[CraigL4]

Maybe I'm dealing with the same problem as above, or perhaps i still have that to look forward to. Trying to install XP Pro with slipstreamed SP3 on GA-EP45-DS5, with mixed failures. I have two Seagate 500Gb SATA drives attached to the Southbridge connectors, also two DVD writers. No Raid requested. All are detected as hoped for in BIOS, although my first plan was to use GS0 source and GS2 source for the two DVDs - no go, then I tried the seagate SATA disks there and also no go. So for now the 6 connectors from the Sth Brdg are getting crowded and the purple "GSATA" ports are vacant. Bios is F6. I have 2 + 1 e-SATA ports to connect to somewhere so I really need to get some life out of GSATA ports - once i've solved the op sys install problem.

As seen in other fora, installation works fine during character mode phase, but halts after entering graphics mode. Seems drivers for disks are not remembered after restart, ie in text mode the install builds and formats partitions on the Seagate drives but after the restart it can not read these at all. Similarly, after booting with a floppy disk the drives are found but can not be read. I hoped using SP3 would overcome any old age-related issues with my XP SP2. Currently thinking about installing XP SP3 to an IDE disk, formatting seagate SATAs and then having another crack at installing XP SP3 to the SATAs and removing the IDE.

Any joy on latest BIOS updates and this GSATA chip ? I note F12 is now available and there have been some adjustments to SATA drivers.