Table of Errors:
Most of these will prevent the Harddisk from working correctly under DOS, so it's not likely that you ever get these errors.
Invalid Rootsector Signature
The last two bytes of the rootsector must be 55 AA (hex)
More than one bootable Partition
In the partition table there should only be one partition marked bootable You can override this message with the -omb switch
Invalid bootable-flag
The bootable flag in the partition table should be 80h or 0 You can override this message with the -obf switch
Invalid Start Sector
The start sector number of the partition is either 0 or greater than the number of sectors per track
Invalid End Sector
The end sector number of the partition is either 0 or greater than the number of sectors per track
Invalid Start Head
The number of the start head of the partition is greater than the total number of heads of the drive - 1
Invalid End Head
The number of the end head of the partition is greater than the total number of heads of the drive - 1
Partition Table Corrupt - start
The start sector (head/cylinder/sector) does not match the absolute start sector
Partition Table Corrupt - end
The end sector (head/cylinder/sector) does not match the absolute start sector + the number of sectors
Overlapping Partitions
The partition table contains overlapping partitions
Invalid Jump Instruction in Bootsector
The first three bytes of the bootsector must be a 3-byte jump (E9 xx xx) or a 2-byte jump (EB xx 90). Perhaps the partition is not yet formatted. FIPS can only split DOS-formatted partitions.
Invalid Bootsector
The last two bytes of the bootsector must be 55 AA (hex)
Can't handle number of Bytes per Sector
The number of bytes per sector must be 512
Number of Sectors per Cluster must be a power of 2
Only 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128 are allowed
Partition must have 2 FATs
Every DOS partition has 2 copies of the FAT
Number of Rootdir entries must be multiple of 16
One sector of the rootdirectory contains 16 entries You can override this message with the -ore switch
Number of Rootdir entries must not be zero
Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?
Wrong Media Descriptor Byte in Bootsector
The Media Descriptor Byte in the Bootsector should be F8 (hex) You can override this message with the -omd switch
FAT too large
FAT has more than 256 sectors - useless, since 2 bytes * 64K entries = 128K = 256 * 512 bytes. If you can access the drive, do not attempt to change this. You can override this message with the -olf switch
FAT too small
The partition has more clusters than the FAT can handle You can override this message with the -osf switch
Number of hidden sectors incorrect
The number of hidden sectors in the bootsector must match the number of the start sector in the partition table
12-bit FAT not supported
FIPS can't split partitions with a 12-bit FAT
Number of sectors (short) must be zero
For partitions with more than 65536 sectors (BIGDOS) the number of sectors (short) must be zero
Number of sectors (short) does not match Partition Info
The number of sectors in the partition table must match the number of sectors in the bootsector
Number of Sectors (long) does not match Partition Info
The number of sectors in the partition table must match the number of sectors in the bootsector
Invalid Drive number
Only the numbers 128 - 255 are valid drive numbers
Invalid Partition number
Only the numbers 1 - 4 are valid partition numbers
Error reading FAT 1
Read error - bad sector
Error reading FAT 2
Read error - bad sector
FAT copies differ
The two copies of the FAT differ - use CHKDSK
Wrong Media Descriptor Byte in FAT
The first byte of each FAT is the Media Descriptor - it should be F8h You can override this message with the -omd switch
New Partition not empty
The New Partition must be completely empty
Too many drives found
FIPS can handle up to 9 drives - that should be enough for most PCs :-)
No Compatible Harddisk found
Hey, where is your drive? Perhaps your Harddisk is not int 13h compatible.
No valid partition found
All partitions in the partition table are empty
No free partition
All four partitions are in use
Error reading Drive Geometry
Interrupt 13h 08h returned an error code
Drive Initialization Failure
Interrupt 13h 00h returned an error code
Error reading Root Sector
Read error - bad sector, wrong drive number or incompatible harddrive
Can't split extended Partitions
FIPS can not yet split extended DOS partitions
Invalid Partition selected
The partition selected with the -p switch is empty
Unknown Filesystem
Only DOS partitions can be split (System Indicator Byte must be 4 or 6)
Error reading Boot Sector
Read error - bad sector
Partition too small - can't split
If the partition has only slightly more than 4085 clusters, it can't be split any further without rewriting the FAT to 12 bit.
Last Cylinder is not free
Since the new partition is created at the end of the old one and contains at least one cylinder, the partition can not be split if not at least the very last cylinder is completely free. Probably there is a hidden file like 'image.idx' or 'mirorsav.fil' in the last cylinder - see the doc.
Invalid new start cylinder
The start cylinder chosen with the -c switch is not valid
Error writing Root Sector
Write error - perhaps the disk is write protected?
Error writing Boot Sector
Write error :-( - this will hopefully never happen ...
Too many save files on disk
There can only be ten save files on one floppy disk (rootboot.000 to rootboot.009). Delete some or use another floppy disk.
Can't open file
FIPS tried to write the file rootboot.00? to drive A: but an error occured Try using another floppy disk
Error writing file
FIPS tried to write the file rootboot.00? to drive A: but an error occured Try using another floppy disk
Error closing file
FIPS tried to write the file rootboot.00? to drive A: but an error occured Try using another floppy disk
Warnings:
These will not cause FIPS to exit, since they are not really errors. If you have the possibility to correct the problem, do it; if not, this will not affect DOS, so you should be safe.
Invalid Partition entry
The partition entry contains data, but the system indicator is 0 (empty). Attention: FIPS will possibly overwrite this entry. Make sure this is no valid Partition (temporarily disabled etc.)
Partition does not end on Cylinder boundary
All partitions should end on a cylinder boundary
Partition does not begin on Cylinder boundary
Normally, all partitions except the first one should begin on head 0, sector 1 of a cylinder. This is not required by DOS, however.
Free Space between Partitions
There is free space on the harddisk that is not covered by a partition
Number of reserved sectors should be 1
The bootsector uses only 1 sector, so the number of reserved sector is usually 1. If you can access your drive, do not attempt to change this.
Sectors per track incorrect
The number of sectors per track in the bootsector does not match the actual drive geometry reported by the BIOS
Number of drive heads incorrect
The number of drive heads in the bootsector does not match the actual drive geometry reported by the BIOS
Wrong System Indicator Byte
For BIGDOS Partitions the System Indicator Byte should be 6; for DOS16 Partitions it should be 4
Wrong Signature
Partitions with 32-bit sector numbers (since DOS 4.0+) have an 'extended Bios Parameter Block' in the bootsector, its signature byte is 29h. This is however totally ignored by DOS.
Drive number in bootsector does not match actual drivenumber
The drive number in the bootsector does not match the drive number by which the drive is accessed
Wrong FAT entries 1 & 2
A 16-bit FAT should start with F8 FF FF FF
Can't open debugfile
The debugfile is created in the current directory - make sure it is writable