard drive types and type 65 is 8.1gb and type 65 is as high it will go. Then from there as you go down the hard drive sizes get smaller. So i won't worry about it. I just need to find the compaq phone center for it and it will be back to it's factory settings. Thanks for the help.
  • calvinbcalvinb
    So it may be that your BIOS can only handle disks of a certain size, and needs an update, or it just needs new disk geometry info, or it just needs to have a valid MBR.
  • lukebutler111lukebutler111
    If memory serves (which it usually doesn't!) Later editions of Windows 95 like B and C could take higher capacity hard drives, but since you're most likely using the FAT file system, its unlikely it'd be easy to get it to work anyway.
  • ezoolander33ezoolander33
    well since there is a chance with old drives you could have the master slave jumpers wrong or you could even have a dead drive
  • nikkigreg1974nikkigreg1974
    No the drive work find. The computer to old to handle anything above 8.1gb. I was reading about the computer on other forum and it said the computer hard drive controller can only see up to 8gb and it's bios it program to see up to 8gb. The computer can handle up to 128mb of memory. So i leave it the way it is. I did upgrade it to windows 98 and put a newer video card in it. Thank you all for the help.
  • roboboxrobobox
    Ever heard of getting a bigger hard drive? there are plenty out there
  • pcgeekpcgeek
    Why don't you mod the bios and put ian IDE controller in one of the PCI or ISA slots? that is your best bet.
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