Ok, I have some issues here that need to be fixed in order for me to do a dual boot with Linux. The boot is the easy part. The hard part is this:

I built my computer about 2 months ago now, and it has been running fine except that when i booted it up the first time, the DVDRW drive was listed as a Drive in the drive listing before BIOS came up, but when BIOS opened, the drive was not there at all and you wouldn't know that it was connected to the computer(by looking at hte BIOS). The issue with this is that only drives and devices on the primary IDE slot out of the 3 that i have will show up in BIOS. Now right now i have 2 hard disks on the primary(or did yesterday but i removed the second after it was formatted for linux because my DVDRW wasnt recognized in the BIOS on the second IDE).

Right now I have ONE 149GB Western Digital with 2 partitions: 127GB formatted in NTFS, and a smaller 21 GB partition formatted in FAT32. But that's beside the point. Yesterday when i put in the other smaller 12GB hard drive (it was formatted in NTFS then, but i used Norton Partitionmagic to change it to a 3 partition drive with linux formatting (ext3, ext2,and the other one for swap file) but thats not important). Before I put in this other drive, which involved me taking the DVD-RW drive off of the primary IDE with the 149GB harddrive and putting it on the second, the computer was functioning normally and the DVD-RW was detected in the BIOS. After I booted the computer with this harddrive, 2 things happened. The first thing I already expected: the DVD-RW no longer appeared in the BIOS, but it appeared in the device listing BEFORE the BIOS opened. Two: the computer took about 5 minutes to go through all of its boot processes and load windows. When it finally did load windows, everything was very slow and choppy. Music was the same way. While opening applictions, the computer was also very laggy.
We (me and my friend who were trying to originally install linux, but were now trying to overcome the obstacles that lay in our path) continued to format the second 12GB harddrive for linux through the lag because it had to be done somehow, and we could not figure out the cause of the lag. I have since removed the hard drive (12GB) and restart umteen thousand times because of various system restores and unrestores and program installations and uninstallations. The computer continues to lag, and the DVD-RW (the only CDD inthe comp) is still not being detected in the BIOS, so I cannot format and re-install windows XP with both hard drives inthe computer. I can however Rearrange the physical placement of the drives to the way i had them before so that the DVDRW can be on the primary IDE cable with the 149GB hard drive, but the only way for me to do that is the original way i got the computer to boot which was finaggle it so that the hard drive was resting on some packing foam ABOVE the DVDRW so that the Hard drive could be on the Master part of the Cable.

Summary:
My DVDRW drive is not being picked up in the BIOS.
My system is extremely laggy from power-on to power-off.

What BIOS reads without the second CD Drive
Primary Master: WD HDD 160GB
Primary Slave: WD HDD 12 GB
Secondary Master: No Device
Secondary Slave: No Device
Third Master: No Device
Third Slave: No Device


What BIOS SHOULD read when I put in the OTHER CD drive:
Primary Master: WD HDD 160GB
Primary Slave: WD HDD 12 GB
Secondary Master: NEC DVD-RW
Secondary Slave: HP CD-Writer
Third Master: No Device
Third Slave: No Device

I should also mention that i have done Spyware, Adware, and Virus scans, i have done Disk Cleanups, and I have Defragmented.

This is all very confusing and I understand that I'm not the best at writing or giving descriptions of things, so ask me if you are unclear about something. I've included the system specs with the handy tool:
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OS Information:
PropertyValue
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional|C:\WINDOWS|\Device\Harddisk0\Partitio n1
Service Pack 2.0
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS


Processor:
PropertyValue
Current Clock Speed 3211
Description x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4
Manufacturer GenuineIntel
Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz

Current Clock Speed 3211
Description x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4
Manufacturer GenuineIntel
Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz


Memory (RAM):
PropertyValue
Bank Label BANK0
Capacity 536870912

Total Memory Deteced in Hardware: ~512 MB
Memory Reported to Operating System: 511MB

Disk Drives:
PropertyValue
Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model WDC WD1600JB-00GVA0
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Size 160039272960 (~149 GB)
Number of Partitions 2


Installed Printers:
PropertyValue

Motherboard:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Model
Name Base Board
Part Number
Product P5GDC
Serial Number MB-1234567890
Version Rev 1.xx


BIOS:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer American Megatrends Inc.
Name BIOS Date: 09/13/04 22:20:08 Ver: 08.00.10
Release Date 20040913000000.000000+000
Version A M I - 9000413


Monitor:
PropertyValue
Description Plug and Play Monitor
Name Plug and Play Monitor
Screen Height 768
Screen Width 1024

Description Default Monitor
Name Default Monitor
Screen Height
Screen Width


Keyboard:
PropertyValue
Description Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard


Pointing Device:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Microsoft
Name Microsoft PS/2 Mouse


Sound Card:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer C-Media
Description C-Media High Definition Audio Device
Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_434D&DEV_4980&SUBSYS_813D1043& REV_0900\4&3AB10393&0&0001


Video Card:
PropertyValue
Adapter Compatibility ATI Technologies Inc.
Adapter RAM 268435456
Description RADEON X700 PRO
Installed Display Drivers ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.6467
Driver Date 7/18/2004 2:11:24 AM
Video Mode Description 1024 x 768 x 4294967296 colors

Adapter Compatibility ATI Technologies Inc.
Adapter RAM 268435456
Description RADEON X700 PRO Secondary
Installed Display Drivers ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.6467
Driver Date 7/18/2004 2:11:24 AM
Video Mode Description


DirectX Installation:
PropertyValue
Version 6.03.01.0146


Modem:
PropertyValue

Network Adapters:
PropertyValue
Description Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport
Description Packet Scheduler Miniport

External Ports:
PropertyValue
External Reference Designator PS/2 Mouse
External Reference Designator PS/2 Keyboard
External Reference Designator USB1
External Reference Designator USB2
External Reference Designator USB3
External Reference Designator USB4
External Reference Designator USB5
External Reference Designator USB6
External Reference Designator USB7
External Reference Designator USB8
External Reference Designator LPT 1
External Reference Designator COM 1
External Reference Designator MIDI
External Reference Designator Joy Stick
External Reference Designator Audio Mic In
External Reference Designator Audio Line In
External Reference Designator Audio Line Out1
External Reference Designator Audio Line Out2
External Reference Designator Audio Line Out3
External Reference Designator Audio Line Out4
External Reference Designator SPDIF_OUT1
External Reference Designator SPDIF_OUT2
External Reference Designator LAN
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator

Expansion Slots:
PropertyValue
Slot Designation PCIEX16
Slot Designation PCI_1
Slot Designation PCI_2
Slot Designation PCI_3
Slot Designation PCIEX1_1
Slot Designation PCIEX1_2
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PS: I'm stumped.

Chris