The internet is full of a lot of useful stuff. However, it is also stuffed with a lot of bad advice and misinformation. But we already knew that, didn’t we?

For a long time now my File Server has failed to see any capacity on a hard disk above 128Gb. Even if the hard drive is physically a lot bigger. The usual fix for this with Windows XP is to install Service Pack 2. On my File Server this doesn’t work. Google is our friend, and a search on the Motherboard (Asus A7V133) reveals many other people with the same issue. On all the tech fora there are a multitude of ‘fixes’ involving downloading drivers, editing the Windows registry and all sorts. You would have thought that techie nerds would have the answer? Well, no. After wading through a lot of advice, I hazarded upon the Asus website and the download section.

The A7V133 motherboard is there, along with hundreds of other products. Low and behold the answer came up in a flash:

“Upgrade to BIOS version 1010A – fixes 48bit disk access issue allowing drives bigger than 128Gb with Windows XP”

Well, there you are. Why were all the techie fora filled with nonesense about potentially system crashing editing of the registry? I don’t know. Now I have the fix in a handy 256Kb file. There’s only one problem – I have to flash the BIOS from a bootable floppy disk. The only thing is, the File server does not have one of these archaic devices. I have the fix, but not the inclination to find a floppy drive and doing the BIOS flash. A solution for another day – it isn’t like I urgently need the space.

It’s amazing how quickly hardware becomes outdated. It wasn’t that long ago that a floppy drive was essential to set up a computer. Now you cannot find such a thing or the disks to go in them for love nor money. Well, probably a lot of money off Ebay, but let’s not go there. I’d only get sniped at the last minute by some-one who wants every floppy drive in existence for any price. Where are these people when I’m actually selling something?