680i and SATA Problems, 680i Motherboard and SATA Problems Options

[powrhaus]

I have just purchased a 680i-based motherboard and have been fighting with it for over a week trying to get a stable Windows install using a SATA hard drive and SATA CD/DVD drives. After much grief I searched the web and found that a lot of people are having the same problems. It also seems these problems have been around in earlier versions of the nForce motherboards as well.

I am using the Core 2 Extreme processor running at 2.93G (not overclocked). I have tried two brand new hard drives from different manufacturers, I have tried SATA 150 and SATA 300 mode, I have tried using the nForce SATA drivers and also the stock Windows drivers. In every case my Windows Event Log is filled with DISK errors and warnings and my Windows install locks up continuously. Occasionally it will come out of it for a few minutes only to lockup again. Sometimes it locks up and never comes back.

I have looked at a lot of forums and I am not alone in experiencing this problem. The hard drives I am using are brand new purchased several days ago. My CD/DVD drive is a Plextor PX716SA.

Sometimes even inserting a CD into the drive will cause Windows to crash.

Is there a valid solution to this problem? Some people have suggested underclocking my CPU, should I really have to do that to make this motherboard work?

Can we have an official response or some information from people who have this working? I am not using RAID, simply one hard drive and one CD/DVD drive using the SATA connectors on the motherboard. I have also tried moving the SATA connectors around and this makes no difference.

I really need some help.