Toshiba Laptop A60-S166 fdisk won't recognize hard disk? ACPI Bios Version = 1.40 Bios setting Drives I/O where it says Built in HD = No Drive Built-in ODD = Secodary IDE(170/IRQ15 Won't let me get into this bios setting box. Tried 3 different hard drives. Thank you from Ken Walker [email protected] Phone 731-645-6349 Thank you, please help if you can?

An nice old machine!
If I recall correctly, FDISK low level formats partitions and I don't think the new hard drive will accept it without struggling. The bios on the mother board will not accept a drive as large as 250Gb as they didn't exist when the Bios was made.
Try partitioning as you require and format either FAT16 or FAT32 with another machine and see if it will accept it. I think the Bios was restricted to 6Gb drives so you may need to set up a lot of partitions!

Hope this helps.
Processor
Mobile Intel® Pentium® III processor, 500 MHz, 256 KB 2nd level cache, 100 MHz Front Side Bus Memory
Standard 64 MB SDRAM, expandable to 320 MB Hard disk
6.0 GB1) capacity, S.M.A.R.T. hard disk Internal video modes
1,024 x 768 x 16.7 million colours Display
13.3" (33.8 cm) TFT active matrix colour display Battery
Removable lithium-ion battery, 2-3 hrs battery life, with extra high capacity battery up to 5 hrs Size and Weight
297 x 241 x 25 mm, 2 kg Further Product Specifications

Diskette drive
External: 3.5" 1.44 MB/720 KB
DVD-ROM drive2)
6-speed (max) with optional DVD Network Dock II, 12 cm (5.25") and 8 cm (3.5") disks, data transfer 3,600 KB/sec, average access time: 140 ms
Graphics adaptor
128-bit graphics accelerator, SVGA-/VGA compatible, AGP bus, 64-bit BiTBlT, 4 MB internal Video RAM
External video modes
640 x 480 x 16.7 million colours,
800 x 600 x 16.7 million colours,
1,024 x 768 x 16.7 million colours,
1,280 x 1,024 x 65,536 colours,
1,600 x 1,200 x 65,536 colours
Up to 85 Hz refresh rate
Keyboard
86 keys, 12 function keys, 8 dedicated cursor keys, inlaid numeric keypad, 8 Hot Keys, 2 Windows® keys, AccuPoint™ II, Euro key
Sound System
16-bit stereo Sound Blaster Pro compatible, 3D-wide mode, MIDI & Wavetable synthesis, volume dial, built-in speaker and microphone
BIOS
ACPI (1.0b) enabled BIOS, SM BIOS V. 2.3
Expansion
2 x PC Card Type II or
1 x PC Card Type III,
CardBus support, memory expansion
Communication
Integrated international V.90 modem (56 Kbps data, 14.4 Kbps fax)
Interfaces
FDD connector, external monitor, USB, Fast Infrared Port, RJ 11 modem jack, headphone, external microphone, slot for Kensington Cable Lock
With I/O Adaptor:
serial, parallel, PS/2™ mouse and keyboard
With Docking Station (DVD Network Dock II):
serial, parallel, external monitor, PS/2™ mouse and keyboard, video out (NTSC/PAL), line-in, line-out, integrated FDD, includes built-in Ethernet (Wake-On-LAN and Service Boot support), 6-speed DVD-ROM drive
Power supply
Autosensing 100-240 V AC adaptor for world-wide usage
Casework
Magnesium alloy
Bundled software
Windows® 95 and Windows® 98 selectable installation, Windows® NT 4.0 on request (limited language versions available), PC Card management software, Toshiba utilities and drivers (all preinstalled on the hard disk)
Bundled hardware
External diskette drive, autosensing AC adaptor, I/O adaptor
Special features
Toshiba Hibernation and Resume, Toshiba Power Extensions, System Password Securities, HDD password on request, SecureSleep™, LANDesk Client Manager (LDCM), Wake-On-LAN and Service Boot support (with manageability software and LAN chip), Recovery CD, 3-year international warranty
Options
DVD Network Dock II, carrying case, extra high capacity battery, battery charger, 32, 64, 128 and 256 MB memory modules

The solution is that you simply cannot go out and buy a replacement HD. You have to buy TOSHIBA's replacement HD.

They make a 40, 80, 160 and 320 GB HD for Tecra MV2's etc.- Other HDs simply will not detect.

Can you boot the computer from a boot floppy?
If so, try and partition and format the drive with fdisk and format.

