Interesting resolution.

new development has further testing incoming, please wait...

OK, nice that you found a solution.

Could you please fill up the new partition over 32 GiB under Win98 and then test if all files are readable w/o a problem under WinXP?

What das HD Tune f.e. say concerning the 120 GB disk (S.M.A.R.T. values etc.)?

kind regards
soggi

So here is a big update for y'all, more troubleshooting:

--Hooked up the 120GB alone to the computer, tried to install just WinXP to it. Single partition, NTFS quick or full format, the setup would complain about the disk. Win98 never complained about the disk during Fdisk or Format or during 98 Setup.
--God forbid something may be wrong with the disk, or leftover partition data, or just some sort of disk gremlins - I used DiskEraser to completely ZERO out the 120GB (and also my 40GB drive). No issues or errors during both operations. I trust this program because it has given me errors during this whenever there is definitely something wrong with the disk.
--Unplugged the 120GB drive, and re-installed Win98 and WinXP to the 40GB drive again, no issues as usual.
--Plugged the 120GB back in, and remembered I did have some other partition utilities. Others have said to try using other utilities, so I gave that a shot. Partition Magic 8.0 from 2004. Partitioned the 120GB as one big Primary partition, and FAT32 format. Operation completed without issues. Copied over files in Win98, but unreadable in WinXP.
--Back in Partition Magic, wiped the 120GB partition and made just a 30GB partition. Formatted in FAT32, copied games over in Win98 without issues, but unreadable in WinXP again.
--Went old school: FDISK in Win98, made a 30GB partition. FORMAT command in Win98 DOS to the 30GB partition. All completed without issue. Games copied over in Win98 without issue, but unreadable in WinXP.
--While still in WinXP, I wanted to see if I could even get the whole drive as an NTFS partition. Well Disk Management and Explorer would give me an error.
--So here is where I wondered if the disk truely was damaged in some way. So I went the LONG AND HARD way with this: Win98 FDISK one partition the whole 120GB, and Win98 DOS FORMAT the whole 120GB drive (omg it takes so LONG). Then let ScanDisk run overnight on the drive.
--ScanDisk did not find any problems with the surface of the drive.

Want to try something else ?

try a linux live cd or live install cd, and see if you can open the descent.zip on the 120G drive. 😀

soggi wrote on 2024-10-07, 17:53:

OK, nice that you found a solution. Could you please fill up the new partition over 32 GiB under Win98 and then test if all file […]
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OK, nice that you found a solution.
Could you please fill up the new partition over 32 GiB under Win98 and then test if all files are readable w/o a problem under WinXP?
What das HD Tune f.e. say concerning the 120 GB disk (S.M.A.R.T. values etc.)?
kind regards
soggi

(just realized i have been to your website Soggi! Thank you so much for keeping that webpage alive, love the retro look and layout. It has been very helpful with software and drivers!!)
I will test the 80GB with all that data as the next thing I do.
Here are pictures of the SMART data from the 120GB drive. I provided both CrystalDiskInfo and HDTune, because I've always used CrystalDiskInfo personally.
Not sure why HDTune is freaking out over that one statistic? Other than this one particular problem i'm having with the drive in this machine with WinXP, i have experienced zero other issues.

weedeewee wrote on 2024-10-09, 16:26:

Want to try something else ?
try a linux live cd or live install cd, and see if you can open the descent.zip on the 120G drive. 😀

ya know, that's not a bad idea. I can try to dig up an old version of Ubuntu and try that....

So the other while night looking around at my parts, I realized another test I could run to see if the problem was the drive, motherboard, or combination of both.
I took a 3.5" to 2.5" IDE adapter, combined with an IDE to M.2 SATA SSD adapter, and a leftover 128GB SATA SSD.
Partitioned in WinXP,
Formatted in Win98,
Copied games over in Win98, tested and working.
Rebooted in WinXP, tested and working!

My gut told me there was no way a motherboard this new had a lower max HDD size ceiling than the 137GB limit. I think at this point, I'm chocking it up to the 120GB Samsung HDD just aint compatible with this motherboard and WinXP. Not sure how, not sure why, but hell I've given it a solid try. The drive wasn't the most retro noisy clicky-clacky, so I guess grabbing some 120GB SSD's just for game storage wont be so bad after all. My OS drive will still be a nice retro-noise-making spinner drive.

Fortunately not to worry, I know exactly what I can do with the drive that will still give it a working home (in my PlayStation 2).

Sorry for answering a bit late...

ThruMy4Eyes wrote on 2024-10-09, 16:44:

(just realized i have been to your website Soggi! Thank you so much for keeping that webpage alive, love the retro look and layout. It has been very helpful with software and drivers!!)

You're welcome, that's what it has been created for! 😀

So...the 120 GB HDD really some kind of broken. I would only take it for non-important data in the future, if at all.

kind regards
soggi

soggi wrote on 2024-10-16, 19:47:

So...the 120 GB HDD really some kind of broken. I would only take it for non-important data in the future, if at all.

kind regards
soggi

Yeah i have no idea why it's not happy in this system. Since all the SMART data says nothing is wrong, and it zero'ed out fine, I'm gonna say it's a rare incompatibility. So I will either attempt to sell the drive, or give it a home in my modded PlayStation 2 😀

I've looked at some of the source for old award bioses and there are comments indicating compatibility fixes were common.

Here's some examples

;Rev Date Name Description
;----------------------------------------------------------------------------
;R56A 06/01/99 KVN Fixed compiler error when support IDE DMA transfer function
;R58B 03/23/99 KVN Cancel all R58 relate coding.That will cause IDE HDD
; and CDROM opterate abnormally.
;R58A 03/22/99 KVN Fixed HDD initial waste long time by R58 if channel
; disabled
;R58 03/20/99 KVN Fixed HDD LED of M/B turn on a long time after reset
; IDE controller.Now we send a NOP command for each
; ATAPI device after reset IDE that can solve this problem.
;R57A 01/28/99 KVN Fixed always read data from IDE HDD when system boot
; from IDE and connected both IDE and SCSI of HDD.
;R57 12/21/97 KVN Fixed Iomage Jaz device boot fail.That is SCSI has no
; asign driver letter for Jaz when have IDE drive to be
; installed before SCSI looking for jaz.So we asign
; SCSI drive letter ahead of IDE if boot sequence is
; "SCSI,A,C" or "SCSI,C,A".
;R56 12/02/98 KVN Support IDE DMA transfer function
;R55A 11/26/98 KVN Fixed HDD boot fail when HDD connected to primary and
; LS120/ZIP connected to secondary by R33 coding
;R55 11/16/98 KVN Fixed system hang within NT5.0 CDROM boot process.The
; CDROM model is Acer 632A [firmware=322P]
;R54 09/11/98 KVN Mask used IRQ of HDD if define "MASK_USED_HDD_IRQ" to
; instead mask all IRQ (14&15) by old code
;R53 09/09/98 KVN Don't show virus warning message in graphics mode to
; avoid system hang up during Win 95/98 setup progressing
;R52 07/20/98 KVN Add "INT13_Func08_Cylinder_Sub_1" option for fixing
; AMIDiags IDE read verify test fail in last Cylinder.
;R46B 07/15/98 KVN Fixed access wrong sector in large mode by R46 start.
; That will cause can't read file on Phoenix formatted HDD
;R51A 06/18/98 BAR Added a Define to support Update EDDS to Ver 3.0
; "Support_EDDS30".