Paul
I think the problem has to do with the SATA suspend/resume code. My notebook has a SATA controller which is connected to a PATA HD (Dell Inspiron 6000).
I have that model. I find that it suspends and resumes really well, so long as the disk password is enabled in the BIOS. I think that ensures that the BIOS initialises the SATA hardware on resume.
-Cam