The error is:
ata1: command 0x35 timeout, stat 0x50 host_stat 0x4
ata1: command 0x35 timeout, stat 0x50 host_stat 0x4
ata1: command 0x35 timeout, stat 0x50 host_stat 0x4
ata1: command 0x35 timeout, stat 0x50 host_stat 0x4
-repeats until I hit the power-

My partitions are pretty standard: sda1 * 64Mb, sda2 1024Mb (swap), sda3 (rest of drive)

I have tried installing on two different drives; seagate sata 200gb & 80gb. I also tried 4 different SATA ports, two SATA cables, two PATA cables and two CDROMS.

The file systems I have tried are ext3 and reiser.

It has happened during:
mke2fs -j /dev/sda3 (this one always errors. I have only got the Drives to format as ext3 once each. They have never errored when I format reiser)
-these are the random ones under the reiser format-
installing the stage1 tarball
installing the stage2 tarball (thought maybe it was just the stage1, evidently not)
installing portage (all different dates) (snapshots from web and liveCD)
emerge --sync
bootstrapping of the system

I don't know if this is a hardware error or a software error...

As you can see it is a random error. What are the prossible problems? I am having no other trouble than this ERROR!

Thanks in advance.