Ubuntu
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Incredibly slow install & slow update

Asked by TRM

I first tried to install Mint 32 from a USB drive, and after it got to the point of "copying files", it took about 4 hours to get to 45%. I gave up. I then tried to install Ubuntu 64 from a dvd, and the exact same thing happened. I let it finish installing, and it took a total of about 9 hours. Once installed, it ran fine... until I tried to update. I am able to download the updates very quickly, it's just when it tries to install the updates I get about 20% done before I just give up. I looks like another 8 or 9 hours to do this. While the updates are being installed, the system runs INCREDIBLY slow.

I have installed Fedora on the same drive just a few days ago, and FreeBSD just a few days before that. Installation times for both of those were great. I'm new to Linux/BSD, and I was trying all the distros I could before I made up my mind. I liked FreeBSD a lot, but I wanted an actual Linux flavor to play with. Fedora had other issues, so I decided to try a Debian based distro. I have yet to try to install Debian itself, but I'm thinking i'll get the same issues as with Mint and Ubuntu.

I checked the processes as the update was going, and it seemed that everything was ok, and my hard drive looked busy copying files. I think I was using about 180megs of ram during the whole thing, and cpu usage was at about 4%. Most of that was from the system process monitor though. Does anybody have any ideas what may be causing this? I'd really like to try Ubuntu since it seems to be the general consensus that it's one of the easiest and best Linux flavors to get acquainted with.

My hardware is as follows:
Pentium quad core 2.33 ghz
4gigs DDR2 RAM
MSI P43 motherboard w/ 1333mhz FSB & onboard AC888 sound
ATI Radeon PCI-E (I can't remember the model) 1024 MB ram
D-Link AIR PCI wireless card (it works very nicely w/ubuntu btw. WPA worked "out of the box"... I was primed to expect otherwise)
40 GB Seagate IDE hard drive in a removable tray for this install... I have some SATA drives installed but I unplugged them during all this.
No printer plugged in, and a generic DVD RW
Rocketfish 550 Watt power supply
Emprex 22 inch LCD monitor
Logitech USB keyboard and mouse (both wired)
generic Wal-Mart 5.1 speakers

Any help would be appreciated.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Did you MD5 test the ISO you downloaded?
Did you check the DVD for defects once booted to?
Did you burn the DVD as slowly as you could?
Have you tested your RAM for errors?
You could also boot to the ultimate boot CD and use Seatools to test the drive is healthy (The BSD install kinda points to the drive been good but it's worth considering if all other tests are good.

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TRM (trm0407) said : 		#2

I did not do an MD5 test on the ISO I downloaded, but considering I used a USB drive with a different install with the exact same results, I think I can safely rule out the ISO being bad. I might try it anyway, just for absolute certainty. The same goes for the DVD itself.

I did not burn the DVD as slowly as I could, I only read about that issue after I burned it. I will definitely do that next time, but again since the USB had the same issue, I would think that probably isn't the problem.

My RAM is guaranteed good. I've run Memtest on it not that long ago, (about 2 months I think) and I'm using it with Windows right now on a different SATA drive. Everything is working fine performance-wise. I suppose it wouldn't kill me to run memtest again on it tonight, but I really don't think that's the problem.

The hard drive is good. The two previous installations I think prove that.

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TRM (trm0407) said : 		#3

I should also mention I tried to install Mint the first time before I installed FreeBSD. I was using the 32bit version because that's the one I had on my flash drive after successfully installing it on one of my grandfather's hard drives. He has been using it and has been happy with it. So that might be a little more proof the hard drive is good, since Mind had the same issues as Ubuntu, and in between were two successful installs... one of Linux, and one of FreeBSD. The Fedora was 64bit too, btw.

And I forgot to say thank you for your quick response, actionparsnip. I really do appreciate you taking the time out for a Linux n00b like me.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

If the ISO you downloaded is unchecked then you have no way of knowing if the data was complete or consistent. The install media is absolutely moot for this factor. If you have a bad ISO it will make a bad install experience. You using a USB device means that moving parts aren't used but flash storage does fail and there is a USB consistency checker when you boot to the device. Memtest is good to do as the live environment runs 100% in the RAM so bad RAM will directly cause issues.

You could also disable stuff in BIOS to make the system simpler. You could also try the alternate ISO which installs a desktop OS but installs in text mode.

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TRM (trm0407) said : 		#5

I downloaded another ISO, and the checksum matches. I tried re-installing, and got the exact same problem. Right at 32%('copying files'), it takes forever. I'm not going through another 9 hour install to check if the updates will run this slow again. What could I possibly disable in my BIOS? Would installing from a text based installer be any different than the GUI installer? Are the methods of copying files different in the text based one, or is there maybe more information available about the individual files being copied?

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#6

Yeah the alternate ISO is another way to install and will give a desktop OS too :)

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TRM (trm0407) said : 		#7

Problem solved.

The issue was actually with the removable hard drive tray. I removed that and installed the IDE drive with some rails instead, and it loaded beautifully. Thanks for your help, actionparsnip. I did find the text based install to be more to my taste than the graphical one, even if that wasn't the actual source of the problem.