troubles getting linux to run on P4C800 board (and other things)

I recently bought a new computer with an Asus P4C800 deluxe motherboard. I installed Mandrake 9.1 and it didn't recognize quite a lot of the hardware:
the S-ATA hard disk wasn't detected
the onboard ethernet (3c940) wasn't detected

in addition my Audigy 2 was detected but sound didn't work.

I gave a quick look to these forums and saw that some people had solved the problems under Gentoo. So I tried it.
With IDE running in enhanced mode (or in compatibility mode with the S-ATA drives enabled) the all the installation kernels detect the S-ATA drives and then hang except the smp one (which ignores the S-ATA drives), the network adapter is still not recognized.

If I set the IDE on compatibility mode with only P-ATA all the kernels boot.

I tried compiling a kernel with custom option but I must have screwed something up cause it panics while probing the P-ATA drives IRQs (it's not due to the S-ATA, it occurs even when it's not enabled).

Does anyone know how can I get the IDE to run properly in enhanced mode? (I can't run it in compatibility mode cause I have 3 P-ATA devices) Also what do I need to do to get the network to work (to finish the gentoo install I had to put in an old base10 card).

The Computer specs are as follows:
CPU: P4 3ghz with hyper threading enabled
motherboard: asus P4C800 deluxe
1 dvd reader as primary master
1 cd burner as primary slave
1 maxtor 30 gb ATA 133 disk as secondary master (the drive where linux is installed)
1 maxtor 120 gb S-ATA disk as third master
1 gig or ram
video: geforce fx5900 ultra
sound: creative labs audigy2 sound card

I'm sorry, but I can only help on one issue: the network card driver isn't included in the vanilla kernel sources. You have to download them from asus - they provide the source (nice!).
I also read many things about S-ATA not working. Well, since this is a very new board, it might be necessary also to run a very new kernel. Try using 2.6.0-test3 instead. May be you get this one running.
Just thinking of it.... the network drivers probably won't run with the 2.6 kernels will they? I'm not sure.

S-ATA seems fine with 2.4.21 kernel. I'm typing this with a S-ATA drive on /dev/hde in enhanced mode. My m/b is an Asus P4P800-VM which is even newer than the P4C800.

Knoppix live CD is a good way to try a 2.4.21 kernel with no hassle. It will also have a good shot at autodetecting the sound card and network interface. It found the e100 driver for my m/b even though this is based on Intel source which I don't think is part of the standard kernel. Searching www.knoppix.net for your network card gives nothing however. Use the 'knoppix alsa' boot parameter to force the installation to try the ALSA drivers for your sound card.

I run a P4C800DX and a P4P800DX
The OS I use is SuSE8.2.
I have compiled the Lan driver from the Asus website along with the binary sent to me by Promise which I have available here.

I hope this helps.