I can't get windows 10 64x or 32x to run

Zaxs · 3 Weeks Ago

I have an M2N-SLI motherboard with an Amd Phenom II X4 945 8gb ram ddr2 all sticks are the same frequency
But i cannot get windows ten to run, i have made windows 7, 8, 8.1 but i cannot make windows 10 to run, if someone knows
how to fix it it would be great.
What happens when i install windows is that after i installed windows its starting an it says 'getting devices ready" and after
that finishes to 100% 5 or 6 seconds after windows freezes(i have tried waiting a long time but it ends up reseting) and
then it says, windows has shut down unecpectedly.
I currently have windows 7 Pro 2020.02

Hearsepilot · 3 Weeks Ago

Are you doing a ground up install on an inplace upgrade? Try installing with internet disconnected, it might be downloading a duff driver.

dalchina · 3 Weeks Ago

Your MOBO appears to be from 2006.

This may be why you're having difficulty.

Given its age, Win 10 32 bits would be more appropriate.

Drivers up to Vista (x32/x64) are available:
m2n-sli - Support

Please try to find an example of someone running Win 10 on this with your processor.

Also note that to have Win 10 activate now, you will need to buy a license. MS has largely closed off the free upgrade route.

spunk · 3 Weeks Ago

Are you doing a ground up install on an inplace upgrade?

As stated, You should do a Clean Install of Windows. Where you Delete All partitions, selecting the Unallocated Space and clicking Next.

Windows 10 can be installed on this computer if the drive is healthy.

Before doing that, I would run Diagnostics on the HDD. If you have Windows 7 installed on that drive and can boot into it. Download Crystal Disk Info, and or DiskGenius in my signature. View the SMART info on the drive. If it is anything less the Good, the HDD needs to be replaced. We suggest installing an SSD and doing a Clean Install, attach the old HDD as a Secondary Disk. Then copy your User Files (ie) Downloads, Desktop, Documents etc to the new install.

JLArranz · 2 Weeks Ago

I don't have myself any experience at installing Windows on ancient enough hardware, although I think Win10 should work in your system. Even your processor has that instruction required by latter Win11, and I don't think 64 bits should be any challenge for this. If at all a more ancient Win10 version?

Could this be the TPM 1.2 requirement? The manual doesn't have any reference to it, it wasn't a thing that even expert users cared about in this board's age.

Drivers for pre-10 Windows versions might work? Not completely sure about how much picky is 10 with the drivers. I researhed a bit about AGP and Win10 (not a problem for your board although I might try 10 in an AGP one that I've got here), and it seems that support depends more (or totally) on the maker than (or not at all) on Microsoft, and quite possibly on the Win10 version.

I've got a similar aged board (nForce 560) with the same memory, nearly the same processor (955) and Windows 7 now. Totally stable system and I intend to use 7 as long as possible, but I won't throw away that hw easily, so I'll try it with a more modern Windows in some years.

If installing w/o internet and using a clean drive doesn't work (I installed my W10 sucesfully, although to a more modern system, to a new drive that was formatted with a single NTFS partition; if it didn't have format when I received it, I formatted it to check it and see its speed), I'd try with all unnecessary peripherals disconnected or disabled in the BIOS (IEEE1394, Audio, LAN, serial/parallel, even USB if your mouse and keyboard is PS2). If it succeeds, I'd do image backups and install/try the disconnected peripherals one by one. Once connected, Win10 will install its driver or possibly leave it with yellow things in the device manager if it doesn't find anyone. Idk if you can set Win10 to not install any hw on its own in case you know some Win10 default driver doesn't work in your case.

LarryR · 2 Weeks Ago

If you were running Win 7 or Won 8.x, (32 bit,) you WOULD typically get the "Windows 10 can not run on this (I had the same problem with an AMD Phenom "quad core" machine.) Going to a CLEAN install with a new SSD, the Win 10 install from Microsoft (via their Media Creation" method) installed Win 10 (64 bit) with no problem. It may be you were originally running 32 bit Windows previously, and the "upgrade" doesn't like that.(Not publicized by MS as a (potential, but not insurmountable) problem.

pepanee · 2 Weeks Ago

Scroll down to the Windows 10 checklist and try out all the suggestions:
[Windows 11/10] Troubleshooting - Automatic Shutdown/Restart Issues | Official Support | ASUS USA

Berton · 2 Weeks Ago

There are some posts on the Internet that Win10 introduced in 2015 won't run on DDR2 RAM introduced in 2004. An example:
https://vtechinsider.com/is-ddr2-com...th-windows-10/
Some suggest changing to DDR3 but that usually requires changing the motherboard because of the physical differences, shouldn't interchange in the sockets. I have Win10 on a Gigabyte board with an AMD Phenom II X4 965 with 16GB DDR3.

LarryR · 2 Weeks Ago

Berton said:

There are some posts on the Internet that Win10 introduced in 2015 won't run on DDR2 RAM introduced in 2004. An example:
https://vtechinsider.com/is-ddr2-com...th-windows-10/
Some suggest changing to DDR3 but that usually requires changing the motherboard because of the physical differences, shouldn't interchange in the sockets. I have Win10 on a Gigabyte board with an AMD Phenom II X4 965 with 16GB DDR3.

I don't know if that is true or not. I'm currently running (as a back up) an AMD Phenom 9550, on an ECS MoBo, and only 4 GB memory is the max I can use; (I've tried at least two different memory modules, specifically for AMD, to bring it up to 8 GB, and neither worked.) So far, the AMD Phenom (quad core) seems to be running as well (with the latest, [April 2024 Win 10 updates] as an i5 laptop, both with Win 10.. So I don't think the memory (either DDR2 OR 4 GB limit) are the problem, although I DO wish I could have increased to 8 GB of memory; apparently DDR2 memory timing had some weird requirements that not all MoBo's could accommodate.)
For better or worse, DDR2 memory seems to have been quickly replaced by DDR3 fairly quickly, even though they are not interchangeable.

Berton · 2 Weeks Ago

For better or worse, DDR2 memory seems to have been quickly replaced by DDR3 fairly quickly, even though they are not interchangeable.

It's just supply and demand, the desire for more and better and faster technology is in the driver's seat. Looking at Crucial shows no DDR2 and very limited DDR3 modules, DDR4 and DDR5 are current. If no one is making motherboards that need DDR2 there's no need for making the modules. Also involved is the CPU. For DDR2 needs it's probably best to check Ebay for sellers.