> > I had to add pdcsata(4) to my kernel config to make it
> link.
> 
> Yes, I probably forgot the diff to files.pci in my post

The fix to files.pci is not enough - it turns out that
sata.h
still contains 

      #define NSATA  1

As someone else pointed out, adding pdcsata* ... to
the config makes it work.

So anyway, it doesn't crash my machine with a ASUS A8N5X
motherboard (an AMD 3800+ X2 processor)...

Here's the relevant section of the dmesg:

...
atabus0 at viaide0 channel 0
viaide0: secondary channel configured to compatibility mode
viaide0: secondary channel interrupting at ioapic0 pin 15
(irq 15)
atabus1 at viaide0 channel 1
viaide1 at pci0 dev 7 function 0
viaide1: NVIDIA nForce4 Serial ATA Controller (rev. 0xf3)
viaide1: bus-master DMA support present
pci_io_find: expected type i/o, found mem
viaide1: primary channel wired to native-PCI mode
APSI: Picked IRQ 23 with weight 0
viaide1: using ioapic0 pin 23 (irq 11) for native-PCI
interrupt
atabus2 at viaide1 channel 0
viaide1: secondary channel wired to native-PCI mode
atabus3 at viaide1 channel 1
viaide2 at pci0 dev 8 function 0
viaide2: NVIDIA nForce4 Serial ATA Controller (rev. 0xf3)
viaide2: bus-master DMA support present
pci_io_find: expected type i/o, found mem
viaide2: primary channel wired to native-PCI mode
APSJ: Picked IRQ 20 with weight 1
viaide2: using ioapic0 pin 20 (irq 5) for native-PCI
interrupt
atabus4 at viaide2 channel 0
viaide2: secondary channel wired to native-PCI mode
atabus5 at viaide2 channel 1
...
viaide1: port 0: device present, speed: 1.5Gb/s
viaide1: port 1: device present, speed: 1.5Gb/s
viaide2: port 1: device present, speed: 1.5Gb/s
...
wd0 at atabus2 drive 0: <Maxtor 6L300S0>
wd0: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA48
addressing
wd0: 279 GB, 581463 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x
586114704 sectors
wd0: 32-bit data port
wd0: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 6
(Ultra/133)
wd0(viaide1:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 6
(Ultra/133) (using DMA)
wd2 at atabus3 drive 0: <Maxtor 7Y250M0>
wd2: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA48
addressing
wd2: 233 GB, 486344 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x
490234752 sectors
wd2: 32-bit data port
wd2: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 6
(Ultra/133)
wd2(viaide1:1:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 6
(Ultra/133) (using DMA)
wd1 at atabus5 drive 0: <ST380013AS>
wd1: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA48
addressing
wd1: 76319 MB, 155061 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x
156301488 sectors
wd1: 32-bit data port
wd1: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 6
(Ultra/133)
wd1(viaide2:1:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 6
(Ultra/133) (using DMA)
...

I'm not sure why I'm seeing the "pci_io_find" messages;
they don't show up during a normal boot.  And I don't know
enough about things to tell if SATA is actually working
here;
all I know for sure is that all three disks are SATA, and it
doesn't crash when I read or write to them.  :)

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