[Valedic7orian]

The e-gods spit on me once again...

Problem:

Incredibly slow install time for Windows Vista Ultimate 32... at least 5 minutes if not more, between each stage of the installation. Furthest its got to is username and password designation, whereupon the PC crashes and restarts constantly, unable to resume or complete the installation.

What's more, the PC also appears to intermittently lose its HDD (Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB Hard Drive (usually in the middle of an attempted OS install)). After the inevitable restart when the installation drops to a standstill, a check of the SATA ports in the BIOS reveals that the HDD is no longer visible there... (manually changing the HDD's SATA lead position between 1-2-3-4 temporarily solves thi, but the HDD will be lost within 3-4 restarts).

I've browsed a number of forums on similar subjects (slow install etc...), and most of them recommend updating the BIOS, which I have now done (latest version - 12/1/2009)... However, the problem(s) persist...

What can be done!?!



((PC Specs Here)

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz
PoV NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 512MB
4GB Corsair DDR2 RAM 800 MHz
ASUS P5N-D Motherboard
Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB HDD

All the parts in the rig are newly ordered, and were put together earlier today...)