Starcraft 2

Unlike most others, when I get a game that can be played on multiple platforms I install it everywhere I can.

If you read the TOC of Starcraft 2 you see you can install it as many times as you like, simple because you need your own account to login and play the game, so who cares how many installs you do. You’re even asked to loan the disks to your friends, to entice them to get their own Battlenet account to play Starcraft 2.

But problem, really, is when I installed it on my main computer, a AMD quad core Phenom processor with 8Gb ram and an ATI 5670 graphics card.

The damn game wouldn’t install, it kept locking up the computer, freezing the install usually around 33% of the total install.

I did the usual, update the graphic’s driver, finish all Windows updates, check directx install (go to “Run” and enter “dxdiag” without the quotes) but the game would still lockup during install. Everything was updated, I thought but the install still locked up my computer.

The next step was to actually download the game files, rather than installing from the DVD just in case the DVD was wrecked. The game did install to my HP notebook and my iMac so I really didn’t think it was the DVD, but what the hell, I really wanted Starcraft 2 on my main computer. The download took me about 35 minutes (not bad for an almost 7Gb download, bet you wish you had my 100Mbs internet speed!) and when I installed from that the install still locked up my computer.

So I troubleshot a little more and found that my solution to the install locking up my computer was actually none of the above. Out of desperation I went right back to the very basics and defragged my hard drive then ran Windows error checking from bootup. To do this you right click on your Drive C from My Computer, go to Tools and then click on “Check Now” under Error Checking.

Reboot the computer, let Windows do the error check and when I installed Starcraft 2 it went as smoothly and very quickly.

Despite all the troubles, after first trying to install the game, and having all these install issues, I was playing after 4 hours of trouble shooting.

So, if you’re having a problem with your computer locking up or freezing during the installation process, do what I did last first: run Windows Error-checking from bootup and try the install again.

This install tip might just save you 3 1/2 hours!

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I am installing Windows 7 Pro 64-bit over an existing Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit install.

When I insert the disk I get an “incompatible with this version of Windows” error right away.

So, instead I reboot the computer hoping to start the install from the bootup.

Of course I have to go into the BIOS to change the boot order so the computer boots from the CD/DVD Rom first, not the hard disk.
(Pressing the ESC button got me there!)

Once that was done I could restart the computer and I’d get this choice (ignore the tildes ~~):
~~~~~
1.
2.
select cd-rom boot type:
~~~~~

If you are at this stage select 1.

Enter the number “1″ and hit the ENTER button.

That will get you through to the setup of Win 7.
As the setup requires at least 2 additional reboots you’ll need to repeat the above steps of selecting “1″ a couple of times and DO NOT choose whether to boot to CD as you’ll next be asked… just let Microsoft Windows 7 do the rest… the heavy lifting…LOL

And you can avoid the 45 minutes or so of frustration that I had getting to the initial install stage.

Good luck!

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A quick note:
I upgraded from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 professional. I was one of the smart ones that took advantage of the July early bird sales and purchased 2 copies of Win 7 Pro.

It took exactly 97 minutes from beginning the install to the first complete install setup screen (where you’re asked about your country location and time zone).

This was using the only option available to me which was a clean install. Happily, Win 7 created a “windows.old” folder with all my stuff so rebuilding all my files was quite easy.
(Paranoid note: I did a complete backup to an external hard drive, then another backup to another hard drive – internal – before I started the install. And when Win 7 said that the folder “windows.old” would be created I was very relieved to know that I’d have 3 backup copies of all my stuff…. thanks to Bill Gates for not separating me from my stuff!)

In total there was three restarts of my system to complete the install and initial setups required.

I am very happy… everything works without needing more installs of motherboard drivers, sound card files, etc. You should know that I have a Certified Data computer, quad core AMD Phenom, 8gb Ram with an Nvidia Geforce 8800 GT card that was originally installed with Vista Home Premium.

Windows 7 is awesome so far!

Even the DVD driver was installed peoperly, the sound works and my Hauppauge TV tuner didn’t need extra software to install, although I did need to troubleshoot it, but Win 7 installed it all and Media Center took care of the rest.

My bluetooth keyboard and mouse work fine (MS entertainment 7000 bluetooth) but I did need to install a USB keyboard and mouse during the Win 7 install and initial setup, the bluetooth keyboard and mouse were not recognized.

As well, watch out for using Internet Explorer 8 64-bit. Many addons to the browser aren’t available yet, like Adobe’s Flash, so you’ll want to setup the IE 8 – 32 bit the way you like it and use it instead.

I think Windows 7 is great!!!
What do you think?

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