I'm pretty sure it will. The only thing is that Gateways of that generationn used a custom connector which plugs onto the hard disks standard IDE / ATA connector.Just pull this extra connector off and you can use the disk in any machine.
Also ,Toshiba used similar adapters,so if Toshiba's using one on your model,then you'll need to palce the toshiba adapter onto the hard disk from your Gateway. You may also have to go into your BIOS ,and make sure the BIOS recognizes the disk if your BIOS isn't already set to "auto detect".

Does your BIOS recognize the new hard drive?
Are you reinstalling from a Toshiba recovery disk or an operating system disk?

Additionally, there is a setting in the BIOS to turn on or off ACPI function for the hard drive. Find this in the BIOS, change it, and try reinstalling again.

When it works, be sure to change it back after installation.

Good luck.
tony

Hi,
If your using IDE hard drives i would try to put them both on the same cable on the primary IDE controller. Then set you main hard drives jumpers and the second hard drive to cable select not slave. Try to boot if the boot fails your goiong to need a Windows 98 boot floppy with FDISK. You need to start up the 98 boot disk with out CD support then when it reaches a command prompt start fdisk. ONce fdisk is up format and partition the second drive. Now it should work. :) Check that the harddrive is detected in the BIOS, it may have become disconnected, it should also be the master drive on the primary IDE. If the drive is not detected in BIOS there is little chance of it working

Thank you....

For W98, if you create the bootdisk from within windows, you will need to go here to download the newest version of FDISK.EXE then copy it to the bootdisk, allowing it to overwrite the older version. This way you will have support for larger harddrives.

FDISK LIMITATION WITH 64GB DRIVES:
Why does FDISK not recognize my disk (or RAID array) which is larger than 64GB?

There is a bug in Microsoft's FDISK under Windows 95B, 98 and 98SE that can be corrected by downloading a newer version. See Knowledge Base Article Q263044 for more information.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q263044

When you use Fdisk.exe to partition a hard disk that is larger than 64 GB (64 gigabytes, or 68,719,476,736 bytes) in size, Fdisk does not report the correct size of the hard disk.

The size that Fdisk reports is the full size of the hard disk minus 64 GB. For example, if the physical drive is 70.3 GB (75,484,122,112 bytes) in size, Fdisk reports the drive as being 6.3 GB (6,764,579,840 bytes) in size.

NOTE: This hotfix is not designed for 48-bit logical block addressing (LBA) hard disks, and it is not supported on hard disks larger than 137 GB. However, even if the drive is physically larger than 137 GB, if you create partitions smaller than 137 GB, this FDISK.EXE version will work correctly. (THE FORMAT COMMAND WILL SHOW THE DRIVE AMOUNT IN DOS TO BE OFF THE MARK, BUT WILL BE CORRECT WHEN YOU GET INTO WINDOWS ITSELF)

Direct English Version download:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/Win98/Update/8266R/W98/EN-US/263044USA8.EXE

This package installs the updated Fdisk.exe to the Windows\Command and Windows\Options\Cabs folders, on a computer running Windows 98 or Windows 98 Second Edition. If you are starting a computer from a Windows 98 Startup Disk in order to partition and format the hard disk, you should copy the updated Fdisk.exe from the Windows\Command folder to the Startup Disk, replacing the original Windows 98 or Windows 98 Second Edition version of Fdisk.exe on the Startup Disk.

Insert the new hard drive in your laptop, boot up and go into the BIOS.
Check if the hard disk setting is set to Auto (detect). Check the system configuration and see if it detects the hard disk.
If there is a hard disk diagnostic utility within the BIOS, run it to check the hard disk.
You can also test the hard disk by booting up with a boot floppy disk, run fdisk.exe to see if can display, create a partition, and format the hard drive etc.

If not of this works then it is highly possible that you have a faulty disk controller in your laptop.

You can try upgrading the BIOS:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/modelContent.jsp?ct=DL&os=&category=&moid=713738&rpn=PSA60U&modelFilter=A60-S166&selCategory=3&selFamily=1073768663&selModel=713738|PSA60U

I don't know that's going to do it for you.

This software will allow you to backup and restore the BIOS, just in case, as well as give you another tool to try cloning the drive itself:
http://ping.windowsdream.com/

XP install is not detecting any hard disk.
No jumpers are required for laptops, can only have one hard drive in a laptop.
Check the BIOS for the hard disk configuration, make sure that it is set on Auto (detect).
You may have a faulty hard disk, you can check it by booting up with a floppy DOS boot disk, run fdisk to see if it detects the hard disk, OR connect this hard drive to a USB hard disk adapter and connect it to a working computer's USB port and if it detects it as an external drive the it is OK.