How do you get to the BIOS and make that change? Will that have any negative effect on other things?

You get into the BIOS by hitting the "Del" key or function key when the computer is just starting up. Your screen will usually say something like "Hit Del to see Options" or something like that. Then go to the hard drives section and see if you can change the access mode. Some people say they can't change these settings but mine was fine. No negative effect on anything as far as I can tell.

crossover office suports photoshop i have ran ita number of times with no problems

Juan,

If you already format all your HD, then mbr problem still exist.
Please try low-level format.

I had the same problem last week.
I install XP first, then I install FC2 and use diskdrake in FC2
to modify partition, and use grub to be boot manager.
Then I cannot boot XP.
Re-install XP ? no, it cannot work. It always be "Missing operating system" or "Error load operating System"
Even if I destroyed the partition table and recreated one with fdisk, SPFdisk.
"fdisk /mbr" cannot work.
It was a terrible situation.....

Finally, my friend told me to use low-level format (you can find that with Google)
(I use Maxtor HD so I found the Maxtor low-level format...)
(Beware! Remember to save your data,before formating. I lost all my data.. T_T...)
I hope this can solve your problem. And.....sorry for my pool english...

...mm... does anyone have other method for solving this problem???....

See my response above. You can avoid having to reformat and start over.

Another way around this is to first install XP then install either RH9 or FC1. Then when you go to install FC2 just do an update. When it asks about the boot loader say update only. It still gives a warning but ignore it.