Table of Errors:

Most of these will prevent the hard disk from working correctly under DOS, so
it's not likely that you ever get these errors.

Invalid root sector signature
  The last two bytes of the root sector should be 55 AA (hex).
  This is a serious error and usually prevents the hard disk from being
  accessible under DOS. You can use 'fdisk /mbr' after booting from a
  floppy disk to write a correct root sector.
Calculation error
  Oops, this is a bug in FIPS. The changed root sector is defective. Please
  send a bug report to schaefer@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de
Overlapping partitions
  The partition table contains overlapping partitions. This is a serious
  problem and should not happen.
Invalid jump instruction in boot sector
  The first three bytes of the boot sector 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 boot sector
  The last two bytes of the boot sector 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 root directory entries must not be zero
  Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?
Number of hidden sectors incorrect
  The number of hidden sectors in the boot sector 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 boot sector
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 boot sector

Invalid drive number
  Only the numbers 128 - 255 are valid drive 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 /f' to correct this
New partition not empty
  The New Partition is not empty. Apparently this is a bug in FIPS, since
  the empty space of the partition has been determined before. Please
  send a bug report to schaefer@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de

Too many drives found
  FIPS can handle up to 9 drives - that should be enough for most PCs :-)
No compatible hard disk found
  Hey, where is your drive? Perhaps your hard disk 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
Unknown file system
  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.
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.

More than one active partition
  More than one partition is marked 'active' in the partition table.
  There are some boot programs that do not complain about more than one
  active partition - they will just use the first one. If you have such
  a program in your root sector and the PC boots normally, you may ignore
  this message. Otherwise use fdisk to correct the error.
Invalid active flag
  The 'active' flag of a partition should be either 80h or 0.
  By modifying the active flag and the boot program it is theoretically
  possible to boot from the second harddrive. If you happen to have such
  a configuration, ignore this message. Otherwise you can delete the flag
  now.
Partition table inconsistency
  FIPS has detected that the 'physical' start or end sector (head/cylinder/
  sector) do not match with the 'logical' start/end sector. This is not
  an error since the 'physical' values are redundant and not used anyway.
  There are many configurations where the values differ. This message is
  meant only to inform you that FIPS has adapted the 'physical' values
  according to the current drive geometry. So don't be alarmed by an unex-
  pected cylinder range.
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.)
No active partition
  No partition in the partition table is marked active. Normally you will
  not be able to boot from this disk. Use fdisk to correct that.
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 boot sector 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.
Number of root directory entries must be multiple of 16
  One sector of the root directory contains 16 entries. An invalid number
  of root directory entries is accepted by DOS but causes problems.
Wrong media descriptor byte in boot sector
  The media descriptor byte should be F8h for a harddisk, but other values
  like FCh are accepted by DOS (perhaps used for removable media ?).
FAT too large
  Since the number of sectors per FAT is a 2 byte number, it is theoretically
  possible to have up to 65535 sectors per FAT. A number of FAT sectors
  greater than 256 is accepted by DOS, but not useful, since the largest
  possible FAT has 2 bytes * 64K entries = 128K = 256 * 512 bytes. If you can
  access the drive, do not attempt to change this.
FAT too small
  If the number of clusters in the partition is larger than there are entries
  in the FAT, DOS uses only part of the partition. Something has gone *very*
  wrong with this partition, but all is not lost - reduce the partition to a
  size that can be properly managed.

Sectors per track incorrect
  The number of sectors per track in the boot sector does not match the actual
  drive geometry reported by the BIOS
Number of drive heads incorrect
  The number of drive heads in the boot sector 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 boot sector, its signature byte is 29h. This
  is however totally ignored by DOS.
Drive number in boot sector does not match actual drive number
  The drive number in the boot sector does not match the drive number by which
  the drive is accessed

Wrong media descriptor byte in FAT
  The first byte of each FAT is the Media Descriptor - it should be F8h
  for a hard disk, but other values like FCh are accepted by DOS (perhaps
  used for removable media ?).
Wrong FAT entries 1 & 2
  A 16-bit FAT should start with F8 FF FF FF

Can't open debug file
  The debug file is created in the current directory - make sure it is
  writable
