Games taking hours to install on Win7

maniac98

I could use help with this, because I can't find anyone else with problem when I search for it on google and all that. I got Win7 about a month ago, and everything runs great, except when it comes to installing games, which takes hours.
I actually used a stop watch to record how long it took to install Mass Effect. I did this about 4 days ago

Win7= 2hrs 18min.

WinXP= 24min.

Could it be my harddrive since I didn't re-use my harddrive with XP on it, I bought a new one. A Western Digital 750GB Caviar Blackhttp://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=487, since the one I have XP on is a couple years old. I wanted to keep it so I didn't lose all my stuff on there. It's still hooked up to the computer so I can stuff off of it.

I use a LG GH22NS50 dvd burner I got for Christmas, so it's brand new.

Here are my system specs:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name
System Manufacturer BIOSTAR Group
System Model N68SA-M2T
System Type x64-based PC
Processor AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+, 3000 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 9/16/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 3.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 3.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.31 GB
Total Virtual Memory 6.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 4.27 GB
Page File Space 3.00 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Houndx

First thing I'd suspect is the dvd-rom.

edit: I mean, maybe try to update the firmware or something.

maniac98

It was already updated to the newest firmware when I got it, but I did it myself to make sure it was properly installed to see if that was the problem.

Jeltz

- Try to install to a different hard drive if you can -- or even a USB hard drive or USB flash drive.
- Try to install using a different optical drive if you can.
- Try running a disc benchmark in Nero DiscSpeed (free tool) and check whether or not you get a nice, smooth curve on the speed graph.

Ayulin

Does the install actually progress all throughout, or does it appear to "freeze" up midway (accompanied by the drive seeming to slow down/stop reading)?

If it does, check your BIOS and see if it's set to configure SATA as IDE or AHCI; I had issues with the same drive where it would just decide to stop reading for a long time and then pick up all on its own while running in AHCI. Anything that used the optical drive would take ages because it was effectively halting for a long time. This happened in both Vista and 7, although I didn't try it with XP.

I've no idea why that happens, though.

sir_pinch-a-loaf

I'm having issues with Win7 reading DVD movies. Data discs read at full speed, and movie discs write at full speed, but reading is slow. They seem to start at 2x and top out around 4x. I can't remember offhand what kind of drive is in my PC, but from googling around, it seems like a somewhat widespread issue. I've changed my DMA settings and nothing helps. It defaults to DMA 5.

Jeltz

sir_pinch-a-loaf wrote: »

Data discs read at full speed, and movie discs write at full speed, but reading is slow. They seem to start at 2x and top out around 4x.

That's completely normal, most DVD-ROM drives are purposely designed to behave like this. The reason is that DVD movie discs are typically used to watch movies in real time, which means that a high read speed isn't required. (In theory, 1x read speed should be sufficient to watch DVD movies) The drive keeps the speed down to reduce the noise which may be distracting when you're watching a movie. A DVD-ROM data disc on the other hand is read at full speed because you'll often just want to copy all the data as fast as possible.

You could also argue that a slow read speed for DVD movies will make movie ripping less attractive, so that may be part of the reason as well.

sir_pinch-a-loaf

Jeltz wrote: »

sir_pinch-a-loaf wrote: »

Data discs read at full speed, and movie discs write at full speed, but reading is slow. They seem to start at 2x and top out around 4x.

That's completely normal, most DVD-ROM drives are purposely designed to behave like this. The reason is that DVD movie discs are typically used to watch movies in real time, which means that a high read speed isn't required. (In theory, 1x read speed should be sufficient to watch DVD movies) The drive keeps the speed down to reduce the noise which may be distracting when you're watching a movie. A DVD-ROM data disc on the other hand is read at full speed because you'll often just want to copy all the data as fast as possible.

You could also argue that a slow read speed for DVD movies will make movie ripping less attractive, so that may be part of the reason as well.

It's just a stark change from my Win XP machines that would read at full speed.

maniac98

Ayulin wrote: »

Does the install actually progress all throughout, or does it appear to "freeze" up midway (accompanied by the drive seeming to slow down/stop reading)?

If it does, check your BIOS and see if it's set to configure SATA as IDE or AHCI; I had issues with the same drive where it would just decide to stop reading for a long time and then pick up all on its own while running in AHCI. Anything that used the optical drive would take ages because it was effectively halting for a long time. This happened in both Vista and 7, although I didn't try it with XP.

I've no idea why that happens, though.

It progresses for about 30 seconds, then the drive stops; it sits for 10-15mins., then spins up a again for a little bit, then stops for another 10-20mins., and so on and so forth.

It is set to IDE, and I can't set it to SATA, because all I have is IDE, AHCI, AHCI Linux, and RAID, and if I set to any of those Win7 won't start.

So I just stuck my old IDE optical drive in there, and installed Mass Effect again using it, and it installed in 18mins.. So I guess the only solution for me is to buy a newer motherboard, but I don't any money for it, heh.

Jeltz

maniac98 wrote: »

It is set to IDE, and I can't set it to SATA, because all I have is IDE, AHCI, AHCI Linux, and RAID, and if I set to any of those Win7 won't start.

So I just stuck my old IDE optical drive in there, and installed Mass Effect again using it, and it installed in 18mins.. So I guess the only solution for me is to buy a newer motherboard, but I don't any money for it, heh.

AHCI should be the "most correct" setting for modern operating systems such as Windows 7. I'm guessing that the reason why you can't change it is that the setting is global for all SATA devices, so that when you set it to AHCI that also affect your boot hard drive. The boot loader is particularly picky about the hard drive setup, so it refuses to boot when something changes.

...so if you want to get it working in AHCI mode you may have to reinstall windows after you've changed the setting from IDE to AHCI. It might also be possible to get it working by running a system repair tool or something like that from the Windows 7 install disc after you've changed the AHCI setting, though I'm not very familiar with that feature.

Good thing you have an old optical drive that works. As I said, I'm guessing a Windows reinstall is all you need to get the SATA drive to work in AHCI mode, so try that before you get a new motherboard.

maniac98

I'll try the repair tool first, and then if that doesn't work I'll bite the bullet and do a re-install.

maniac98

The repair tool didn't work, but I got it to switch to AHCI by doing this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976. Now my optical drive works just fine and installed Mass Effect in 12mins..

Thanks for all the help, I appreciate it.

Jeltz

maniac98 wrote: »

I got it to switch to AHCI by doing this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976.

Ah, cool. Noted for future reference.

Ayulin

maniac98 wrote: »

Ayulin wrote: »

Does the install actually progress all throughout, or does it appear to "freeze" up midway (accompanied by the drive seeming to slow down/stop reading)?

If it does, check your BIOS and see if it's set to configure SATA as IDE or AHCI; I had issues with the same drive where it would just decide to stop reading for a long time and then pick up all on its own while running in AHCI. Anything that used the optical drive would take ages because it was effectively halting for a long time. This happened in both Vista and 7, although I didn't try it with XP.

I've no idea why that happens, though.

It progresses for about 30 seconds, then the drive stops; it sits for 10-15mins., then spins up a again for a little bit, then stops for another 10-20mins., and so on and so forth.

Yeah, this was the exact same issue I had. Glad that you got it fixed