according to dmesg, it does seem to want to use raid but it does not say anything explicit.
I checked for other log files and found boot.msg. The seemingly relevant part is this:
####### BEGIN #######
<6>ICH5: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
<6> ide0: BM-DMA at 0x14c0-0x14c7, BIOS settings: hda
MA, hdb
io
<6> ide1: BM-DMA at 0x14c8-0x14cf, BIOS settings: hdc
MA, hdd
io
<7>Probing IDE interface ide0...
<4>hda: ST340017A, ATA DISK drive
<3>IRQ handler type mismatch for IRQ 14
<4> [<c01465ed>] setup_irq+0x17d/0x190
<4> [<e0d1cbb3>] ide_intr+0x0/0x1aa [ide_core]
<4> [<c014667c>] request_irq+0x7c/0x98
<4> [<e0d1ff1e>] init_irq+0x20c/0x473 [ide_core]
<4> [<c01b89e9>] register_blkdev+0xd3/0xde
<4> [<e0e366aa>] piix_config_drive_xfer_rate+0xfe/0x125 [piix]
<4> [<e0d202ad>] hwif_init+0x128/0x2fc [ide_core]
<4> [<e0d20594>] probe_hwif_init_with_fixup+0x1d/0x6b [ide_core]
<4> [<e0d22897>] ide_setup_pci_device+0x43/0x75 [ide_core]
<4> [<c01ca7dc>] pci_device_probe+0x36/0x57
<4> [<c0225759>] really_probe+0x39/0x9d
<4> [<c02257ee>] driver_probe_device+0x31/0x87
<4> [<c02258a6>] __driver_attach+0x0/0x6b
<4> [<c02258ea>] __driver_attach+0x44/0x6b
<4> [<c0225236>] bus_for_each_dev+0x39/0x5b
<4> [<c02256cc>] driver_attach+0x16/0x18
<4> [<c02258a6>] __driver_attach+0x0/0x6b
<4> [<c0224f34>] bus_add_driver+0x6c/0x107
<4> [<c01ca932>] __pci_register_driver+0x61/0x7d
<4> [<e08660af>] piix_ide_init+0xaf/0xb3 [piix]
<4> [<c013987f>] sys_init_module+0x17fe/0x1981
<4> [<c015f3ed>] shmem_getpage+0x4f2/0x552
<4> [<c0103dc7>] syscall_call+0x7/0xb
<3>IRQ handler type mismatch for IRQ 14
<4> [<c01465ed>] setup_irq+0x17d/0x190
<4> [<e0d1cbb3>] ide_intr+0x0/0x1aa [ide_core]
<4> [<c014667c>] request_irq+0x7c/0x98
<4> [<e0d1ff1e>] init_irq+0x20c/0x473 [ide_core]
<4> [<c01b89e9>] register_blkdev+0xd3/0xde
<4> [<e0e366aa>] piix_config_drive_xfer_rate+0xfe/0x125 [piix]
<4> [<e0d2046a>] hwif_init+0x2e5/0x2fc [ide_core]
<4> [<e0d20594>] probe_hwif_init_with_fixup+0x1d/0x6b [ide_core]
<4> [<e0d22897>] ide_setup_pci_device+0x43/0x75 [ide_core]
<4> [<c01ca7dc>] pci_device_probe+0x36/0x57
<4> [<c0225759>] really_probe+0x39/0x9d
<4> [<c02257ee>] driver_probe_device+0x31/0x87
<4> [<c02258a6>] __driver_attach+0x0/0x6b
<4> [<c02258ea>] __driver_attach+0x44/0x6b
<4> [<c0225236>] bus_for_each_dev+0x39/0x5b
<4> [<c02256cc>] driver_attach+0x16/0x18
<4> [<c02258a6>] __driver_attach+0x0/0x6b
<4> [<c0224f34>] bus_add_driver+0x6c/0x107
<4> [<c01ca932>] __pci_register_driver+0x61/0x7d
<4> [<e08660af>] piix_ide_init+0xaf/0xb3 [piix]
<4> [<c013987f>] sys_init_module+0x17fe/0x1981
<4> [<c015f3ed>] shmem_getpage+0x4f2/0x552
<4> [<c0103dc7>] syscall_call+0x7/0xb
<4>ide0: probed IRQ 14 and default IRQ 14 failed.
<6>ide0: failed to initialize IDE interface
####### END #######
Given this, I think i'll try going into BIOS and changing the IRQ setting.
thanks for your suggestion.
I'll write back with how it goes.
Michael