> > Thanks to replies from Allen, Chuck, and Trevor,
> > I am now past the nforce4 + SATA roadblock.
> >
> > Suggestions were:
> > 	MPACPI
> > 	ACPI
> > 	turning off SATA-II in the BIOS
> >
> > While hunting for a way to turn off SATA-II, (and not finding
> > one) I found "APIC Mode", and turning APIC off fixed it.
> 
> Could you please clarify the relevant kernel and BIOS options (and which 
> is which please :) ) that fixed it? I had the exact same problem with the 
> 3.0_BETA INSTALL kernel on an MSI K8N Platinum (nforce4 ultra) a few weeks 
> ago, but no-one replied when I mailed port-amd64... I tried to roll my own 
> ACPI kernel by turning off everyhing MPBIOS and turning on everything 
> MPACPI, but it made no difference.

Turning off "APIC Mode" in the firmware (BIOS) fixed the problem
with the SATA drives.  I haven't changed any kernel options,
since the floppy miniroot doesn't include kernel sources and
a compiler.  (That would take more than 2 floppies.)  I'm using
whatever kernel is in

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/HEAD/200508240000Z/
amd64/installation/floppy/boot-com1.fs

So far I have run fdisk, mbrlabel, newfs.  Currently ftp-ing (very
slowly due to unrelated problems) the binary sets to a SATA drive.
Next I'll try to do a real install on the other SATA drive and see
if I can get the firmware to boot from SATA.