Vista - Long install times..

Ok Folks...

I've been in the process of installing CoH Opposing Fronts for (looks at timer) about 45 minutes now. I'ts moving along...but at about 1/8 the speed of XP.

My specs:

AMD X2 6400 @ 3.2 GHZ
8 Gigs OCZ Reaper Memory (2.0V)
2 WD Raptor Drives
2 ATI 3870 in Crossfire
Asus M2R32-MVP (donno if thats quite the write mobo, but its close)
Windows Vista X64

All video and DX drivers are current.

Is this a normal condition? I've also had crashing problems with Bioshock and Crysis when starting the games. As soon as I change the settings to 1920x1200 the game is "windowed" and proceeds to crash. I just installed Vista the other day (format install) and am having probs with games. Any advice? Thanks ahead of time...

Check your device manager settings for the hard drive and CD device. Is the CD/DVD Atapi or SATA? Did you install the correct drivers for them? Did you disable your anti-virus before installing?

Both DVD and HDD are SATA. I did a firmware update on the DVD drive, but we'll see how much that helped. I DID have AVG running in the background, although I didnt think it would affect the install as much as it did (if that was the case). I'm reinstalling Bioshock in a few minutes so we'll see how that goes.

BTW... I have an ASUS DVD drive, but when I went to the website they only had the firmware driver....not something for windows. When I installed X64, it just recognized my DVD for what it was and installed it. Am I to assume that its using the correct driver because it recognized it? Thanks again.

Well Bioshock took about 30 minutes to install. Since its been awhile since I last installed it, I'm not sure if thats excessive or not.

That's a bit to much. Bioshock should install in about 5 minutes.

Check your cables and their configurations. Check the bios settings.

Ensure you have the correct mobo drivers installed.
I can not tell you where to look because you are not sure about the one you have.

Mobo is an ASUS M2R32-MVP.

I looked on the website but cant find the appropriate driver...maybe I'm just missing it.

look here for downloads;
ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-

Well, I've updated my DVD drivers, checked all my cable (solid) and ran a couple of benchmarks on my drive...it may be faulty. Thanks for all the help everyone. Looks like I'll be buying another one.

Have a pint on me...just tell them to add it to my tab