You can set the HD order in BIOS, making the SATA one first in line. Windows accesses the HDs primarily by drive's/partition's numbers designated by SATA or IDE channels, and not letters. By default,...

Ok, that's what it should be.

There should be entries in your event logs regarding volume errors. You should see if there is any info that could shed some light on what is causing this.

In case...

Yes it would.

Before you try with XP setup CD, try this:

Click Start, then "run" and type regedit

Look for "HKEY_Local_mackine\System\currentControlSet\Control\Session manager". Click on...

a) You can always "click" using keyboard.
b) If it is USB mouse, try PS/2 if possible. (vice-versa)

Usually yes, if the appropriate drivers are installed and if the design isn't flawed like nForce4 chipset and its hardware-driven firewall. Otherwise, they would be redundant.