Windows won't install on second-hand laptop?

Got a prob here! Windows 10 won't install onto my €18,- (unbelievable!) laptop! When I install it from DVD it doesn't come any further than the Win-logo (around 2 seconds) and then it switches over to a black screen with a cursor. The HDD is then bus with... what?... and the DVD drive is silent (light off). Looked at the DVD and nothing wrong with it. Tried to burn it again on a DVD-R, same result: NADA.

When I try to install any other OPEN OS (like Ubuntu) all works/installs just fine.

Sooo.... what could be the problem? The prev. owner HAD Windows 10 on it but this silly guy changed it for an open OS. And now I can't get it back.

Help meeeeee!!!!!

You didn't tell us the make and the model# of the laptop?
Boot into Setup (Bios) go to the Boot Tab. Here, set it to UEFI Bios, if it is CSM/Legacy.
Disable Fast Startup.
Go to Advanced or Integrated Peripherals and make sure the HDD Mode is set to AHCI and not Legacy/IDE
Burn a USB Flash Drive with the Windows 10 ISO image, using the Media Creation Tool on the same site.
Put the burned flash drive in the computer, start it and press F12 Continuously (unless this is an HP, then it would be F9) and choose the Flash Drive for a one time change of boot order.

Once in the Windows installer, Select your Language, then choose Custom Install. In Where Do You Want To Install Windows? Delete All Partitions, the click Next. Windows will create partitions and format them during the Install.

spunk said:

You didn't tell us the make and the model# of the laptop?
Boot into Setup (Bios) go to the Boot Tab. Here, set it to UEFI Bios, if it is CSM/Legacy.
Disable Fast Startup.
Go to Advanced or Integrated Peripherals and make sure the HDD Mode is set to AHCI and not Legacy/IDE
Burn a USB Flash Drive with the Windows 10 ISO image, using the Media Creation Tool on the same site.
Put the burned flash drive in the computer, start it and press F12 Continuously (unless this is an HP, then it would be F9) and choose the Flash Drive for a one time change of boot order.

Once in the Windows installer, Select your Language, then choose Custom Install. In Where Do You Want To Install Windows? Delete All Partitions, the click Next. Windows will create partitions and format them during the Install.

Oops haha, itś an HP-Compaq 8710P. (running now Linux Mint, which COULD be installed....)

RingTailCoon said:

Oops haha, itś an HP-Compaq 8710P. (running now Linux Mint, which COULD be installed....)

According to its HP Manual: http://www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02534075 the lowest spec processor it was supplied with was the Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T7100 and according to HP support it has drivers for up to 64 bit Windows 7: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers...ook-pc/3369264

There's no obvious reason why it should not run Windows 10. I suspect the W10 install problem may be due to the current format of the HDD. Linux uses ext4 and supports booting in Legacy mode from a GPT drive. You may need to use Diskpart to clean the drive and make it MBR before W10 Setup can cope with it. Or you could just swap out the HDD for another (or better yet an SSD). From the manual the HDD looks trivially easy to get to.

Bree said:

According to its HP Manual: http://www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02534075 the lowest spec processor it was supplied with was the Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T7100 and according to HP support it has drivers for up to 64 bit Windows 7: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers...ook-pc/3369264

There's no obvious reason why it should not run Windows 10. I suspect the W10 install problem may be due to the current format of the HDD. Linux uses ext4 and supports booting in Legacy mode from a GPT drive. You may need to use Diskpart to clean the drive and make it MBR before W10 Setup can cope with it. Or you could just swap out the HDD for another (or better yet an SSD). From the manual the HDD looks trivially easy to get to.

May I sincerely THANK YOU for the MANUAL? :)

Is your Win 10 Installation DVD a 32 or 64 bits. Is the DVD a DL (double layer)?

To make a Win 7 USB boot able drive:

Open a CMD window as administrator and type:

diskpart
list disk (it will list all drives. Identify the USB drive number)
select disk n (replace n by the USB drive number obtained with list disk)
clean
convert mbr
create part primary
select part 1
format fs=fat32 quick
assign
active
exit (to exit diskpart)

If you have a Win 10 installation iso file
On Win 7 use 7Zip to extract all files and folders from the Win 10 iso file to the USB drive.
On Win 10, mount the iso file and copy all files and folders to the USB drive.

If you have a Win 10 installation DVD
On a computer that has ODD, copy all files and folders from the DVD to the USB drive

How much memory you have?
If the Laptop has 4G of memory or less I suggest you install Win 10 32 bits instead of 64 bits.

As it's an old laptop, it doesn't have UEFI BIOS.

Insert the Win 10 Installation DVD and start the computer.
During POST, press F9(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see an option for the DVD drive. Select the DVD to install as Legacy-MBR.
or
Insert the Win 10 Installation USB drive and start the computer.
During POST, press F9(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see an option for the USB drive. Select USB (name) to install as Legacy-MBR.

Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.

RingTailCoon said:

May I sincerely THANK YOU for the MANUAL? :)

You're welcome. It's the first thing I look for when I get my hands on a (new to me) old PC

Megahertz said:

How much memory you have?
If the Laptop has 4G of memory or less I suggest you install Win 10 32 bits instead of 64 bits.

As it's an old laptop, it doesn't have UEFI BIOS.

Insert the Win 10 Installation DVD and start the computer.
During POST, press F9(?) to launch the boot menu. You will a option for the DVD drive. Select the DVD to install as Legacy-MBR.
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.

It even doesn't go that far, right after picking the DVD as a boot device, you'll see the win logo (blue squares) pop up for 2 seconds and right after that it's a black screen. Not even Setup is starting pops up.

CPU Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.50Ghz x 2
TPM 1.2
4 GB internal memory DDR2
250 GB SATA HDD
GPU NVIDIA Quattri NVS 320M
DVD / CD burner
SCR / PC Card slot (wow, old!)
6 x USB2
1 x HDMI
1 x VGA
1 x FireWire 1394a
Fingerprint scanner
Bluetooth 2.0
Ethernet
Wifi
BIOS (not UEFI)

Is your Win 10 Installation DVD a 32 or 64 bits.
32 bits can use a normal DVD
64 bits requires a DVD DL (double layer)

As the laptop has 4G I recommend 32bits.

I suggest you build the USB Win 10 22h2 installation drive using MCT

Burn a USB Flash Drive with the Windows 10 ISO image, using the Media Creation Tool on the same site.
Put the burned flash drive in the computer, start it and press F12 Continuously (unless this is an HP, then it would be F9) and choose the Flash Drive for a one time change of boot order.

Once in the Windows installer, Select your Language, then choose Custom Install. In Where Do You Want To Install Windows? Delete All Partitions, the click Next. Windows will create partitions and format them during the Install.

We suggest burning a new Install Media, preferably a USB Flash Drive of at least 8GB capacity, or DVD using the above method. See how that goes.