Promise SATA 300 TX2plus (sata_promise) doesn't see Seagate SATA II HD

Running etch/2.6.18 on a KT7-RAID mainboard, i'm trying to make a Seagate SATAII hd work via a Promise SATA 300 TX2plus (sata_promise module). I get disabled status :

#lspci
...
00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: D-Link System Inc DGE-528T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev 10)
00:0d.0 Mass storage controller: Promise Technology, Inc. PDC40775 (SATA 300 TX2plus) (rev 02)
...

#dmesg
...
r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.2LK-NAPI loaded
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0b.0[A] -> Link [LNKD] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
eth0: RTL8169sb/8110sb at 0xe0802000, 00:1c:f0:64:3d:12, IRQ 10
sata_promise 0000:00:0d.0: version 1.04
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] enabled at IRQ 11
PCI: setting IRQ 11 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0d.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xE0814200 ctl 0xE0814238 bmdma 0x0 irq 11
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xE0814280 ctl 0xE08142B8 bmdma 0x0 irq 11
scsi0 : sata_promise
Time: acpi_pm clocksource has been installed.
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
ata1.00: ATA-8, max UDMA/133, 1465149168 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32)
ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xef)
ata1.00: failed to set xfermode (err_mask=0x4)
ata1.00: limiting speed to UDMA/100
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
ata1.00: ATA-8, max UDMA/133, 1465149168 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32)
ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xef)
ata1.00: failed to set xfermode (err_mask=0x4)
ata1.00: limiting speed to PIO0
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
ata1.00: ATA-8, max UDMA/133, 1465149168 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32)
ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xef)
ata1.00: failed to set xfermode (err_mask=0x4)
ata1.00: disabled
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
scsi1 : sata_promise
ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
VP_IDE: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:07.1
PCI: VIA IRQ fixup for 0000:00:07.1, from 255 to 0
VP_IDE: chipset revision 6
VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
VP_IDE: VIA vt82c686b (rev 40) IDE UDMA100 controller on pci0000:00:07.1
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xd000-0xd007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xd008-0xd00f, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:pio
Probing IDE interface ide0...
hda: Maxtor 6Y080P0, ATA DISK drive
hdb: MAXTOR 4K080H4, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
Probing IDE interface ide1...
hda: max request size: 128KiB
hda: 160086528 sectors (81964 MB) w/7936KiB Cache, CHS=65535/16/63, UDMA(100)
hda: cache flushes supported
hda: hda1 hda2
hdb: max request size: 128KiB
hdb: 156301488 sectors (80026 MB) w/2000KiB Cache, CHS=65535/16/63, UDMA(100)
hdb: cache flushes supported
hdb: hdb1 hdb2
kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
...

What is 'qc timeout' ?
Is kernel 2.6.18 buggy with this SATA card ?
Is sata_promise buggy ?
Is the Seagate brand new HD not able to dialog with the card ?