Microsoft KB Archive/62048

= Reasons for MS-DOS &quot;File Allocation Table Bad&quot; Error Message =

Article ID: 62048

Article Last Modified on 11/25/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft MS-DOS 3.1
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 3.2 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 3.21 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 3.3 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 3.3a
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 4.01 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0a

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This article was previously published under Q62048



SUMMARY
There are basically six reasons why the &quot;File Allocation Table Bad&quot; error occurs. These reasons are as follows:


 * The disk is not formatted, or incorrectly formatted.
 * An operating system other than MS-DOS is on disk.
 * There are defective disk sectors in the file allocation table (FAT).
 * There are invalid cluster numbers in the FAT.
 * There are lost clusters on the disk.
 * There is cross-linking of some files on the same cluster.

Using the CHKDSK /F command on the disk should repair the above problems. If it doesn't correct the problem (that is, the same error is returned), you may want to use a third-party disk recovery utility. As a final option, you may want to reformat the disk.

Additional query words: tshoot 3.30 3.30a 4.00 4.00a 5.00 5.00a noupd

Keywords: KB62048

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