Thanks, now it loads correctly. Unfortunately the clock drift still occurs
with pata_pdc2027x. I'm guessing here, but can clock drift have anything
to do with IRQs? Also, is it normal to see errors in /proc/interrupt?

I've never noticed any errors before, but that could just be a result of me 
never actually bothering to look.

# cat /proc/interrupts 

<snip>

ERR:      23672

Hmmm....

I'm grasping at straws here.

Let's do some poking into your kernel config.  What do you have set under 
"Processor type and features"?  

I experienced a similar situation once in the past, but that was a result of 
drives losing DMA and doing simultaneous activity on eight drives and four 
controllers.  Moving to the pata_pdc2027x driver seems to have cleared it 
right up.

Sorry I can't provide a quick cure-all!

Drew