You can grab Windows 10 for free directly from the Microsoft website and install it without much trouble, so I was wondering what kind of restrictions actually kick in if you go that route—you know, if you set it up without providing one of their product keys?
@ analogowl122 Storage space isn't really an issue for me; I guess I have more than enough to spare, but since there's basically nothing on my laptop right now, I don't see any point in running two different operating systems at once, so I'm just looking to do a clean install of Windows 10.
When I'm setting things up, what's the quickest or easiest way to track down all the drivers I actually need? The thing is, I don't have the original disc that came with my laptop, so I'll have to hunt them down individually. It's a Lenovo Z50. Are there any specific drivers I should probably prioritize or keep a closer eye on?
I’m starting to think my best bet might just be to wipe everything off the Hard Drive entirely and just perform a clean install of Windows from scratch.
Does anyone know what the absolute easiest way to go about formatting a Hard Drive is these days?
So, I’ve had my current machine for about a week now, and since it’s a relatively recent laptop, I’m pretty keen on upgrading it to Windows 10. Given that I’ve never actually gone through the process of reinstalling a newer version of Windows over a laptop that already came with its own OS, I was wondering if anyone could walk me through the procedure.
Specifically, I guess the main question is whether I need to go ahead and wipe all my existing programs from the current version of Windows first, or is that just an unnecessary step? Can I basically just load the version I want onto a USB drive, boot from that via the BIOS, and just run the installation from there? And if I do go that route, I suppose I should ask what actually happens to the old version that's currently sitting on the drive? 😛
I wouldn't call myself a total novice, but I'm definitely not some kind of IT expert either, so I guess any bit of help would be much appreciated. 👍
I was hoping I could get some kind of estimate here, since I'm seriously considering selling this thing to put toward something a bit more powerful. It’s a Lenovo laptop that's been with me for just under two years now. The specific model is shown in the photo.
It's in pretty much peak condition, honestly, and I've always taken it to authorized service centers for maintenance—you know, the usual stuff like dusting it out and swapping the thermal paste. Specs-wise, it's running an i3 4030U, 8GB of RAM, a GeForce 840 m, and a 1TB hard drive.
Just a quick shot of the shoulders after today's session. I’m finally getting back into the swing of things after a brutal, exhausting work season where I managed to drop about 30 pounds—mostly thanks to those grueling 12-hour graveyard shifts and basically zero downtime, which was pretty stressful, I guess. If everything goes according to plan, I should probably be back to my old weight within the next month or so. My arms feel, well, maybe about 25% bigger than they used to be, at least in my own estimation.
Yeah, I tried, but it’s just not happening. :/ As far as I can tell, it isn't working, because this is what the BIOS screen looks like right now.
I've got the boot priority set so the ATAPI CD-ROM is at the top of the list, and I've already made sure Secure Boot is disabled, so I guess I'm just at a bit of a loss as to what else could be causing this.
I’m running into some trouble trying to get a Windows 7 installation going on this laptop I picked up today. It came pre-loaded with Linux, so I suppose there might be some sort of different procedure involved, though I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, I pop the DVD in and everything seems fine at first, but then I get hit with this:
Later on, after I went into the BIOS and switched things from UEFI over to Legacy mode, I ended up seeing this instead:
By the way, what was actually happening when it refused to boot Windows at the end there?
I've already got that installed. I guess I'm just not sure which other WiFi drivers might be worth a shot at this point. I was messing around in the BIOS for a while until things finally clicked, and then it booted up normally and finished the installation, though honestly, I haven't a clue exactly what setting I tweaked to make it work, haha.
Drew Allen77 said:Are you seeing both the LAN and WLAN adapters listed under Network Adapters?
I'm just seeing two Bluetooth adapters showing up there.
@ Kimberly Gomez34, I guess I went ahead and downloaded every single driver I could find, but honestly, nothing seems to work. I've been poking around this whole laptop looking for a dedicated WLAN button or something, but I don't see anything; maybe it's some weird key combination on the keyboard that I haven't stumbled upon yet.
John Lee65 said:Did you actually install the drivers?
I mean, I went ahead and grabbed everything that looked relevant from the Dell website, though I suppose it’s entirely possible I missed something important along the way. Which specific driver should I be looking for if I want to get this thing actually connecting to the Wi-Fi?
