IBM Thinkpad 380XD seeing 20GB HDD as 8GB on Windows 98SE

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:11 am

Ok long story short, got a IBM thinkpad 380Xd, removed the 4GB HDD, and put a 20GB from a broken Dell Laptop.

But Fdisk in Windows 98 keeps wanting to format it at the max of 8GB, and after that is done, it says there is no space for any Extended partitions.

At first I thought it was the ancient Bios, so I upgraded the Bios, still nothing, and a quick google search showed that someone did install a 20GB HDD in the same model laptop, and actually found out that the post he made on that forum was posted today.

Any clues on what I should do to get it to show the other 12GB?

I feel like I have missed something very simple, and I am about to feel like a total moron.

Post by **bicostp** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:24 am

233mhz Pentium 1? Ouch. Well, it can probably run 2000 just fine with 64 MB of RAM and ample hard drive space.

Do you have a CD-ROM drive? try burning an Ultimate Boot CD and running one of the other disk management utilities on it. If that doesn't work, it's probably a jumper or BIOS issue.

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:53 am

Well P2 233MHz, but still not much difference

I would try installing 2000 by formatting to NTFS, if I just had a 64MB stick of RAM to max the laptop out with.

I will try that Ultimate Boot CD until I can get that 64MB stick.

nitro2k01 · Post by **nitro2k01** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:26 pm

I had the same problem with Win98 on a TP 600E. Don't know what the problem is, but I went for XP and it worked better. Windows 2000 is an option too, although I'd honestly recommend you XP with modern themes turned off instead.

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:36 pm

nitro2k01 wrote:I had the same problem with Win98 on a TP 600E. Don't know what the problem is, but I went for XP and it worked better. Windows 2000 is an option too, although I'd honestly recommend you XP with modern themes turned off instead.

ah ok then, but I will go for 2000, seriously the laptop runs slow enough on 98, imagine it with XP

it is kinda funny that the Bios I just upgraded it to gave it the ability to run Windows 2k.

nitro2k01 · Post by **nitro2k01** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:05 am

Actually, it might be a BIOS limitation. I that suggest that you try a program called "OnTrack disk manager". That might make it work with Windows 98. Some other advice: Use 98lite to cut of some slack. Get more memory if yours is equipped with only 32 MB. Install linux, but go for a lightweight didtro, like DSL or perhaps Slackware.