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Title: It is not possible to format an IDE disk

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It is not possible to format an IDE disk

Symptom:

Nothing happens when trying to format the created partitions, e.g. by YaST. Neither the hard disk is accessed nor an error message appears. If one interrupts the process an error message of the author appears.

Cause:

There are more and more manufacturers, that extend the limits of a standard PC-BIOS. For example no specific changes on the disk access are installed into the IDE, to avoid the 1024 cylinder limit of a PC-BIOS . As a result one tries to set up large disks with more than 1024 cylinders under DOS (it uses the PC-BIOS during the disk access), without any success.

Solution:

If possible disbale this extension in BIOS (CMOS setup). This can be done with gateway mainboards:

... Set the IDE Translation Mode from AutoDetected to Extended CHS in CMOS setup in Primary IDE Master...
Another way:

Use a standard EIDE controller and a mainboard with specific support for EIDE in BIOS. DOS will not be able to access large disks via BIOS (by means of LBA (Linear Block Address)).

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See also:

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Keywords: FORMAT, PARTITIONING, GATEWAY, EIDE, IDE, HARD DISK, HD

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