FDisk won't detect or accept correct disk geometry from BIOS

[Keith Kelly]

Please see this page: 
http://lantech.geekvenue.net/chucktips/jason/chuck/1044789670/index_html

This is exactly the problem I am having now whenever I try to install either 
FreeBSD 4.9 or 5.1.  Clearly, a lot of other users out there are having this 
problem too.  FDisk absolutely refuses to accept the correct geometry values 
(the ones my BIOS tells me it is using to address the disk), instead 
insisting on using some values that are not even close to correct.  Then 
after installation completes and I try to boot, I get a "missing operating 
system" message, which is no surprise given that the disk was addressed by 
the installer using the wrong geometry settings.

Why the hell doesn't FDisk properly read the geometry settings from the BIOS 
in the first place (so that don't have to look them up and enter them myself 
during install), and why the hell doesn't it accept the correct values when 
I enter them?  Isn't there *ANY* way to force it to accept the values I give 
it?

I have a hard time imagining how this could be considered "low priority" or 
"not important" by the developers of the system.  This is clearly a major 
defect in either documentation (if this is user error, a LOT of users are 
having the problem, so documentation must be deficient), or a major defect 
in the code.

DISCLAIMER: I don't know if you folks are like the Linux community, but 
don't tell me to "find the bug and fix it yourself", or to "quit whining". 
It's perfectly reasonable for a user of a piece of software to expect it to 
work right.  I'm not a developer, and shouldn't have to be.  That's why 
*other* people are developers, so that I don't have to be.

- Keith F. Kelly