Looking at the pentium 100 the bios limit would probably 8GB so you're fine there. It looks like there's a translation error.
Maybe you can try this sequence of you haven't don't that before:
- boot windows 95 or 98 bootdisk or cd on your ATS
- fdisk clear the partition table of your SD drive
- repartition as you like
- reboot
- run fdisk /MBR
- format SD drive with /s /u options
- get the Windows install folder onto the SD drive
- Retry Windows install

Win95 only supports FAT16 and the maximum partition size for that was originally 2GB (64 sectors per cluster)...

jmarsh wrote on 2024-06-05, 17:25:

Win95 only supports FAT16 and the maximum partition size for that was originally 2GB (64 sectors per cluster)...

There's a point... Win 95 OSR2 does support fat32, I run it in my Aptiva with a 4GB hard disk in ons partition without problems...

The earlier edotions don't support fat32 and get you stuck at max 2GB per partition, max 8GB total.

waterbeesje wrote on 2024-06-05, 18:03:

jmarsh wrote on 2024-06-05, 17:25:

Win95 only supports FAT16 and the maximum partition size for that was originally 2GB (64 sectors per cluster)...

There's a point... Win 95 OSR2 does support fat32, I run it in my Aptiva with a 4GB hard disk in ons partition without problems...

The earlier editions don't support fat32 and get you stuck at max 2GB per partition, max 8GB total.

Very much this. If you're not sure which version of Windows 95 you have, check out the label on the disk. If it states 'USB support included' or 'includes USB support', you've got OSR2 at least and can go as high up as 32 gigabytes per partition, but if you've got the original release, you're stuck on FAT16 and the limitations that will impose.

Im using Win95 OSR2.1.
Also tried installing Win98SE on another PC with a Pentium 2 with the same issue.

I might have found the culprit tho. I think the SD card i bought isn't compatible with the adapter, or overall not fit for these purposes.
I bought one of these cheap ones: https://www.amazon.se/gp/aw/d/B00195G388?psc= … asin_title&th=1 a class 4 micro SDHC.

Is there a specific requirement for which SD card work?

I would try turning off multisector transfers first.

In my experience, multiword DMA 2 "does work", but other kinds of multiword (specifically newer), do not.

without knowing what mode it is trying here, I would be leery.

**Specifically for SINTECHI SD->IDE adapter

leonardo wrote on 2024-06-05, 18:27:

waterbeesje wrote on 2024-06-05, 18:03:

jmarsh wrote on 2024-06-05, 17:25:

Win95 only supports FAT16 and the maximum partition size for that was originally 2GB (64 sectors per cluster)...

There's a point... Win 95 OSR2 does support fat32, I run it in my Aptiva with a 4GB hard disk in ons partition without problems...

The earlier editions don't support fat32 and get you stuck at max 2GB per partition, max 8GB total.

Very much this. If you're not sure which version of Windows 95 you have, check out the label on the disk. If it states 'USB support included' or 'includes USB support', you've got OSR2 at least and can go as high up as 32 gigabytes per partition, but if you've got the original release, you're stuck on FAT16 and the limitations that will impose.

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup.

Windows XP has such an limit for FAT32, too, and I think it's artificial, to get users move over to NTFS.

That being said , there's an LBA limit in Windows 9x.

Windows 98/98SE has a patch that adds LBA-48 support.

Without it, the 28-bit LBA addessing does limit HDDs support to about 120GB.
Edit: 137GB, mathematically

As pointed out in the previous thread, sintechi controllers do not actually support LBA48.

This means they cannot actually handle devices larger than 137gb. (Worse, they act like they can, but silently fail!!)

Such errata is moot here though; they have a suitably small card inserted. I would look at the multisector transfer situation.

Jo22 wrote on 2024-06-06, 10:33:

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup. […]
Show full quote

leonardo wrote on 2024-06-05, 18:27:

waterbeesje wrote on 2024-06-05, 18:03:

There's a point... Win 95 OSR2 does support fat32, I run it in my Aptiva with a 4GB hard disk in ons partition without problems...

The earlier editions don't support fat32 and get you stuck at max 2GB per partition, max 8GB total.

Very much this. If you're not sure which version of Windows 95 you have, check out the label on the disk. If it states 'USB support included' or 'includes USB support', you've got OSR2 at least and can go as high up as 32 gigabytes per partition, but if you've got the original release, you're stuck on FAT16 and the limitations that will impose.

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup.

Windows XP has such an limit for FAT32, too, and I think it's artificial, to get users move over to NTFS.

That being said , there's an LBA limit in Windows 9x.

Windows 98/98SE has a patch that adds LBA-48 support.

Without it, the 28-bit LBA addessing does limit HDDs support to about 120GB.
Edit: 137GB, mathematically

Is there a way to limit a 32gb sd card in capacity to trick the computer into believing its only a 8gb card?
Partitioning 8gbs and leaving the rest unallocated doesnt seem to work.

