Do you have the most up to date BIOS? Asus, being Asus, still has the last three BIOS available for download, the last being dated 7/08/2002: https://www.asus.com/supportonly/P3B-F/HelpDesk_BIOS/
I would think a 2002 BIOS would be able to handle a 160 GB hard drive. For Windows 98 I'd use Super Fdisk to partition and format the drive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ivV5tyfRs

For the BIOS side of things, there is this, if you are feeling slightly adventurous : Adding XT-IDE option ROM to Asus P3B-F BIOS [Thanks to DenizOezmen, it actually works!!!]

Also look here XTIDE and large (>8G) partitions and make sure you use release r611 or newer .

As for the Windows side of things, to be clear :

a) if your hard drive is >127GB AND the driver for the IDE controller used ESDI506.PDR (which is the case for the P3B-F onboard controller), you need either Bhdd31.zip OR rloew's PATCHATA . The updated utilities included with Bhdd31.zip are still recommended even if you end up using rloew's PATCHATA .

b) If you stick with partitions <127GB , only a) is needed

c) If you want to use partitions >127GB, rloew's PATCTH1TB addresses the pattition size issue . Also rloew's 1TBPLUS combines essentially combines patches PATCHATA AND PATCTH1TB along with some others .

d) partition creation is best done with a CD bootable Linux distro (such as Lubuntu 16.0.4), or with the drive connected to another modern machine using a utility such as Super Fdisk (WARNNG : the second option may not work if XTIDE's LBA48 sector translation scheme does not match up with that of the modern computer)

Note : IMHO, using partition sizes below 127GB is still prudent to avoid issues with disk utils, IMHO

EDIT: If you are tempted tp try Biospatcher on your P3B-F's BIOS, be careful : Re: Possible to put Tualatin in a 440BX with Slocket?

I've flashed the bios to latest beta (october 2001) and still the same. Run

Run Super Fdisk on it, and got this....

Is it a case of redoing the MBR, and trying to get a 128gb partition (which is what i'm after).

devilish wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:19:

I've flashed the bios to latest beta (october 2001) and still the same. Run

Run Super Fdisk on it, and got this....

Is it a case of redoing the MBR, and trying to get a 128gb partition (which is what i'm after).

Even the latest P3B-F BIOS does not support LBA48 , which is required for drives > 127GB to work .
AFAIK, that limitation must be overcome either by

a) using something like a recent version of XTIDE

b) patching LBA-48 support into the existing BIOS (non trivial)

c) Using a drive overlay program that support LBA48 (if any exist, I have no idea)

d) Using a PCI disk controller with its own BIOS which supports LBA48

darry wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:37:

Even the latest P3B-F BIOS does not support LBA48 , which is required for drives > 127GB to work . AFAIK, that limitation must […]
Show full quote

devilish wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:19:

I've flashed the bios to latest beta (october 2001) and still the same. Run

Run Super Fdisk on it, and got this....

Is it a case of redoing the MBR, and trying to get a 128gb partition (which is what i'm after).

Even the latest P3B-F BIOS does not support LBA48 , which is required for drives > 127GB to work .
AFAIK, that limitation must be overcome either by

a) using something like a recent version of XTIDE

b) patching LBA-48 support into the existing BIOS (non trivial)

c) Using a drive overlay program that support LBA48 (if any exist, I have no idea)

d) Using a PCI disk controller with its own BIOS which supports LBA48

option b sounds the best (if not, a). Where is the patch for this so I can add LBA48 in?

devilish wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:43:

darry wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:37:

Even the latest P3B-F BIOS does not support LBA48 , which is required for drives > 127GB to work . AFAIK, that limitation must […]
Show full quote

devilish wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:19:

I've flashed the bios to latest beta (october 2001) and still the same. Run

Run Super Fdisk on it, and got this....

Is it a case of redoing the MBR, and trying to get a 128gb partition (which is what i'm after).

Even the latest P3B-F BIOS does not support LBA48 , which is required for drives > 127GB to work .
AFAIK, that limitation must be overcome either by

a) using something like a recent version of XTIDE

b) patching LBA-48 support into the existing BIOS (non trivial)

c) Using a drive overlay program that support LBA48 (if any exist, I have no idea)

d) Using a PCI disk controller with its own BIOS which supports LBA48

option b sounds the best (if not, a). Where is the patch for this so I can add LBA48 in?

