Can't find internal HD after booting from 9.0-R-amd64-memstick

[pkc]

So I booted from the 9.0-RELEASE amd64 memstick image with the intention of performing a clean install (on a hard drive that previously had 8.2-RELEASE installed). The first time, I was presented with a prompt asking me where to boot from -- apparently there was no /boot/kernel/kernel. I realized then that I had copied the image onto the USB incorrectly, so I recopied it.
But now the target machine won't boot up normally (it says 'Operating System not found', presumably because it attempts to boot from the network after attempting the hard drive), and when booted from the install image I can't find my drive anywhere in /dev (it should be ad*). However, the hard drive is listed in the BIOS selection screen -- selecting it for boot just presents a black screen for a few seconds, after which point it returns to the selection screen.

Is this just a matter of some sort of firmware issue that needs to be reset? I should mention that my memory of what exactly happened before being unable to boot is a bit fuzzy.

Sorry for the lack of information, I'm hoping it's a simple issue involving something I'm simply not aware of.
Here's my dmesg, courtesy of /var/log/messages. I booted in (V)erbose mode so there's a lot there.
http://pastebin.com/NZucjTfP

In particular, I think the ahcich0 is relevant. Oh, also

gpart show

only shows the USB device.

 

[wblock@]

Some systems don't want to install unless the BIOS is set to IDE rather than AHCI or RAID. After the install, it can be switched back.

 

[pkc]

In my BIOS the options are 'ACHI' and 'Compatibility'; 'Compatibility' was checked.

Here's what happens when I boot with 'AHCI' selected:

Event timer "LAPIC" quality 400
ACPI APIC Table: <LENOVO TP-8F   >
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
FreeBSD/SMP: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s)
 cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID: 0
 cpi1 (AP): APIC ID: 1
ioapic0: Changing APIC ID to 2
MADT: Forcing active-low polarity and level trigger for SCI
ioapic0 <Version 2.0> irqs 0-23 on motherboard
kbd1 at kbdmux0
acpi0: <LENOVO TP-8F> on motherboard

(it just hangs at this point)


When I have 'AHCI' selected and try safe mode (with ACPI *enabled*), I get a page fault when booting; I can't really access any of the text at the top of the boot, but here's what I can see:

				= DPL 0, pres 1, long 1, def32 0, gran 1
processor eflags	= interrupt enabled, resume, IOPL = 0
current process 	= 0 (swapper)
trap number		= 12
panic: page fault
cpuid = 0
KDB: stack backtrace:
... kdb_backtrace, panic, trap_fatal, trap_pfault, trap, calltrap, nexus_acpi_attach, device_attach, bus_generic_new_pass, bus_set_pass, configure, mi_startup, btext

With safe mode & ACPI *disabled*:

Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
attimer0: Can't map interrupt
fdc0: cannot reserve interrupt line
ppc0: cannot reserve I/O port range
panic: No usable event timer found!
cpuid = 0
KDB: stack backtrace:
blah blah, kdb_backtrace, panic, cpu_initclocks_bsp, initclocks, mi_startup, btext.

With 'Compatibility' selected in the BIOS, it's outputting the same as it did under AHCI, actually (I don't remember this happening before..). However, with safe mode disabled and ACPI enabled it boots fine (although it takes a bit of time around the ahcich0 output during boot). Of course the HDD is still not visible, though.

If it's relevant, I'm running a Lenovo x120e netbook/laptop. My processor is an AMD-350 'Fusion.'

 

[pkc]

Just to clarify, it seems that installation would work perfectly fine -- somehow the seemingly independent problem of the invisible HDD popped up as soon as I tried to start up from the USB drive for the first time. Is there some kind of hardware diagnostic process I can do to figure out what's going on with the hard drive? Perhaps somehow booting from a USB dongle confused the BIOS about how to communicate with the hard drive? All shots in the dark really, I'm fairly clueless.