LinuxQuestions.org - abit nf7-s rev 2.0 and sata support: what's the problem?

i'm trying to enable sata support for the silicon image sata controller (sil 3112A) integrated in my abit nf7-s.
with kernel 2.6.7 there are no problems: i disabled silicon image chipset support in ide settings (it seems to interfere with the other driver) and just enabled "serial ata support" and "silicon image sata support" in "SCSI low-level drivers" section: everything went ok, i can mount partition /dev/sdaX and read/write on it.
following the same procedure with kernel 2.4.27 and then with 2.4.28-pre3 there is no way to get the hd working: the system hangs at boot time every time i reboot.
i tried also to compile silicon image sata support as a module: when i try to load it by hand the system hangs during "modprobe sata_sil" command....
where am i mistaking? is there a problem with my motherboard sata controller and kernel 2.4.x?

this is my fstab:

/dev/hdb2 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/hdb1 / reiserfs defaults 1 1
/dev/sda5 /mnt/hd reiserfs defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,owner,ro 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

detail: the sata drive i'm trying to get working is a regular ata (100) ide drive attached to the motherboard via sata bus by a sata/pata converter found into the abit box. this should not make difference in fact with kernel 2.6.7 everything is going ok (also in windoz the drive is recognized as a sata drive).
i did not connect a pata hd as a sata hd to gain in performance but only to didactic purpose: i am planning to buy a new hd in a few weeks and i have to decide for a pata or a sata one. so i would like to know (before buying it) how many problems i will have to get working a sata disk....

any suggestions to solve this problem?

thanks
dema