IBM ThinkPad 700c and 720c Must Boot Windows NT Using FAT
Article ID: 103488
Article Last Modified on 4/8/2004
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.1
- Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
This article was previously published under Q103488
SUMMARY
When you install Windows NT on an IBM ThinkPad 700c or 720c portable
computer and you attempt to convert the boot partition to the NTFS
file system, you may receive the following error message after
rebooting the computer:
FAT structure in area required by NTFS
Bad Sector in required areas of volume.
Before you install Windows NT on an IBM ThinkPad 700c or 720c
portable, an ABIOS patch must be applied. After these files are
applied, you will be unable to convert the file system of the boot
drive to NTFS.
This is by design. Windows NT refuses to convert the volume to NTFS
because the existing BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) conflicts with the
disk geometry information returned by the file system driver.
Conversion requires these two sources of information about disk
geometry to be consistent because Convert writes a new BPB based on
the information it obtains from the file system driver. If Convert
writes a BPB that conflicts with the BPB expected by the BIOS (that
is, the existing BPB), you will not be able to boot from that disk.
Additional query words: prodnt
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