1 Topic by taa

  • taa
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Topic: Error: The information sector has the wrong signature (0).

Running on Windows XP SP 2 with FAT32 partitions.

GParted 0.3.8

Libparted 1.8.8

Move /dev/sda5 to the right and shrink it from 5.59 GiB to 3.64 GiB  00:00:23    ( ERROR )
         
calibrate /dev/sda5  00:00:01    ( SUCCESS )
         
path: /dev/sda5
start: 11727513
end: 23454899
size: 11727387 (5.59 GiB)
calculate new size and position of /dev/sda5  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
         
requested start: 15824088
requested end: 23454899
requested size: 7630812 (3.64 GiB)
new start: 15824025
new end: 23454899
new size: 7630875 (3.64 GiB)
check filesystem on /dev/sda5 for errors and (if possible) fix them  00:00:09    ( SUCCESS )
         
dosfsck -a -w -v /dev/sda5
         
dosfsck 2.11 (12 Mar 2005)
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
Checking we can access the last sector of the filesystem
No FSINFO sector
Not automatically creating it.
Boot sector contents:
System ID "MSWIN4.1"
Media byte 0xf8 (hard disk)
512 bytes per logical sector
4096 bytes per cluster
32 reserved sectors
First FAT starts at byte 16384 (sector 32)
2 FATs, 32 bit entries
5852672 bytes per FAT (= 11431 sectors)
Root directory start at cluster 2 (arbitrary size)
Data area starts at byte 11721728 (sector 22894)
1463061 data clusters (5992697856 bytes)
63 sectors/track, 255 heads
63 hidden sectors
11727387 sectors total
Reclaiming unconnected clusters.
/dev/sda5: 10325 files, 358100/1463061 clusters
shrink filesystem  00:00:04    ( ERROR )
         
using libparted
check filesystem on /dev/sda5 for errors and (if possible) fix them  00:00:08    ( SUCCESS )
         
dosfsck -a -w -v /dev/sda5
         
dosfsck 2.11 (12 Mar 2005)
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
Checking we can access the last sector of the filesystem
No FSINFO sector
Not automatically creating it.
Boot sector contents:
System ID "MSWIN4.1"
Media byte 0xf8 (hard disk)
512 bytes per logical sector
4096 bytes per cluster
32 reserved sectors
First FAT starts at byte 16384 (sector 32)
2 FATs, 32 bit entries
5852672 bytes per FAT (= 11431 sectors)
Root directory start at cluster 2 (arbitrary size)
Data area starts at byte 11721728 (sector 22894)
1463061 data clusters (5992697856 bytes)
63 sectors/track, 255 heads
63 hidden sectors
11727387 sectors total
Reclaiming unconnected clusters.
/dev/sda5: 10325 files, 358100/1463061 clusters
grow filesystem to fill the partition  00:00:01    ( ERROR )
         
using libparted
libparted messages    ( INFO )
 
The information sector has the wrong signature (0). Select cancel for now, and send in a bug report. If you're desperate, it's probably safe to ignore.
File system is reporting the free space as 0 clusters, not 1104961 clusters.
The file system is bigger than its volume!

========================================

Output from fdisk:

Disk /dev/sda: 60.0 GB, 60040544256 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7299 cylinders, total 117266688 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7e0f7e0f

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63    11727449     5863693+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda2        11727450    82092149    35182350    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda3        82092150    98831879     8369865   83  Linux
/dev/sda4        98831880   117258434     9213277+  83  Linux
/dev/sda5        11727513    23454899     5863693+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6        23454963    35182349     5863693+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7        35182413    46909799     5863693+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda8        46909863    58637249     5863693+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda9        58637313    70364699     5863693+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda10       70364763    82092149     5863693+   b  W95 FAT32

2 Reply by taa

  • taa
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Re: Error: The information sector has the wrong signature (0).

Quick question, assuming the part about, "If you're desperate, it's probably safe to ignore." is correct, how does one tell GParted to ignore the error? I won't proceed without advice that it's safe to do so, just wondering how one would.

3 Reply by class413

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Re: Error: The information sector has the wrong signature (0).

Running on Windows XP SP 2 with FAT32 partitions.

GParted runs under Linux. I see that you have already 2 Linux partitions, but no Linux swap partition. You have perhaps an installed GParted version. In case of problems, it would be better to try using the latest GParted Livecd from the main GParted page:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

I think you have to backup content of that partition and try to run the chkdsk /f command from windows command prompt, under safe mode in case of problem, or run file system check from GParted. I guess that the "extra space" of the file system isn't used.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

4 Reply by taa

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Re: Error: The information sector has the wrong signature (0).

I can see I wasn't clear and didn't provide enough info. I ran Gparted from the latest version of System Rescue CD. My reference to XP was so you'd know what created the partitions. The only reason the linux partitions exists is because I created them from unallocated disk space thinking that somehow the partition table types for primary partitions 3 and 4 were incorrect (previously unallocated space so I suspected the table entries might have been all hex 0's) and that was what was giving the "wrong signature" msg. But even after creating the linux partitions the "wrong signature" error came up.

The linux partitions are completely empty and I have no intention of putting the OS on this PC so I can delete them if you think it would help.

I will try running chkdsk /f under safe mode, and fsck after booting from System Rescue CD.

Question: Which sector =is= the information sector? The MBR? And which byte(s) would have the signature? What does it =need= to have in it if not zero?

5 Reply by gedakc (edited by gedakc 2008-11-03 19:46:30)

  • gedakc
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Re: Error: The information sector has the wrong signature (0).

taa wrote:

Quick question, assuming the part about, "If you're desperate, it's probably safe to ignore." is correct, how does one tell GParted to ignore the error?

It is not possible to tell GParted to ignore the error.
If you wish to proceed with the error , you would need to use "parted" directly from the command line.

My suggestion would be to try the following command in a terminal session to fix the problem:
     dosfsck -w -r -v /dev/sda5
Answer "1" each time you are prompted about FSINFO.

The above command came from the following link:
     http://andrewgee.org/blog/category/ubuntu/

Information about the FAT32 FSINFO sector can be found in the following thread:
     http://osdir.com/ml/emulators.freedos.d … 00012.html