issues installing CentOS

[Xelaric]

I'm trying to switch my computer which is currently running the RC of Windows 7 to CentOS but am a little confused with the installation.

I'm running the installation and I've gotten to the point where it's asking me about partitions. up at the top I have the options:

Remove all partitions on selected drives and create default layout
Remove linux partitions on selected drives and create default layout
Use free space on selected drives and create default layout
Create custom layout

Below that is an area that says:

Select the drive(s) to use for this installation

with a field area below that's blank. below that is a button that says: "advanced storage configuration"

When I try to go to the next screen (regardless of which of the above options I choose) I get an error message saying

An error has occured - no valid devices were found on which to create new file systems. Please check your hardware for the cause of this problem.

When I click the "advanced storage configuration" button, I get a dialog box that asks "how would you like to modify your drive configuration?" and the only option I can choose is "add iSCSI target" I click the "add drive" button and I get another dialog box saying

To use iSCSI disks, you must provide the address of you iSCSI target and the iSCSI name you've configured for your host.

and field inputs for

Target IP address
iSCSI initiator name
CHAP username
CHAP password
Reverse CHAP username
Reverse CHAP password

The iSCSI initiator name field is grayed out and something is written there. If I try to go to the next screen, I get an error message saying:
"IP address is missing". I tried typing 192.168.1.100 in the IP address field and got the following error message:

connection login retries (reopen_max) 5 exceeded

I have no idea what an iSCSI drive is and I'm not sure it's what I want. But it seems like the only thing I'm allowed to do and I can't even do that. I'm in way over my head and any assistance would be greatly appreciated

[HROAdmin26]

A) If you don't know what it is, you don't have any iSCSI drives.

B) CentOS can't detect your HDD's. It's likely a SATA issue. Download the latest version of CentOS for full SATA support. If you already have the latest, you can try changing your SATA mode in the BIOS from AHCI to something like "IDE" or "compatibility" mode. Google has more info.

[Xelaric]

How do I go about doing that? I saw an option in the BIOS under "Integrated peripherals" ->> "On-chip ATA devices" ->> "RAID mode". The RAID mode is currently set to "IDE" but the options are "IDE", "RAID", and "AHCI". Do you think switching it to AHCI will help since CentOS is looking for an AHCI device?

I'm always nervous about doing stuff to the BIOS, especially when I'm not completely sure what it is. I'm afraid I'll end up irreparably damaging the computer.