Old Pentium 2 motherboard and HDD issues

[zen_dog]

Hi there,

Let me begin by explaining my problem, I have an old pentium 2 400mhz system I want to hook up a 40gb hard-drive to it and install linux (gentoo to be precise) for some reason my motherboard wont detect the hard-drive. I think it may be to big and the bios does not support large drives. I've googled my problem and it seems I have to enter the stats of the hdd myself manually which I have no issue with but I cant seem to find this data anywhere. so my question(s) are I guess,

1. Will entering hdd details manually fix this.
2. Can I for example hook the hdd to my home server and query it?
3. Is there some other way of getting around my problem?

Thanks in advance guys!!

[felPmy]

Will you post a link to the manual for your MB? What year was the MB made? What harddrive are you using (manufacturer, make, model)?

Does your MB have an empty PCI slot? Install a PCI card that will allow you to see the MB, such as an EIDE PCI card. The BIOS of the MB, if it is really old, can be a problem. You can use one of the original drives that this MB can recognize, and boot up to that, and then use the other HDD as additional storage.

If you boot from a liveCD, are you able to use the HDD? You can get the HDD stats after booting to the liveCD if it recognizes the HDD.

[zen_dog]

I think I've sorted this, I found out that by putting a jumper on the hdd it will boot, not had a chance to try this out yet been busy with other computer stuff. I have no idea what model the motherboard its a foxconn but the model number number is a no go.