Hey guys, just so you don't think I'm crazy or a noobie or whatever:

my replacement Extreme board's SATA ports are going bad just like the ones on my first Extreme board. I accepted that S3 resume problem. I figured how to work around the slow boot problem. But having my SATA drives not recognized on boot just doesn't fly. I called Giga Tech Support and they, again, were of no help. They even suggested that I get another board from another manufacturer.

I called MWave and, luckily, they are willing to take back BOTH defective boards without any restocking fees. They also told me that they've stopped selling the Extreme model - and if you check their website, you'll see that it has been pulled from their inventory. The service rep said that they've "discontinued" this model - though I means that they (MWave) stopped selling it because I still see it in stock and on sale at other places. Take that for what it's worth.

As for me, I'm hunting down an EVGA or Asus R2E board now.