First, here's some maybe relevant details about the build with the problem:
- Mobo: Asus P5E-VM HDMI (the cable and ports are SATA 3gb/s, but the SSD is 6gb/s)
- 4 sticks of 2GB ddr2 ram
- SATA DVD drive
- SATA mechanical hdd (disconnected)
I put a new SSD (which I've verified to work...