Option b) would be nice, if it existed. By non trivial, I mean to imply that, AFAIK, it had not been done before and would likely not be that easy to implement .

As for option a), I have not tested with the latest XTIDE build to see if it resolves the issue I had when I tested (I am currently using option d) myself) . If you give some time (a few days at most, maybe even today if things turn out right), and I should be able to give the latest XTIDE build a spin and see if it corrects the issue described here Re: Adding XT-IDE option ROM to Asus P3B-F BIOS . . If that issue is still present, I can still share an XTIDE enhanced P3B-F BIOS, but you will have to live with the limitation of not being able to swap-in out drives between your P3B-F and other machines without repartitioning and reformatting .

darry wrote on 2021-07-29, 19:01:

devilish wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:43:

darry wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:37:

Even the latest P3B-F BIOS does not support LBA48 , which is required for drives > 127GB to work . AFAIK, that limitation must […]
Show full quote

Even the latest P3B-F BIOS does not support LBA48 , which is required for drives > 127GB to work .
AFAIK, that limitation must be overcome either by

a) using something like a recent version of XTIDE

b) patching LBA-48 support into the existing BIOS (non trivial)

c) Using a drive overlay program that support LBA48 (if any exist, I have no idea)

d) Using a PCI disk controller with its own BIOS which supports LBA48

option b sounds the best (if not, a). Where is the patch for this so I can add LBA48 in?

Option b) would be nice, if it existed. By non trivial, I mean to imply that, AFAIK, it had not been done before and would likely not be that easy to implement .

As for option a), I have not tested with the latest XTIDE build to see if it resolves the issue I had when I tested (I am currently using option d) myself) . If you give some time (a few days at most, maybe even today if things turn out right), and I should be able to give the latest XTIDE build a spin and see if it corrects the issue described here Re: Adding XT-IDE option ROM to Asus P3B-F BIOS . . If that issue is still present, I can still share an XTIDE enhanced P3B-F BIOS, but you will have to live with the limitation of not being able to swap-in out drives between your P3B-F and other machines without repartitioning and reformatting .

That's great. I'm not intending to swap the drives out - they will stay with the machine until the drive goes. Only likely to change the SD card in future, so it's not really much of a problem in that regard.

Regarding option D and controller cards. Just sifting through ebay, plenty of ISA 8bit ones, and PCI-E....but PCI ones, getting lost in the searches.

devilish wrote on 2021-07-29, 20:41:

Regarding option D and controller cards. Just sifting through ebay, plenty of ISA 8bit ones, and PCI-E....but PCI ones, getting lost in the searches.

Basically 2 options on PCI controller front :

a) SIL3114 (or other Silicon Image based one with Windows 9x and/or XP drivers). Works fine if you get a non-crappy one (lots of those online and it's practically impossible to know without actually testing one) and your system is compatible. I currently have one in my P3B-F This implies using a SATA drive or an IDE drive adapted to SATA

b) A Promise brand card . These are are rather rare and expensive and at least ULTRA133 ones have LBA48 support (did not check others). Windows 98 driver support varies depending on model . Unfortunately, the Promise Ultra133 that I have does not let my P3B-F finish booting when installed (Promise SATA 150 TX2 works fine in the P3B-F, for example, ULTRA133 works fine in another machine).

I might try a SIL3114 and try my luck. I'll see if I can get a SATA/IDE converter (as drive is IDE) and see what happens. Luckily as I work in a university, I can borrow (technically steal) any number of SATA drives I want.

darry wrote on 2021-07-29, 20:53:

b) A Promise brand card . These are are rather rare and expensive and at least ULTRA133 ones have LBA48 support (did not check others). Windows 98 driver support varies depending on model . Unfortunately, the Promise Ultra133 that I have does not let my P3B-F finish booting when installed (Promise SATA 150 TX2 works fine in the P3B-F, for example, ULTRA133 works fine in another machine).

I just recently picked up 2 Promise Ultra ATA133 TX2, the most expensive one was under $12.50 with shipping making up 2/3 of that cost.

Both were listed as Maxtor ATA133 as back in the day Maxtor included these with some of the hard drives they sold. They work just fines with drivers and bios upgrades from promise.com

devilish wrote on 2021-07-29, 23:08:

I might try a SIL3114 and try my luck. I'll see if I can get a SATA/IDE converter (as drive is IDE) and see what happens. Luckily as I work in a university, I can borrow (technically steal) any number of SATA drives I want.

