Frequently Asked Questions

Chances are, others have the same questions that you do. Therefore, we have taken the common questions for Diskeeper, Sitekeeper and Undelete and provided the answers (and the questions) below in our Frequently Asked Questions section. Simply select the product below that you have questions about. If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, you can submit a tech support question here.

Diskeeper | Sitekeeper | Undelete

Question
Black screen when restarting the computer system on a boot partition that is FAT.
Answer
The situation you experienced is the result of an issue with the FAT boot code in Windows NT 4.0. The ntldr file has been moved to a point too far into the partition for the FAT boot code to find. While Diskeeper likely performed this move, a user can also perform the same function by in any way altering the ntldr file by installing software that makes such an alteration. The FAT boot code should be able to read the entire partition, but it appears it can not. Here are the steps to handle the issue. If you already have a boot floppy that contains a correct version of the files listed in step 2, you can use that to boot your system. If not, here is how to create one: 1. Format the floppy in another Windows NT system, (you must format it in Windows NT so that the boot sector on the disk can find and run Ntldr) 2. Copy these three files from the root of the C: partition to the floppy : boot.ini, ntldr and NtDetect (you must be certain the Windows NT is installed to the same directory on the target system as it is on the system that you are copying the files from). You can then boot from this floppy. If this does not work, you need to alter your CMOS so that it looks to the floppy before looking to the hard drive for boot files. You can then delete the ntldr from the root of the C: partition and then copying the ntldr from the boot floppy to the root of the C: partition. This may copy the ntldr file into an address that is close enough to the beginning of the partition for the FAT boot code to find. If this works, exclude the ntldr from Diskeeper’s online operations and do not run BOOT TIME CONSOLIDATION. This will keep Diskeeper from ever being the source of this problem, but, as mentioned above, this problem can occur anyway. Keep your boot floppy in your tool box should you see this again. If copying the file back does not solve the problem, please click the 'Did not solve' link below and our technical support team can supply you with Microsoft's BCUpdate.exe which will update the FAT boot code.

Question

Black screen when restarting the computer system on a boot partition that is FAT.

Answer

The situation you experienced is the result of an issue with the FAT boot code in Windows NT 4.0. The ntldr file has been moved to a point too far into the partition for the FAT boot code to find. While Diskeeper likely performed this move, a user can also perform the same function by in any way altering the ntldr file by installing software that makes such an alteration. The FAT boot code should be able to read the entire partition, but it appears it can not.

Here are the steps to handle the issue.

If you already have a boot floppy that contains a correct version of the files listed in step 2, you can use that to boot your system. If not, here is how to create one:

1. Format the floppy in another Windows NT system, (you must format it in Windows NT so that the boot sector on the disk can find and run Ntldr)

2. Copy these three files from the root of the C: partition to the floppy : boot.ini, ntldr and NtDetect (you must be certain the Windows NT is installed to the same directory on the target system as it is on the system that you are copying the files from).

You can then boot from this floppy. If this does not work, you need to alter your CMOS so that it looks to the floppy before looking to the hard drive for boot files.

You can then delete the ntldr from the root of the C: partition and then copying the ntldr from the boot floppy to the root of the C: partition. This may copy the ntldr file into an address that is close enough to the beginning of the partition for the FAT boot code to find. If this works, exclude the ntldr from Diskeeper’s online operations and do not run BOOT TIME CONSOLIDATION. This will keep Diskeeper from ever being the source of this problem, but, as mentioned above, this problem can occur anyway. Keep your boot floppy in your tool box should you see this again.

If copying the file back does not solve the problem, please click the 'Did not solve' link below and our technical support team can supply you with Microsoft's BCUpdate.exe which will update the FAT boot code.

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