I have one more question before I go ahead and start a whole new thread, if that's okay—I’m kind of stuck on how to get onto the Wi-Fi. My modem is sitting in a different room entirely, but since my phone seems to pick up the signal just fine, I assume my laptop should be able to do the same thing, right? Or does that mean my Wi-Fi setup is somehow fundamentally flawed? Currently, in the bottom right corner of the taskbar, it just says "not connected - no connections are available."
I took a look in the Device Manager under Network Adapters, but all I see are two options: Bluetooth Device (PAN) and Bluetooth Device (RFCOMM Protocol TDI). There isn't any actual Wi-Fi icon showing up on the taskbar at all.
Larry Ortiz5 said:If you've got FreeDOS set in the BIOS, you probably don't need to mess with any specific settings, like the boot order, since the hard drive is empty anyway. Once you plug in a USB drive or pop in a bootable Windows DVD, the installation should just kick off... or at least you'll see that classic "press any key to boot" prompt on the screen.
I mean, I guess that's how it's supposed to work, but unfortunately, my machine isn't really cooperating right now. So, when I try to boot up, this is what keeps popping up on my screen. http://s23.postimg.org/6tsvfjerv/20150814_193955.jpg
John Lee65 said:He probably didn't make a proper bootable USB, so maybe try testing it on a different PC.
Right now, this is all I've got to work with, so I'm kind of stuck. I even dug up an old CD, but honestly, it’s not working either, which is just great.😵
EDIT: I'm actually heading out to grab a new Windows 7 DVD. Assuming everything with the drive is actually fine, I guess I should wonder what BIOS settings I might need to tweak so it actually boots from the disc right away for the install? Maybe I'm just overlooking something obvious.
Hey there, so I picked up this laptop today—it came without an OS, just barebones. A buddy of mine put Windows 7 on a USB drive for me so I could get things moving, and I went into the BIOS to make sure it was set to boot from the USB first. But instead of actually starting the installation process, nothing happens; it just hits me with a black screen asking me to enter a new date and time, and then I’m stuck staring at a command prompt reading C:\>...
Does that mean he didn't burn the installer correctly, or am I missing some kind of trick here? I guess I spent way too much time watching tutorials on YouTube, following every single step precisely, but apparently, what works for them isn't working for me, right?
So, I fired up my PC—something’s definitely gone sideways—and it just sits there staring at me with this > message... I tried a complete reinstall of Windows, thinking maybe a fresh start would fix whatever mess is going on. I popped in a disc, set the boot priority in the BIOS to hit the optical drive first, and the installation actually kicked off. But here’s the thing: every single time the system tries to reboot during the process, that damn > screen pops up, hangs for a few seconds, and then eventually moves on. I managed to breeze through the whole setup, finished all the configurations, but then comes the final reboot right before the login screen, and it just freezes. It stays stuck on that > prompt and won't budge. The first two restarts show the message but eventually load, but by the third one, it just refuses to go any further. When I try to run the installer again, I can see that Windows is technically installed and taking up space on the drive. Is it possible the hard drive is failing? I mean, the computer boots, but I can't actually get into Windows or do anything else because it just stalls on that message. Any advice would be appreciated; clearly something is broken, though if you ask me, it doesn't seem like a total catastrophe since I can still trigger an install, but the fact that it fails that last crucial reboot makes me wonder if the hardware is just giving up on me.
Joshua Garcia3 said:Maybe try running a system restore to roll things back to how they were before you messed with those cracks.
I guess I'm not entirely sure how one actually goes about doing that, if you don't mind explaining... I mean, whenever I boot up the PC, I see some kind of Express Recovery option pop up (hitting F9), but when I actually press it, it just sends me straight back to that same black screen where it says Verifying BIOS data.
So, I basically played myself by downloading some sketchy pirate version of Windows, and apparently, I was supposed to reboot for everything to settle in properly. Well, I did the reboot, and now the system just refuses to boot up at all. It’s stuck on this screen saying Verifying BIOS data, and it just sits there indefinitely. I guess I'm wondering how one even goes about reinstalling Windows 7 when you're stuck in a loop like this? I mean, do I just pop in a disc and try to trigger it from the BIOS settings or something? Any kind of help would be more than appreciated, really...
The main thing is that I'm hoping I can actually get this computer back in working order; I'd really rather not end up having to toss the whole thing in the trash, haha.