Because honestly, my Pentium 1 doesnt need that much space and i would just like to do this as easy as possible in order for it to work, even if i limit disk space to 8 or even 4gb. As long as i can make it run on an SD card.

Ribbicipp wrote on 2024-06-06, 12:55:

Is there a way to limit a 32gb sd card in capacity to trick the computer into believing its only a 8gb card? Partitioning 8gbs a […]
Show full quote

Jo22 wrote on 2024-06-06, 10:33:

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup. […]
Show full quote

leonardo wrote on 2024-06-05, 18:27:

Very much this. If you're not sure which version of Windows 95 you have, check out the label on the disk. If it states 'USB support included' or 'includes USB support', you've got OSR2 at least and can go as high up as 32 gigabytes per partition, but if you've got the original release, you're stuck on FAT16 and the limitations that will impose.

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup.

Windows XP has such an limit for FAT32, too, and I think it's artificial, to get users move over to NTFS.

That being said , there's an LBA limit in Windows 9x.

Windows 98/98SE has a patch that adds LBA-48 support.

Without it, the 28-bit LBA addessing does limit HDDs support to about 120GB.
Edit: 137GB, mathematically

Is there a way to limit a 32gb sd card in capacity to trick the computer into believing its only a 8gb card?
Partitioning 8gbs and leaving the rest unallocated doesnt seem to work.

Because honestly, my Pentium 1 doesnt need that much space and i would just like to do this as easy as possible in order for it to work, even if i limit disk space to 8 or even 4gb. As long as i can make it run on an SD card.

If it's actually a compatible SD-card on a compatible adapter, you shouldn't have to limit the size below 32 gigabytes. I do recall some early BIOSes had hiccups with disks larger than 8 GB though, is that why you're looking to limit the capacity?

Try to get the hardware incompatibility stuff sorted out first.

Jo22 wrote on 2024-06-06, 10:33:

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup. […]
Show full quote

leonardo wrote on 2024-06-05, 18:27:

waterbeesje wrote on 2024-06-05, 18:03:

There's a point... Win 95 OSR2 does support fat32, I run it in my Aptiva with a 4GB hard disk in ons partition without problems...

The earlier editions don't support fat32 and get you stuck at max 2GB per partition, max 8GB total.

Very much this. If you're not sure which version of Windows 95 you have, check out the label on the disk. If it states 'USB support included' or 'includes USB support', you've got OSR2 at least and can go as high up as 32 gigabytes per partition, but if you've got the original release, you're stuck on FAT16 and the limitations that will impose.

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup.

Windows XP has such an limit for FAT32, too, and I think it's artificial, to get users move over to NTFS.

That being said , there's an LBA limit in Windows 9x.

Windows 98/98SE has a patch that adds LBA-48 support.

Without it, the 28-bit LBA addessing does limit HDDs support to about 120GB.
Edit: 137GB, mathematically

Hmm... this is interesting, if not surprising. It turns out they've rolled out an LBA-48 patch for Windows 95 OSR2 as well. I'll have to test that out and see if it's actually reliable.

leonardo wrote on 2024-06-06, 13:34:

If it's actually a compatible SD-card on a compatible adapter, you shouldn't have to limit the size below 32 gigabytes. I do rec […]
Show full quote

Ribbicipp wrote on 2024-06-06, 12:55:

Is there a way to limit a 32gb sd card in capacity to trick the computer into believing its only a 8gb card? Partitioning 8gbs a […]
Show full quote

Jo22 wrote on 2024-06-06, 10:33:

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup. […]
Show full quote

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup.

Windows XP has such an limit for FAT32, too, and I think it's artificial, to get users move over to NTFS.

That being said , there's an LBA limit in Windows 9x.

Windows 98/98SE has a patch that adds LBA-48 support.

Without it, the 28-bit LBA addessing does limit HDDs support to about 120GB.
Edit: 137GB, mathematically

Is there a way to limit a 32gb sd card in capacity to trick the computer into believing its only a 8gb card?
Partitioning 8gbs and leaving the rest unallocated doesnt seem to work.

Because honestly, my Pentium 1 doesnt need that much space and i would just like to do this as easy as possible in order for it to work, even if i limit disk space to 8 or even 4gb. As long as i can make it run on an SD card.

If it's actually a compatible SD-card on a compatible adapter, you shouldn't have to limit the size below 32 gigabytes. I do recall some early BIOSes had hiccups with disks larger than 8 GB though, is that why you're looking to limit the capacity?

Try to get the hardware incompatibility stuff sorted out first.

