first SATA install.. giving me a headache

First off.. all specs in sig.

I just went out and bought a new Maxtor 500 gig sata drive (model#: 7H500F0), but the thing just won't work and it’s really rattling my brain.

Troubleshooting:
Yes, it’s got power and the drive does spin when PC turns on.
Yes, it’s got the right cord going from the HD to the right slot on the mobo.
Yes, I'm pretty sure the Bios is set up to detect SATA.

Now then. When the hard drive is NOT plugged into the mobo there are no errors in the device manager. When I DO connect the drive to the mobo and check the device manager there IS an error. It’s under the SCSI and RAID controllers drop down, “VIA Serial ATA Raid Controllers.” Now I remind you that this area has no ‘!’ when it is unplugged, but when it is plugged in there is a ‘!’. And the new hd never shows up in disk management so I can’t format it.

So then. The only problem I can think of is either with the mobo bios (which I’m not sure how to update.) When the drive is unplugged and the pc starts up it does scan for SATA drives and finds nothing. When I do have the drive plugged in I get a really odd error. Here it is word for word: "Hardware initiate failed please check device!!!"
"The Bios does not be installed, press <g> to contines. ."

I went to ASUS’ site and downloaded the latest bios update for my mobo and got a .ROM file, but I’m not sure what to do with it.

My other guess is with the pin select on the new drive. But I’m not sure exactly what they do being that the only thing I’ve ever used is IDE drives.

Any other ideas to why I'm having the problem???