issues sil 3112a sata chip caused headaches but happy

I figured I should post this message to help anyone else who experiences the same issues I had installing Vista, so they can avoid the same pitfalls I experienced.
System and Setup:
Pentium 4 3.0 HT 800 MHz. Bus 1 GB PC 3000 RAM ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128 MB 875P Chipset On Board Sound
I wanted to dual boot Windows XP Pro SP2 (already intalled on a 95 GB partition) and Vista on a 25 GB parition (currently reserved for an unused Linux installation).
First problem occured as soon as the installer started, the mouse didn't work! As it turns out unpluging and pluging in the USB mouse activated it, but this is a strange glitch,
That hurdle cleared next came the partitioning step. First go, no drives appeared (interestingly my iPod shows up in XP setup but not here). The SATA chip (a Sil 3112A) on my motherbaord was not recongized. I first tried the driver I had succsessfully used to install XP, but to not avail. Reading some other forums I tried downloading the newest software for the 3512 chip (which contained the 3112A driver) directly from Silicon Image's site. This driver worked flawlessly.
The partitioning system with Vista was great, I successfully reworked the partitions in a way that would put Vista where it needed to be without impacting XP Pro. The install process from there was basically eventful until the first reboot. First a logical deliema, should I boot from the disk or the hard drive, guessing on the hard drive I reached a OS selection screen and tried Vista. I recieved a message that Winboot.exe was corrupt and my system restarted. When my system came back around I booted to the DVD following the instructions to do a recovery. When I tried the recovery step I again had to install the SATA driver, however this time I was presented with a long list of options. Fortunatly the first driver choice was right. Almost immeadily Vista said it detected an error in the boot loader and that it had been repaired. Next time around, booting off the hard drive, Vista went back to the installer and the process finished. Strange yes, but success!
Now Vista and XP Pro are behaving nicely together, booting back and forth being a breeze. So desptie the headaches I'm enjoying the new interface and features.
Suggestions for Microsoft:
1) Include a driver for the SIL 3112A chipset! 2) Fix the mouse glitch. 3) Simplify the driver selection process when "recovering" in the installer. 4) Clarify the hibernate button on the start menu, I at first thought it was a shutdown and that my computer had frozen (whoops!).
(The 3 score Vista gave my system was disappointing, should by a 4! :p )

I figured I should post this message to help anyone else who experiences the same issues I had installing Vista, so they can avoid the same pitfalls I experienced.
System and Setup:
Pentium 4 3.0 HT 800 MHz. Bus 1 GB PC 3000 RAM ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128 MB 875P Chipset On Board Sound
I wanted to dual boot Windows XP Pro SP2 (already intalled on a 95 GB partition) and Vista on a 25 GB parition (currently reserved for an unused Linux installation).
First problem occured as soon as the installer started, the mouse didn't work! As it turns out unpluging and pluging in the USB mouse activated it, but this is a strange glitch,
That hurdle cleared next came the partitioning step. First go, no drives appeared (interestingly my iPod shows up in XP setup but not here). The SATA chip (a Sil 3112A) on my motherbaord was not recongized. I first tried the driver I had succsessfully used to install XP, but to not avail. Reading some other forums I tried downloading the newest software for the 3512 chip (which contained the 3112A driver) directly from Silicon Image's site. This driver worked flawlessly.
The partitioning system with Vista was great, I successfully reworked the partitions in a way that would put Vista where it needed to be without impacting XP Pro. The install process from there was basically eventful until the first reboot. First a logical deliema, should I boot from the disk or the hard drive, guessing on the hard drive I reached a OS selection screen and tried Vista. I recieved a message that Winboot.exe was corrupt and my system restarted. When my system came back around I booted to the DVD following the instructions to do a recovery. When I tried the recovery step I again had to install the SATA driver, however this time I was presented with a long list of options. Fortunatly the first driver choice was right. Almost immeadily Vista said it detected an error in the boot loader and that it had been repaired. Next time around, booting off the hard drive, Vista went back to the installer and the process finished. Strange yes, but success!
Now Vista and XP Pro are behaving nicely together, booting back and forth being a breeze. So desptie the headaches I'm enjoying the new interface and features.
Suggestions for Microsoft:
1) Include a driver for the SIL 3112A chipset! 2) Fix the mouse glitch. 3) Simplify the driver selection process when "recovering" in the installer. 4) Clarify the hibernate button on the start menu, I at first thought it was a shutdown and that my computer had frozen (whoops!).
(The 3 score Vista gave my system was disappointing, should by a 4! :p )