problems with disk geometry

[Gayn Winters]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org 
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org] On Behalf Of Kamal 
> R. Prasad
> Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 8:56 AM
> To: freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org
> Subject: problems with disk geometry
> 
> 
> hello,
> 
>   Im trying to install FreeBSD 6.0 beta5 on a samsung SP1604N hard  
> disk of about 160 GB.
> The installer complains that it has a problem with the disk 
> geometry.  
> The exact message is given below:-
> ------------------------------------------
> A geometry of 310101/16/63 is incorrect for ad1. Using a more likely  
> geometry. If this geometry is incorrect.. pl. consult the 
> hardware guide
> -------------------------------------------
> fdisk goes through the process of creating the reqd slices 
> and when I  
> try to commit the new partition table -it says it cannot write to / 
> dev/ad1.
> 
> Can someone tell me how to get past this problem?
> 
> thanks
> -kamal

I doubt it is your disk geometry.  You will probably need to provide a
little more information.  I assume you've got another OS on /dev/ad0 and
that you are letting sysinstall put 6.0 onto /dev/ad1 as a (dangerously)
dedicated drive?  What does the BIOS report?  How old are the machine
and its BIOS?  What does fdisk say when run either standalone or from
the first OS?

-gayn