MSI K9A2-Boot Problems & Installation Issue

Question

In putting together a new system, see sig, I decided to go with the MSI K9A2 board.  I have used MSI and Abit boards for a number of years and this is the first time I have had to post about an MSI board giving me fits, apparently.  I say apparently because my troubleshooting has me looking hard at the board.  I assembled the system, originally with Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC6400 memory and the system failed to POST.  Having read some posts about memory issues, I had verified that this memory should work.  I did a lot of troubleshooting on the board.  I will admit that I was a bit surprised by the power on button that is actually on the board.  I reset the CMOS (using the directions posted in these forums), reset and checked connections (yes, both the extra CPU and Graphics power connectors were attached) and finally resorted to stripping out everything but the MB and essential components onto a tabletop.  This also produced a no POST.  Lastly, removed one of the RAM modules, so that only one RAM was in the MB in DIMM slot 1.  Hit the power button and the system posted.  At this point I did not do much with the BIOS other than insure that the CPU and temps were ok.  I loaded optimized defaults, saved, rebooted and powered down.  I added the second DIMM module and no POST.   I removed the second DIMM, powered up the system, received a chksum error, hit F1 and went into the BIOS, loaded defaults and it would boot on one DIMM with no chksum errors.  Confirmed this behavior a couple of times.
Ok.  So now I am looking at memory.  I ran out and purchased the DDR2 memory in my sig and installed it into the MB.  POSTed on the first run.  I was optimistic at this point that the issue was solved and I moved onto installing Windows XP.  Hard drive is recognized and in SATA 1 and the DVD drive is in SATA 2.  Windows loads the installation screens and everything goes well, until it finishes formatting and starts to copy the files.  At this point it hangs at 3%.  After many iterations of it hanging I went back and stared at the memory.  I went into the bios and set it at 4-4-4-15 and 2.1V.  As I had been around this horse a number of times I tried the install again, using a 20GB partition after updating the BIOS and it formatted and started loading Windows.  (This is were I should have just let it go....)  As I wanted the primary partition to be greater than 20GB, I blew that away and went for a 70GB partition......and we hang at 3% again.  When it hangs it is failing to copy a *.tss file. 
At this point I am looking at the MB and thinking....RMA.
Two new pairs of memory and the hanging at 3% are pointing me there, any comments?
Thanks,
R

Answer 1

Quadrifoglio,
SATA 1 is the first red port, but the manual is saying the red ports are on the SB600 controllor and that the purple ports (SATA 5 and 6) are on the Promise controller.  I am currently using the OCZ memory as it allowed the system to POST without any issues on the first time around with both sticks installed.
The HD is currently on the SATA 1 slot, which is red SB600 controller.
Aaron,
I have not backed down the memory timings yet as I have been able to post and I did manage to load Windows on a 20GB partition.  I will keep this in mind if I continue to have issues, but I would like to keep them at their factory settings (I guess b/c it makes me feel like they are "working" as they should).
General
I would like to have the DVD drive in the equation, so if I am switching the HD to the purple SATA ports should I move the DVD drive there as well?  Or what I probably should do is leave the CD-ROM on the system (which is currently attached via an IDE cable) and just fiddle with the HD for now.
Memory in the system now: OCZ with timings and voltage set to defaults for the memory. 
So, my plan for tonights activities;
1. Leave the HD on the red SATA 1 controller (SB600).
2. Leave the CD-ROM attached to the IDE controller.
3. Enter the BIOS and tell it to operate the drive in IDE mode. 
4. Remove all current partitions, reset partitions with the system partition set to 70GB
5. Format and attempt installation.
If that fails
1. Move the HD to the purple SATA 5 controller (Promise).
2. Leave the CD-ROM attached to the IDE controller.
3. Leave the BIOS setting at IDE mode. 
4. Remove all current partitions, reset partitions with the system partition set to 70GB
5. Format and attempt installation.
If that fails
Drink heavily and watch TRON, 'cause if I was TRON I could fix anything.
A couple of questions;
-This maybe a silly question, but do I need to specifically tell the BIOS to enable LBA, even for SATA drives?  I do not recall having to do this in a previous build using an Abit MB and SATA drive.
-Will I go back into the BIOS, if and when Windows loads, and tell the HD to run in what mode?
-Are there any other BIOS settings that I am overlooking? 
-UPDATE: Quadrifoglio or anyone, When the BIOS has an option for AHCI (like the K9A2 does and you can select AHCI, IDE, etc.) by leaving it on Auto with a SATA drives present (HD and Optical Drive) does the possibility exist that Windows XP will hiccup on install because it does not understand AHCI?  Some of the information I have come across seems to suggest this maybe an issue.
Thanks for folks looking at this problem/scenario.  I have been building systems for awhile and this one is taking me back to the first system I ever built in '96 were I could not for the life of me figure out why the darn system was unstable, not recognizing my HD's, BSODing on me.  The solution in that case, install chipset drivers. duh.