Let's run Win10 on really really old hardware

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This PC CAN run Windows 11: Let's run Windows 11 on an incompatible hardware | Page 6 | Windows 11 Forum

spapakons said:

Now this is rather old. I can't think of an older system running Windows 10 without hacking the kernel to bypass NX/PAE support test. Even if the CPU might support 64-bit, because the system is too old, it had very low RAM and there are no 64-bit drivers, I installed Windows 10 32-bit. I did it to test if Windows 10 can be installed in that old system. Of course to be able to run the setup I borrowed an 1GB DDR SO DIMM module from another old laptop.

(The other laptop had 1GB RAM but only an Intel Centrino CPU that did not support NX/PAE. I could hack the kernel and install Windows 8/10 there, but that doesn't count. Also because the onboard graphics was Intel GMA 855G, there is no WDDM driver and it was VERY slow with Microsoft Basic Display Adapter, so yet another reason to stick with Windows 7 32-bit. As already said, hacking the kernel doesn't count.)

So, back to the HP Pavilion laptop... It is an HP Pavilion zv6000 series with the following specifications:

Type: Notebook
Manufacturer: Hewlett Packard
Model: HP Pavilion zv6201cl (P/N: EC367UA#ABA)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.00 GHz (Venice) s939
Chipset: ATI Radeon Xpress 200M (RS480M), AMD Hammer IMC, ATI SB400
RAM: 512MB (2x 256MB) DDR-266MHz PC-2700 SO DIMM
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon Xpress 200 (RS480M) 128MB
Audio: Conexant 20468 @ ATI SB400 - AC'97 Audio Controller
LAN adapter: Realtek RTL8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Wireless adapter: Broadcom BCM4318 802.11b/g Wireless Network Adapter
Modem: Conexant 20468 @ ATI SB400 AC'97 Data Fax SoftModem with SmartCP
IEEE 1394 (Firewire) adapter: Texas Instruments TSB43AB22 1394A-2000 OHCI PHY/Link-Layer Controller
Card Reader: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 CardBus Controller (SD/MMC cards)
Touchpad: Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad


Here are the screenshots:


Attachment 71121

Attachment 71122

Attachment 71123

Attachment 71124

About drivers: For the graphics card I installed ATI Catalyst 7.2 suite for Vista 32-bit (WDDM 1.0). So I have some little acceleration, but ATI Control Panel doesn't work because of some incompatibility. For other devices I used Vista 32-bit drivers. I might have used an XP driver for a couple devices that don't have a Vista driver, but I am not sure...

Of course this is VERY slow to be usable. I did it as a test to see if it was possible to install Windows 10 in such old hardware. If I want to use it I have to borrow the 1GB DDR SO DIMM module from another laptop to increase the RAM to 1.2GB. By doing that, it starts to respond better so with enough patience can be used. But with the original 512MB RAM you need A LOT more patience!

Can you beat me? Do you have something older "running" (crawling) Windows 10? Let's see it!

I was thinking about installing Windows 10 on an HP Pavilion zv6000. I tried booting Windows 10 from a USB drive and it got stuck on the windows logo (without spinning dots). Did you install Windows 10 by upgrading from Windows 7 32 bit with the media creation tool?
Thanks

Snuffleupagus said:

I was thinking about installing Windows 10 on an HP Pavilion zv6000. I tried booting Windows 10 from a USB drive and it got stuck on the windows logo (without spinning dots). Did you install Windows 10 by upgrading from Windows 7 32 bit with the media creation tool?
Thanks

spapakons had an HP Pavilion zv6201cl. Its CPU was an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0 GHz (Venice) Socket 939. I think that model came out in 2006. If it did it may have come with Windows XP but also had Vista drivers. Thay may have made it more likely to work with Windows 10.

I have an HP Pavilion ZV5380US. It CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.2 GHz (ClawHammer) Socket 754. I bought it in October 2004. It came with Windows XP but never had Vista drivers. I upgraded it from 1GB to 2GB RAM.

I upgraded it from Windows XP Home to Windows 7 Home. That works great. I tried to upgrade it to Windows 10 but part way through it aborted and went back to Windows 7. I tried a clean install of Windows 10. That finished. After I booted I noticed that most of the hardware was using basic Windows drivers. There were numerous yellow ?s and red Xs in the Device Manager. Unfortunately, neither the wired or wireless network hardware had working drivers. I gave up after two days of not being able to find drivers that worked with Windows 10.

How old is your laptop? Did it ever have Vista drivers?

If you still want to try installing Window 10 I suggest you try doing a clean install. You might have better luck. Of course back up your computer before you do this in case the Windows 10 install fails.

MisterEd said:

spapakons had an HP Pavilion zv6201cl. Its CPU was an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0 GHz (Venice) Socket 939. I think that model came out in 2006. If it did it may have come with Windows XP but also had Vista drivers. Thay may have made it more likely to work with Windows 10.I have an HP Pavilion ZV5380US. It CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.2 GHz (ClawHammer) Socket 754. I bought it in October 2004. It came with Windows XP but never had Vista drivers. I upgraded it from 1GB to 2GB RAM.I upgraded it from Windows XP Home to Windows 7 Home. That works great. I tried to upgrade it to Windows 10 but part way through it aborted and went back to Windows 7. I tried a clean install of Windows 10. That finished. After I booted I noticed that most of the hardware was using basic Windows drivers. There were numerous yellow ?s and red Xs in the Device Manager. Unfortunately, neither the wired or wireless network hardware had working drivers. I gave up after two days of not being able to find drivers that worked with Windows 10.How old is your laptop? Did it ever have Vista drivers?If you still want to try installing Window 10 I suggest you try doing a clean install. You might have better luck. Of course back up your computer before you do this in case the Windows 10 install fails.

Using another computer download Aida64 or Speccy on a USB flash drive and run it to find which exactly is the wireless or LAN card. Download Vista (or XP) drivers for that and install it. Once you have internet, you can then connect to HP support site and download the rest drivers. See the Vista drivers first. If you still have missing drivers you can try installing the respective XP drivers for the rest devices. Make sure you install the Vista graphics driver (WDDM), otherwise you will have Microsoft Basic Display Adapter which will make your laptop 10 times slower! Also install DirectX 9.0c runtime and enable DirectPlay in Control Panel, Programs and Feature, Windows Features, Legacy to maximize compatibility with older applications and games.

Thanks for replying. I don't actually want to install Windows 10 yet because I want to leave the original hard drive with Windows XP untouched. I guess the reason I was asking was because I was thinking about getting an ssd to install Windows 10 on, but I wasn't sure if that would even work.
The HP Pavilion is from 2004 (at least that's what the Windows XP label says) and it has the AMD Athlon 64 3200+.
Thanks again to both of you.

If you have 2GB RAM is worth installing Windows 10 32-bit. The disk is IDE 2.5", not SATA. So you either buy a rather expensive IDE 2.5" SSD, or you buy a special IDE CD to SATA 2.5" tray (adapter) that can accept SATA 2.5" disks, including a standard SATA 2.5" SSD. But then you won't have a DVD, unless you connect a USB DVD drive. The adapter works, I have done it, but don't expect the full SSD speed, it will be a rather fast hard disk, due to the IDE controller limitations. You can even dual boot between the primary hard disk and the SSD.

Yes, it may be a 64-bit CPU but it lacks the required instructions to run Windows 8/10 64-bit. You can run only Windows 7 64-bit, but then it is very hard to find drivers and you won't see any improvement in performance. I recommend running Windows 10 32-bit to maximize compatibility with older applications and peripherals.