Hey
I have recently installed Mandriva Linux 2006 Free and I have run into a strange problem.

I am running this on a:
Asus P4S800D motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.0ghz Prescott (HT)
1024mb PC3200 ram
40gb IDE harddisk (linux install)
*160gb SATA harddisk (old windows install)*

Mandrive won't recognise the SATA disk when I try to mount it, it says that the device does not exist even though it is listed in "media:/" (but unmounted). During the installer for Mandriva, it detected it and I saw it install the SiS SATA controller. The drive was there in the partition manager in the installer, but not now that the OS has actually been installed. I tried changing the partitions on it in the installer, but the program froze after I resized and tried to format the free space.

I don't believe this is a hardware problem, because my old windows install works fine; it even shows in BIOS with no problems and boots from this disk.

Eventually, I tried Knoppix from the CD, and it booted and could see this drive fine! It could see it, read from it and copy files from it with no problem. I don't understand why Mandriva can't mount it.

FWIW, I have just tried to install Mandriva on an nVidia 4 SATA 2 board. The install hung at the installing SATA drivers stage.

I got it to work, but you need to install onto an IDE drive first!
You need to upgrade your Kernel from 6.2.12.12 to 6.2.16.15 (this is on the cooker website). It now works fine, detects etc. However, this does mean that I can't install on the SATA drive with me CDs

The 64 bit version seems to install okay, I tested with the first CD and it continued past the 32-bit's freeze-point.