Problem while installing FreeBSD 5.3 - ata0-master : FAILURE ATA IDENTIFY

[Julián Herrera]

Hello 4 all,

I  was starting to install FreeBSD 5.3 into 42 computers where I work as 
workstations when just at first installation i've got this uncommon 
problem. When kernel is finishing to load some messages like this appears:

ata0-master : FAILURE ATA-IDENTIFY timed out

After that, the installation program doesn't find any drive or partition 
to install. So, it's impossible to continue. When I tried to install 
again booting with Safe option, the installation program detects the 
drive but complain about its geometry, so I was in doubt to continue. 
This makes me think twice too soon (my first of 42 installations) if 
it's a good idea to migrate from Windows to FreeBSD here at my company, 
where FreeBSD has already been servicing the network infrastructure.

The computer in question has a Soyo P4VGA-2AP1 motherboard with chipset 
VIA Apollo P4M266A and HD Samsung SP0411N.

Thanks in advance,
Julián Herrera