Update:
Yay!!! I updated/changed the SASLP firmware from 3.1.0.21 to 3.1.0.15N and changed the mobo bios to AHCI mode... viola!!! system boots into WHS with the SASLP in PCI-Ex16 slot 2 (blue one).
I'm was wondering what the Asus tech support said... "option rom isn't big enough"... the 3.1.0.21 firmware size is twice as big as the 3.1.0.15N firmware. Thus, mobo bios was able to load the SASLP rom and pass on the boot sequence back to mobo to continue the boot process. Whew! Thanx ALOT to the OP regarding the old firmware. Now, my system is setup for WHS in AHCI mode (all 6 sata ports) and SASLP fully working. Only thing bad (not really...) about the system is that the AMD AHCI driver is actually a RAID driver so it does not pass on the SMART data! Gah...
UPDATE 2:
How to downgrade SASLP firmware to 3.1.0.15N (I'm using Windows 7 to make the ubcd usb but should work in any OS?) I used this http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/customize.html to add a FreeDOS user customization menu option. Scroll down to "Adding FreeDOS-based applications" and DL CabPack V1.4a as well.
1. DL ubcd503.iso and extract the contents to /ubcd dir of your choice
2. Extract CabPack V1.4a to <any dir of your choice>
3. Follow the above guide to make the USB flashdrive bootable and install ubcd to the USB drive (use the Making UBCD memory stick section)
3a. Just need to modify custom.ini and custom.cfg files... skip the rest of stuff
4. Boot the system with the USB drive
5. Select User-Defined menu option
5a. At the boot menu, select 1 Boot UMBPCI (silent) option
6. Select your SASLP selection you've created in 2
6a. Once the start.bat finishes (I put that file in there... it's basically dummy file with ECHO commands), select "exit" at the UBCD popup window and you'll be in the dos prompt.
7. Flash the 3.1.0.15N firmware (execute smc-n.bat file) and reboot
8. Change settings in mobo bios and boot the system
Here's my custom.cfg file:
------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Useful resources for UBCD customization:
#
# - http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/The_SYSLINUX_Project
# - http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/customize.html
#
MENU INCLUDE /ubcd/menus/syslinux/defaults.cfg
UI /boot/syslinux/menu.c32
LABEL -
MENU LABEL ..
COM32 /boot/syslinux/menu.c32
APPEND /ubcd/menus/syslinux/main.cfg
LABEL -
MENU LABEL SASLP V3.1.0.15N
TEXT HELP
SASLP Firmware Update
ENDTEXT
LINUX /boot/syslinux/memdisk
INITRD /ubcd/images/fdubcd.img.gz
APPEND raw ubcdcmd=saslp
LABEL -
MENU LABEL Your own boot image here
TEXT HELP
Your help message goes here.
ENDTEXT
LINUX /boot/syslinux/memdisk
INITRD /ubcd/custom/boot.img
APPEND -
------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's my custom.ini file:
------------------------------------------------------------------
[user Defined]
saslp; "start.bat"; -$;SASLP firmware update
------------------------------------------------------------------
*** I named the cab file saslp.cab and put the file in /ubcd/ubcd/dosapps ***
Now, all I need to figure out is how to get smart data from AMD AHCI drivers. There's known issue where AMD AHCI driver is an actual RAID driver, thus SMART data doesn't get passed on. Sigh...
JB