EDIT: I may have spoken too soon . I'm getting weird behavior in Windows 98 SE, among which slow performance, the absence of the IDE drive in device manager/disk drives (and hence inability enable DMA mode). I tried rloew's patch to ESDI_506.PDR (instead of BHDD) but saw no change .

EDIT2 : I got it working, but still testing whether stable or if disk corruption might occur. See linked thread for details

I just tested the latest XTIDE BIOS on the P3B-F and it works fine after some very brief testing . The sector translation issue is no longer present .

See Re: Adding XT-IDE option ROM to Asus P3B-F BIOS [Thanks to DenizOezmen, it actually works!!!] for info and a download link .

Once the BIOS is flashed, you should

a) Set all IDE devices to None in the Main section of the P3B-F BIOS
b) Set SYMBIOS SCSI BIOS to ENABLE under PCI Configuration in the Advanced section of P3B-F BIOS

Caveat : Booting from a CD-ROM will no longer work (XTIDE does not support this, might be a nice feature request)

Grem Five wrote on 2021-07-29, 23:22:

darry wrote on 2021-07-29, 20:53:

b) A Promise brand card . These are are rather rare and expensive and at least ULTRA133 ones have LBA48 support (did not check others). Windows 98 driver support varies depending on model . Unfortunately, the Promise Ultra133 that I have does not let my P3B-F finish booting when installed (Promise SATA 150 TX2 works fine in the P3B-F, for example, ULTRA133 works fine in another machine).

I just recently picked up 2 Promise Ultra ATA133 TX2, the most expensive one was under $12.50 with shipping making up 2/3 of that cost.

Both were listed as Maxtor ATA133 as back in the day Maxtor included these with some of the hard drives they sold. They work just fines with drivers and bios upgrades from promise.com

Which would be fantastic, except, that I have such a card (non OEM version, latest official BIOS) and it works great EXCEPT in the P3B-F where it prevents POST from finishing for some reason . The card works fine elsewhere . Other Promise cards work fine in the P3B-F .

darry wrote on 2021-07-29, 23:25:

Which would be fantastic, except, that I have such a card (non OEM version, latest official BIOS) and it works great EXCEPT in the P3B-F where it prevents POST from finishing for some reason . The card works fine elsewhere . Other Promise cards work fine in the P3B-F .

True I can not confirm or deny if these cards work in a P3B-F, I was just commenting on another way of finding that card if others were interested.

I got sent a promise PCI card in the post from a guy I bought a previous motherboard for free, it boots ok, but ive even tried a 2GB SD card in an adapter, and it says the partition is 31 MB. I don't really know what's going on.

devilish wrote on 2021-07-30, 15:13:

I got sent a promise PCI card in the post from a guy I bought a previous motherboard for free, it boots ok, but ive even tried a 2GB SD card in an adapter, and it says the partition is 31 MB. I don't really know what's going on.

Which Promise PCI card ?
Which BIOS version on the Promise PCI ?
Which DOS version are you using (presumably DOS 7.1 from Windows 98 SE, but just making sure) ?
Did you try partitioning the SD card/disk with DOS FDISK or Super Fdisk while connecting to the Promise PCI cards inn the P3B-F ?

darry wrote on 2021-07-30, 16:34:

Which Promise PCI card ? Which BIOS version on the Promise PCI ? Which DOS version are you using (presumably DOS 7.1 from Window […]
Show full quote

devilish wrote on 2021-07-30, 15:13:

I got sent a promise PCI card in the post from a guy I bought a previous motherboard for free, it boots ok, but ive even tried a 2GB SD card in an adapter, and it says the partition is 31 MB. I don't really know what's going on.

Which Promise PCI card ?
Which BIOS version on the Promise PCI ?
Which DOS version are you using (presumably DOS 7.1 from Windows 98 SE, but just making sure) ?
Did you try partitioning the SD card/disk with DOS FDISK or Super Fdisk while connecting to the Promise PCI cards inn the P3B-F ?

It had DOS 6.22 and Win 3.11 on it, and it was displaying the correct amounts previously, with no issues. In fact, DOS is still on there, but doesn't read it anymore.

Issue over - this bit anyway. Simple fix, it was the connector slightly out - and only slightly not enough to make it display correctly.