Jo22 wrote on 2024-06-06, 10:33:

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup. […]
Show full quote

leonardo wrote on 2024-06-05, 18:27:

Very much this. If you're not sure which version of Windows 95 you have, check out the label on the disk. If it states 'USB support included' or 'includes USB support', you've got OSR2 at least and can go as high up as 32 gigabytes per partition, but if you've got the original release, you're stuck on FAT16 and the limitations that will impose.

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup.

Windows XP has such an limit for FAT32, too, and I think it's artificial, to get users move over to NTFS.

That being said , there's an LBA limit in Windows 9x.

Windows 98/98SE has a patch that adds LBA-48 support.

Without it, the 28-bit LBA addessing does limit HDDs support to about 120GB.
Edit: 137GB, mathematically

Hmm... this is interesting, if not surprising. It turns out they've rolled out an LBA-48 patch for Windows 95 OSR2 as well. I'll have to test that out and see if it's actually reliable.

Ok, so i did some experimenting yesterday. I took the 64gb SD card i had in my other computer, a Dell Dimension R350, and tried that SD card in my older AST Advantage 623E (the one that's causing all the issues that this thread is about). The card had Win98SE installed on it and some games from the Dell computer.
I was expecting issues with compability, not being able to handle 64gb or not launch into Windows for some other reason.
Funny thing is that the card worked, booted into Windows, detected the new hardware and i tried some games no problem. It even read the hard drive disk space as 58gb.

So from there i installed a Norton Ghost backup image taken from my AST's original 1.2gb HDD with Win95 OSR.2.1 installed and all drivers etc. That too worked flawlessly and also read the disk space as around 58gb.

Im pretty confused about this whole situation. The very same 64gb SD card had issues with partitioning/formatting as the AST only read the card as 16mb large when partitioned from fdisk in dos 6.22.
But now the same card, when pre-partitioned/formatted/Windows-installed, taken from the Dell computer, works flawlessly?

Ribbicipp wrote on 2024-06-07, 14:30:

Ok, so i did some experimenting yesterday. I took the 64gb SD card i had in my other computer, a Dell Dimension R350, and tried […]
Show full quote

leonardo wrote on 2024-06-06, 13:34:

If it's actually a compatible SD-card on a compatible adapter, you shouldn't have to limit the size below 32 gigabytes. I do rec […]
Show full quote

Ribbicipp wrote on 2024-06-06, 12:55:

Is there a way to limit a 32gb sd card in capacity to trick the computer into believing its only a 8gb card?
Partitioning 8gbs and leaving the rest unallocated doesnt seem to work.

Because honestly, my Pentium 1 doesnt need that much space and i would just like to do this as easy as possible in order for it to work, even if i limit disk space to 8 or even 4gb. As long as i can make it run on an SD card.

If it's actually a compatible SD-card on a compatible adapter, you shouldn't have to limit the size below 32 gigabytes. I do recall some early BIOSes had hiccups with disks larger than 8 GB though, is that why you're looking to limit the capacity?

Try to get the hardware incompatibility stuff sorted out first.

Jo22 wrote on 2024-06-06, 10:33:

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup. […]
Show full quote

Hi there, the 32GB limit is mainly because of Windows Setup.

Windows XP has such an limit for FAT32, too, and I think it's artificial, to get users move over to NTFS.

That being said , there's an LBA limit in Windows 9x.

Windows 98/98SE has a patch that adds LBA-48 support.

Without it, the 28-bit LBA addessing does limit HDDs support to about 120GB.
Edit: 137GB, mathematically

Hmm... this is interesting, if not surprising. It turns out they've rolled out an LBA-48 patch for Windows 95 OSR2 as well. I'll have to test that out and see if it's actually reliable.

Ok, so i did some experimenting yesterday. I took the 64gb SD card i had in my other computer, a Dell Dimension R350, and tried that SD card in my older AST Advantage 623E (the one that's causing all the issues that this thread is about). The card had Win98SE installed on it and some games from the Dell computer.
I was expecting issues with compability, not being able to handle 64gb or not launch into Windows for some other reason.
Funny thing is that the card worked, booted into Windows, detected the new hardware and i tried some games no problem. It even read the hard drive disk space as 58gb.

So from there i installed a Norton Ghost backup image taken from my AST's original 1.2gb HDD with Win95 OSR.2.1 installed and all drivers etc. That too worked flawlessly and also read the disk space as around 58gb.

Im pretty confused about this whole situation. The very same 64gb SD card had issues with partitioning/formatting as the AST only read the card as 16mb large when partitioned from fdisk in dos 6.22.
But now the same card, when pre-partitioned/formatted/Windows-installed, taken from the Dell computer, works flawlessly?

There's a clue: you used FDISK from MS-DOS 6.22? That's FAT16 limited again, right there.

You should use the one included on the Windows 95 install CD instead, for FAT32 support - or alternatively free fdisk.