Computer donated to me. What should I check for?

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Chiller449

Member
johnb35 said:
Look at the below image. Click on each line entry and click on delete below. How big is the hard drive? When you have 1 entry that says unallocated then you click on new and leave it as 1 partition or partition it however you like.

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I cant even get to this screen. i cant get in because it requires a username and password. But I put the windows 10 disk in and selected my language and stuff and it asked me if i wanted to continue running windows 7, go to computer setup, or go to boot settings. so after i tried the first 2 options i selected boot settings. it asked if i wanted to reset computer to default setting or delete everything. i selected default settings because it said it will delete all files and profiles and programs. it will be just like it was when new. the other option it told me was deleting everything. it said only do this if you are recycling the pc and want everything deleted for security reasons. Am i on the right track?
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
When is it asking you for username and password? If you are actually booting to the windows 10 dvd then the install process should start. Don't access the install dvd from inside windows, yiu will be performing an upgrade not a fresh install.
 
C

Chiller449

Member
johnb35 said:
When is it asking you for username and password? If you are actually booting to the windows 10 dvd then the install process should start. Don't access the install dvd from inside windows, yiu will be performing an upgrade not a fresh install.
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If i just turn the computer on it loads windows and says press ctrl+alt+del to log on. i press it and it says enter you username and password to log into computer lab. i dont have a username and password. so when its booting i press f12 and load from cd/dvd rom. then the windows 10 logo pops up and i do as i stated above. i tried the restore and it said there was an error. so i retried but instead of selecting reset computer i selected boot from device. and now its going through the restore process. im not sure if it will work though.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Go into the bios and change boot order so that cd drive is first boot device, save settings and reboot with the install cd in the drive. Upon restart, you shoild get the message press any key to boot to dvd. Press any key to boot to the dvd and follow the prompts.
 
C

Chiller449

Member
johnb35 said:
Go into the bios and change boot order so that cd drive is first boot device, save settings and reboot with the install cd in the drive. Upon restart, you shoild get the message press any key to boot to dvd. Press any key to boot to the dvd and follow the prompts.
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ok i will do this if what it currently is doing does not work. i did get the message press any key after i got it to the boot screen. so it may already be doing what you are saying i just went about it a different way. like i said im not good with computers. so it may be doing something else entirely. lol. Give me a car and i can rebuild it. but give me a computer and im totally lost. Thanks for all the help and dumbing it all down for me guys.
 
zRetire

zRetire

New Member
Depends on what you are looking to do with it. For gaming I would look at the specs and what you can upgrade inside of it (graphics card, cpu, etc) but for something like editing or for regular use you should just look to upgrade your storage to a good sized ssd.
 
mistersprinkles

mistersprinkles

Active Member
It's an athlon 64. You're not gaming on it. Hell, you're barely even going to be able to use it, because it will be so painfully slow. Get yourself a better computer if you want to play games.
 
C

Chiller449

Member
mistersprinkles said:
It's an athlon 64. You're not gaming on it. Hell, you're barely even going to be able to use it, because it will be so painfully slow. Get yourself a better computer if you want to play games.
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I work at the school and used to use one of these computers for the games I play it works fine. (mostly browser games, runescape, world of tanks etc.) If i decide to go to bigger games i will upgrade it. nothing huge. maybe just a power supply and graphics card? not sure.
 
C

Chiller449

Member
Ok so here is where im at so far. i added pics so you can see what im seeing. I did the long system reset on it took about 4 hours to complete. Heres what happens when i turn it on. 1. dell loading screen. 2. Error message?? not sure what this is about. i just press f1 to continue. 3. Boot from cd. If i have the disk already in it automatically goes to step 5. 5. windows 10 loading screen. 6. choose language. 7. choose keyboard layout. 8. choose an option, i clicked troubleshoot. 9. troubleshoot, i clicked advance options. 10. advanced options. last time i clicked system restore and restored the system. Thats all it does now. Im thinking the windows 10 disk the IT guy gave me is the wrong one. Id like to just stick with windows 7 if possible. What do you guys think???IMAG0298.jpg IMAG0301.jpg IMAG0302.jpg IMAG0304.jpg IMAG0305.jpg IMAG0306.jpg IMAG0307.jpg IMAG0308.jpg IMAG0309.jpg IMAG0310.jpg
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Do the reset option and choose to delete everything.

It should function as a clean install for the most part. What he gave you is a recovery disk and not a true installation disk. Alternatively you could use the media creation tool @beers linked earlier and create a true Windows installation disk/USB stick and install it that way. I'd just suggest doing the reset as it's functionally the same. Just make sure you tell it to remove everything when given the option.
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
After you've done that pull the disk out. It's still trying to boot off that disk. You need to go back into the BIOS and change your boot order to the hard drive again.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
As far as the floppy error message goes, go into bios and disable the floppy. Sounds like you just need to change the boot order back to the hdd.
 
C

Chiller449

Member
lol the computer doesent even have a floppy drive? weird. but im pretty sure i changed the boot order back to the way it was. if i remove the disk it just goes back to the boot from disk page. Im pretty sure disk drive is 3rd on the list to boot. I know for a fact hard drive is either 1 or 2. I should have took a pic of that. :mad:
 
C

Chiller449

Member
Actually my wife is at home with it right now. i will have her take a pic or the boot order. and i will post it as soon as i get it.
 
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