Msi k9a2: unable to install win xp (sp3) on WD 150Gb velociraptor

Question

I recently bought a MSI k9a2 V2 mobo, with 2x1Gb 1066 memory and AMD 9850. I installed win xp on a WD 150Gb raptor connected to sata1. Bios upgraded to 1.5, I got the mem to run on 1066 by changing the bios mem setting to 1:2.66.
A week later I wanted the board changed to  V1 because I need the Promise Sata 5 and 6 ports.
This board is an absolute pain: WD raptor not recognised by sb600 raid port1, even though the correct driver is installed. Ports 2 thru 4 see the drive, but I still cannot install the win xp os, I can connect the drive to the promise connectors, but I also cannot install the os. Installing win xp os on a 7200rpm drive (ie Samsung 1Gb) works, but I want it on a raptor.
MSI support tells me to upgrade to bios 1.65, which is brand new since last week, and is not even put on their website yet, I had to get a password and login to get it from their ftp. I succesfully installed the new bios, but no change.
This board has a Tom's Hardware recommendation but it absolutely does not deserve it. I find it unacceptable that installing an os requires such a pain. If and when I find a solution I will post it, but I would very much appreciate help or input from anyone with similar experiences and/or new ideas.

Answer 1

just an FYI 
I too had problems with 3 MSI K9A2 Platinum and the 9950BE, ATI 4850 and 4GB OCZ 1066, but i managed to find the problems... I think
OK, the first board would not recognize any of my HD's (4 10k Raptors) SOLUTION: BAD BOARD=EXCHANGE
OK the second board was very unstable, would throw BSOD all the time even just loading WINDOWS VISTA either on IDE, RAID on SB600 or Promise RAID...  SOLUTION: EXCHANGE (thinking it was defective)
3rd board; I really wanted the 4x PCIe 16x slots and no other board has this layout, so I started HARD on the board, loaded VISTA 64 in IDE mode ch1 on a RAPTOR 10k, after loading I got a BSOD  , so I boot and entered the bios, I set all at default and started one MENU at the time, i found the my RAM was not working at 1066, but at 800MHz, so i change it to 1:2.66 for a 1066MHZ, and booted.
another BSOD  , I went back to the bios and checked the voltage to the ram...   , my ram is rated for 2.1v not 1.8 that the system was delivering  so i manually changed the voltage, and booted...  well it lasted longer, I was able to load some applications and games... and then BSOD    what else can be wrong   
I then loaded AMD overdrive utils to monitor the system and try to OC the Phenom ( call me crazy for trying to Overclock a non stable system, but i wanted to find out why it was not stable...)
so I let the system autoOC and it crashed every single time...
I don't give up easy..  the Phenom 9950 is know for easy OC to at least 3.0Ghz, so I manually started OC the CPU on the Overdrive software and checking the temp and voltage.. and then I discover one thing  , as i changed the multiplier slider on the AMD overdrive, it adjusted the voltage up slightly and i was able to OC to 3.0 Ghz and run benchmarks, but the fun soon stop by the dreaded BSOD, so i started back at the bios by setting the processor multiplier by default, but increase the voltage (so no OC'ing is done now, just up the voltage)
4hrs later no BSOD's and the system is running like a champ  , so it came to me... the CPU Cores need more voltage even at the default speed, as i noticed that they run OK w/o BSOD as long as the don't exceed about 60-80% load for long before system HUNG or BSOD, now all I needed was to OC and boost the volage even higher   
so far I been running error free @ 15x Multiplier, 1.448v 3.0Ghz, OCZ ram 1066MHz @ 2.1 5-5-5-18 per LABEL on RAM, ATI 4850 Saphire OC'd to 690MHz core/ 2196MHz Memory (1098) 
so to summarized all this; the Phenom CPU's are under voltage! and this board you need to enter all the voltage, timings, ratios for the RAM.
I hope this helps other users, but be careful not to push the voltage to high!