Extreme Latency in Windows Setup

[theburningor]

I've been running Windows 7 RC quite happily on my Dell Latitude e6500 for the past 6 months. However, since the expiration on the RC is coming up soon, I purchased an upgrade copy of Windows 7 Professional. Also, I recently purchased a larger HD on which I would like to install Win7.

So, I am trying to install Win7 64-bit on the new hard-drive and am having extreme latency issue with it. When I boot off of the install disk with the drive that came with the computer, it boots up fine and prompts me to start the install process. However, when I use the new hard drive, it takes literally hours for it to get to the initial blue screen, and then when I get to the partition manager screen, it takes 10 minutes or more to do any operation there. Then when I actually choose a partition to install onto, the installer claims that it can no longer find any disks.

Additional information:
- It took me a while to figure out that the BIOS has to be set for AHCI for this to work. When it is set for IRRT, setup never gets beyond the Windows splash screen.
- I have not tried ATA or 'disabled' (which I think actually means 'IDE compatability ode)
- I can verify that the harddrive is perfectly fine and compatible with my system because I was running Ubuntu off of it for several months.
- I am running a 4 partition set up with 40GB for Windows (or 100GB for Windows and program files -- haven't fully decided on that yet), 432 GB for Data, 20GB for Linux and 8 GB for Linux Swap.
- Since purchasing the computer I purchased an additional 2gb of RAM several months ago, bringing the total up to 4gb

System: Dell Latitude e6500
New HD: WD5000BEVT (500 GB Western Digital)
Windows Version: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

 

[fireberd]

How did you install Win 7? The correct and required install sequence is (1) Install Windows (2) Install Dell Laptop System Software (3) Install chipset drivers (4) Install device drivers such as sound, video, etc.

HERE is the Dell Win 7, 64 bit drivers.

 

[theburningor]

I can't even get to the point of installing Windows in step 1 since the install disk crashes on the partition manager screen.

 

[theburningor]

So I tried booting it in 'Disabled' Mode to no avail. If I downloaded the drivers and put them on USB stick, could I perhaps boot using them instead?