8GB BIOS restriction?

OK, well I think the HD on my Compaq 1275 died, because apparently it is not reading from it and the drive whirs on and off about 30 times during BIOS and makes strange clicking sounds (not *normal* clicking sounds hehehe)...I am pretty sure the hard drive is defective, could it be anything else?

Anyway, I called the guy from CompUSA and he said that I may want to double-check before buying a drive larger than 8 GB because it may not work with the system BIOS. What is the real story with this?

The Compaq is not ancient...I bought it back in summer of 1999 and it came with a 4 gig drive. I would think it could support big hard drives, like 20 gigs or something. Does anyone know if it can do this natively or will I need a special BIOS upgrade or something?

Since Compaq would charge me an arm and a leg for tech support now I am hoping one of you could help me.

The BIOS may not support larger drives but the overlay software available from each drive manufacturer will resolve that problem if indeed it exists. You should be able to get the drive you want and if the BIOS doesn't recognize the full capacity then just use the overlay software.

OK, but considering the computer is not ancient, in the average case, should the avreage mid-1999 laptop support larger (more than 8GB) drives natively?

mainly a problem with older pre-lx chipset motherboards, but on a laptop, who knows.

best solution and one I used just this week infact, is find a supplier that will take the drive back if it dosen't see over 8g.
the notebook I had was a no-name circa 1997 model, that actually was able to see a 10g drive properly.

Also make sure you have the latest bios installed as this may aleviate any size limitations

I'll see what I can squeeze out of Compaq, dare they actually TELL me something about my computer without me paying $39.95.

I doubt there should be a problem anywhere...most mid-99 laptops should work just fine, but don't take it from me.

Beware if you happen to be running NT4 Workstation on that laptop you may not see more than 8 or 10 gig. I don't think overlay software wotks with NT.

What about Windows 2000?

Windows 2000 does not jave the same limitations that NT has - NTFS or FAT32 will work on 8+gb drives fine.

Also your machine should work fine with a 8+gig drive - call you favorite vendor and see if they have a 20 gig drive for that model laptop (just for information) if they carry one - then it will work and have fun.