Computer donated to me. What should I check for?

johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Chiller449 said:
What is the purpose of the disk i have? can it install windows 10 on a computer that had windows 7 on it?
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The purpose of the disk to install windows 10 on a dell system. Yes it can be used to install on a computer that had 7 on it.
Chiller449 said:
i would much rather have windows 7 as the computer is older and would probably work better.
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Look on the side of the case and see if you have a windows 7 sticker with readable key on it. If you do, we can get you an ISO file of windows 7 to reinstall with.
Chiller449 said:
also when i start the computer up and hit f12 which function should i select? start normally?
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Doesn't compute. I believe what you are basically seeing is when the computer doesn't boot into windows and want to do a repair. It's kind of hard to help someone sometimes when you can't physically see what they are seeing.
 
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Chiller449

Member
Darren said:
Do this. Full clean install of Windows 10. You can do a USB key or disc as John mentioned. I prefer USB drives because they're easy and don't have to fuss with a disc drive.

Wipe the ENTIRE drive as per this.



Forget the disk you already have. I think you're just confusing yourself with it, especially since it's a recovery disk and apparently not a true installation disk (I think).

Once you've done this, remove the USB drive you used and
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How do you get to the page where you delete partitions? i havent been able to actually get into windows since ive had it. It has always asked for a school username and password. Now that i have done a system restore on it i cant get past the insert cd page. Probably because my bios sequence is wrong. ill check when i get home. Also, does it matter what kind of usb drive i use? i have several but im not sure if any old usb stick will work.
 
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Chiller449

Member
johnb35 said:
The purpose of the disk to install windows 10 on a dell system. Yes it can be used to install on a computer that had 7 on it.

Look on the side of the case and see if you have a windows 7 sticker with readable key on it. If you do, we can get you an ISO file of windows 7 to reinstall with.

Doesn't compute. I believe what you are basically seeing is when the computer doesn't boot into windows and want to do a repair. It's kind of hard to help someone sometimes when you can't physically see what they are seeing.
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i know it can be very frustrating if you cant see what the other person is doing or talking about. im making progress though. its just hard as im just writing this stuff down as the pc is at home. i have alot of stuff to try tonight when i get home.
 
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Chiller449

Member
My IT guy looked through his desk and found a copy of windows 7 64 bit that he downloaded onto a dvd. so im going to fix my bios sequence. if it doesent work and still wants a cd. im going to put this windows 7 os disk in and see what happens.
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Chiller449 said:
My IT guy looked through his desk and found a copy of windows 7 64 bit that he downloaded onto a dvd. so im going to fix my bios sequence. if it doesent work and still wants a cd. im going to put this windows 7 os disk in and see what happens.
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...? Why? This isn't an operating system issue that is going to be fixed by changing. A clean install is a clean install, you've got a BIOS issue. Don't get too fussed up with a bunch of different potential solutions. Try a clean install of W10 like 3 of us have now suggested.
 
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Chiller449

Member
Ok so here is what happened...... nothing worked lol. i put my bios how it should be, turned off floppy drive, removed cd, restarted and it went back to the insert cd page. so i put the windows 7 cd. finally i got somewhere. it was loading and it brought up my partitions and asked where i wanted to save or load to. i had 4 partions. i clicked on each one of them and it said i couldnt use that one because its of the GBT type? not sure what that means so i formated and erased all of them. still wouldnt let me. so i shut it down and re started the computer. it loaded to the insert cd page. i put the windows 10 cd in. and it just went to the trouble shoot page. it wont load windows 7 or 10. So i threw the pc in the garbage and bought a dell optiplex 3020. loads faster already has windows 10 and was a breeze to set up. Had to spend alot more than i wanted but im happy. Thanks for all the help with this frustrating ordeal. :rolleyes:
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Sounds like you just needed to totally wipe the drive and reinstall fresh. You said something about a gpt partition and windows won't install to that on certain machines.
 
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Chiller449

Member
johnb35 said:
Sounds like you just needed to totally wipe the drive and reinstall fresh. You said something about a gpt partition and windows won't install to that on certain machines.
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Maybe. im just done messing with it. Its too old and im not good enough with computers to tinker with it.
 
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