[Gllug] Booting older x86 boards from a large ide disc

[Chris Bell]

Hello,
   I have often heard that it is possible to boot an older computer from a
disc that is larger than the BIOS understands, simply by ensuring that the
bootable partition is completely within the area addressable by the BIOS.
   Unfortunately my experience has always been that the BIOS hangs during
the initial start if the primary master disc is oversize, so the only
successful method is to boot from a smaller disc and tell the BIOS that
there is no large disc present. If I set the BIOS to "auto" for CDROM drives
and "none" where hard discs are present then both Knoppix and the Debian
installer CD's will boot, find, and access the discs, but without the CD the
BIOS does not look for the discs, and is unable to boot.
   Some discs have a jumper to limit access, but that would not seem to be
what I wish to do, even the Debian installer does not find the whole disc.
Have I missed something? Should I look for a replacement BIOS (if
available) or is the Open BIOS feasible?

-- 
Chris Bell

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