SCSI users had it better back then, I suppose. They've always used the equivalent to LBA..

the3dfxdude wrote on 2025-06-15, 20:11:

This is written about Phoenix BIOS in 1998. Mind you, in those days, we were only just breaking through the 3GB hard disk level, as a home user, that was pretty common at that point. 8GB was a little later, like a year or two, so these limits weren't really seen by normal computer users until well into the P3 era. So it's totally possible the Phoenix BIOS is doing something stupid defaulting to CHS, simply because it's old enough to be ignorant and almost nobody noticed...

All good info, I'll have it in mind.
Whenever I feel like it (I am a bit exhausted by this nonsense at this point) i'll start from scratch again.

the3dfxdude wrote on 2025-06-15, 20:11:

BIOS bugs are possible. See this note also referenced from the Linux Large disk howto:
https://aeb.win.tue.nl/linux/bios/over3gb.txt
This is written about Phoenix BIOS in 1998. Mind you, in those days, we were only just breaking through the 3GB hard disk level, as a home user, that was pretty common at that point. 8GB was a little later, like a year or two, so these limits weren't really seen by normal computer users until well into the P3 era. So it's totally possible the Phoenix BIOS is doing something stupid defaulting to CHS, simply because it's old enough to be ignorant and almost nobody noticed...

In my experience, the Phoenix BIOSes had always being a bit finicky on HDD support.
My Schneider Tower AT 220, for example, uses an Phoenix BIOS.
If I attach a CF card, it just hangs. Using XT-IDE helped me.
Phoenix BIOSes weren't bad, I think, but -uhm- a bit different sometimes.
In a world of AMI and Award BIOSes it's no wonder, I guess.