Update. It is definately not the sata driver. When I get to the driver screen to select a driver, I can search my HD for drivers so sata is already loaded. I can also search USB so I would assume that is loaded as well. Funny; previous versions of windows would only stop you at this point if it couldnt detect a Hard Drive. Win 8 must be more picky. I will try disabling some things like USB 3 and my Blue Ray in the bios.

Not only, does Win-8 see all SATA drives, it also sees my SATA III adapter card and installed as if it were part of the motherboard. As they might say, south of the border, "No Problemo Senior".

TM

I get ya man. Sata should work, but so should everything else. Windows 7 worked. This is a new problem with a new OS. I am very experienced with windows installs. This is an undocumented issue. A major fail for MS. I downloaded this Windows 8 ISO from my volume license portal yesterday. It is a full release version. I have all standard stuff. Intel chipset, Asus MB.... There is nothing that should be holding up my install. Hopefully I can find which driver it is. This is a huge pain. It will be an even bigger pain for less experienced users.

Are you sure the download was successful, not corrupted? I have seen many installations corrupted by downloads that seemed fine, but were corrupt.

Aside....

I have installed Win-8/xx/32 on two six year old PC's, of different brands, with virtually NO problems, other than maybe low video resolution or NO sound. But in either case, there were no error messages or other delays in the install itself.

However, there are known problems with both downloads and DVD burning. Either one can result in errors.

I download everything, for the past few years, using "Internet Download Manager".
I can't say enough about it as being the finest Download Manager I've ever used. I never get any download errors.

Then DVD burning can be very troublesome. Old DVD burners, cheap disks and trying to burn too fast can be very troublesome indeed.
I change out my DVD burner every year, buy only known good name-brand disks and never burn a DVD any faster than 4x. So in more years than I can remember, I've not had one bad burn.
OH, and shut down all other running programs while using your DVD burner. It would like exclusive use of your CPU and RAM.

For compiling data disks, I use only Nero 8, but for burning (or creating) ISO's, I use only "Img Burn". It's free and VERY easy to use.

I just love to 'push the envelope' so to speak. The moment that Win-8/RP was available for download, I started the download of both the 32 bit version and the 64 bit version, concurrently (at the same time), using "Internet Download Manager". Both versions downloaded flawlessly!

When I was but a wee tad, my dad taught me, "do it right the first time and you won't have to do it over again".

Cheers Mates!
TechnoMage

Looks like I have a bad ISO. I downloaded from MS portal, but something is goofy. My file size isnt right. Funny thing is it extracted perfectly with no errors and the IE9 download manager said it downloaded successfully. I will try your suggestion about using the DL manager. I am sure this is where the trouble lies. I will post back with results. Thanks for your help.

I think that is the best possible solution. Check the Sha-1 Hash after downloading before burning to a DVD. I use Hash Tab. After you install Hash Tab, right click the ISO file and see a new tab called Sha Hash. The download site lists the Sha-1 Hash

Contact your SATA device vendor and ask for LOAD-DRIVER-MODE driver.

I've got the en_windows_8_x64_dvd_915440.iso disk image; downloaded with Microsoft's SDM tool.
Verified file with SHA1: 1CE53AD5F60419CF04A715CF3233F247E48BEEC4
(Verified SHA1 by reading the file from USB, so I know it's written correctly to the USB drive)

I am experiencing this exact issue. EVGA X58 motherboard, Intel 520 SSD. I've removed all other peripherals except KB/mouse stuff and the USB drive I'm installing from.

I downloaded the chipset drivers for my motherboard and placed them on the USB drive. It finds a few drivers that are applicable to my machine, including storage and USB drivers. When I select them to install, it gives a message saying no new drivers were found, or something equally cryptic, and leaves me at the "shotgun driver search" window.

I am able to go to the win-r command prompt and copy files and directories around between my thumb drive and SSD in the Windows 8 installer. The drives are working. Again, I've unplugged everything else I can think to... Windows 7 just installs completely painlessly with no hardware or configuration alterations. What on earth am I doing wrong for 8?

Since you are using an SSD, have you checked that the drive is set to AHCI in the Bios? I have read somewhere that this is necessary???