SATA HDD NOT DETECTED

Im using a Gigabyte GA-7VT600-PL motherboard (Rev 1.0), Award BIOS version F7 (one short of the newest version F8 which caused some CDROM loading problems for my Acronis True Image so reverted to F7), 1GB OCZ DDR Ram (1x256MB PC3200, 1x256MB PC3200, 1x512MB PC3200), Enermax EG-365P-VE 350W PSU, Lite-On SOHW 832S DVDRW, HP 8200+ CD Writer, 160GB Seagate SATA-II.5 7200.9 HDD, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro AGP, Soundblaster Live! 5.1 PCI. The system has been rock stable for over a year with 2 PATA HDDs.

The problem started as soon as I installed the 160GB SATA HDD replacing my 2 PATA drives (30GB Maxtor, 40GB Maxtor). The setup right now has the single SATA drive attached to SATA0 socket on the motherboard (using the Gigabyte supplied SATA cable that have been sitting in my closet for about 2 years now) and the two optical drives attached to the IDE1 channel (as always). I went into the BIOS and adjusted the INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS - OnChip IDE Channel0 to DISABLED (since nothing was now attached to the channel), I level OnChip IDE Channel1 to ENABLED, OnChip Serial ATA = ENABLED, SATA Mode = IDE. Under ADVANCED BIOS FEATURES there is a Hard Disk Boot Priority however there was only "Bootable Add-In Cards" mentioned so I skipped it. Back under STANDARD CMOS Features there was now IDE Channel 2 and 3 Master however its setting was NONE. This is how the IDE Channels read:

IDE Channel 0 Master: None
IDE Channel 0 Slave: None
IDE Channel 1 Master: Lite-On DVDRW SOHW 832S
IDE Channel 1 Slave: HP CDRW 8200+
IDE Channel 2 Master: None
IDE Channel 3 Master: None

I even tried IDE Auto Detection for IDE Channel 2 and 3 and it came back as NONE before but now each time I use it the BIOS appears to crash -- It says DETECTING HARD DRIVES and after 15 to 20secs the red information window disappears leaving a blank blue gap where there used to be the words "IDE Auto-Detection", "Extended IDE Drive - Auto", and "Access Mode - Auto". I'm unable to use the BIOS any further and must reset.

Man what is going on here?!

While the PC was on I touched the 160GB Seagate SATA drive and yup its running and warm so power is going to it. The SATA cable looks fine from motherboard to drive. Again Im using the SATA0 socket on the mobo. The SATA cables were not forced in improperly (I did see the keying and matched it correctly). I also moved on and tried using Seagates SeaTools drive Utility but it too is unable to recognize that a SATA drive even exists.

Please, anyone have any ideas? In the meantime I will try upgrading to the final BIOS update for my mobo to see if this helps. I'll even reset my BIOS settings to Optimal/Default.

Thanks.

*UPDATE*

Ok i tried upgrading the BIOS to version F8 (latest - Oct 2004) and even tried loading Optimized/Fail-Safe BIOS settings and still everything mentioned above remained the same. Can someone please tell me how to resolve this?

In the meantime I will try reattaching the SATA connectors and switching from SATA0 to SATA1 scoket on the mobo.