Last partition sectors access problem

[Javier Miqueleiz <miqueleiz@eresmas.net>]

Hello everybody.

I have a minor problem concerning Debian 3.0 rev. 0. The last (1 or 2) 
sectors of some partitions can't be accessed. This isn't a hardware problem 
(tested using disk manufacterer tools or "dd if=/dev/hda").
The intriguing fact is that it happens when normally booting from HD, but not 
when booting from Debian installation CD-ROMs.
The partitions where created with Debian installation fdisk. I checked the 
partition table with Ranish Partition Manager and everything was ok.

I suspect CHS and LBA translation problems can be involved. When running lilo 
it displays the following warning:
"Warning: Int 0x13 function 8 and function 0x48 return different
head/sector geometries for BIOS drive 0x81"
If a boot from Debian CD-ROMs, lilo doesn't display this message.

With a recompiled kernel (2.2.20) I continue to have the same problem. I 
think to remember that this didn't occurred with my previous distro (Red Hat 
7.0).

My machine in question is:
Dell 4100 with latest BIOS revision.
Pentium III 800 MHZ.
Intel 815E chipset.
Western Digital 20 GB HD.
Samsung 4.2 GB HD.

By the way, at work I have a machine running Red Hat 7.3 with the same 
problem. It is also a Dell machine (a Precision 220 workstation).

Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance.


Javier Miqueleiz.