Reasons why an os might not install properly on a computer?

[mamamia88]

I bought an old hp at goodwill for $3. It didn't appear to work at first so i gave up on it. I swapped around the ram sticks and put an old ssd i had as a boot drive in the thing and now i can get into bios but, everytime I try to install an os be it linux or windows something stupid happens. Tried 64 bit windows told me i was missing a driver, tried 32 bit windows told it couldn't find the terms of service file. I tried ubuntu and it just failed to even get to the installer, tried mint started installing came back to what looked like a finish install and it won't boot. I don't even really care that much i was half tempted to drop it off at goodwill again after getting an os on it but, any idea why this might happen? It's an hp elitedesk 8000 sff if that helps. Should I see if I can find a dvd or optical media lying around and use the dvd drive? 

[emosun]

4 minutes ago, mamamia88 said:

Tried 64 bit windows told me i was missing a driver, tried 32 bit windows told it couldn't find the terms of service file.

gotta be more specific you aren't saying what version of windows just the bitrate

a machine that old will want either windows xp or windows 7

[TehDwonz]

6 minutes ago, emosun said:

gotta be more specific you aren't saying what version of windows just the bitrate

a machine that old will want either windows xp or windows 7

It's new enough that W10 should work fine. Spec here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-compaq-8000-elite-small-form-factor-pc/4065894/document/c01926347

 

@mamamia88 try making a Linux live CD/DVD or USB stick. Does that boot? Or even a Windows 10 recovery disc.

[emosun]

3 minutes ago, TehDwonz said:

It's new enough that W10 should work fine.

it's a 775 machine and very old

The reason why I mentioned only using windows xp or 7 is due to it most likely having no windows 10 drivers and being stuck running generic system resource drivers for the board. 

MORE THAN LIKELY , they aren't using a 3$ goodwill pc as a main driver or and online machine anymore and hardware that old will actually run A LOT faster with an original version of windows xp or 7 than a modern version of 10 that has had CPU exploit security updates implemented. If they aren't intending it to be used online , then xp and 7 would be much better.

[TehDwonz]

1 minute ago, emosun said:

it's a 775 machine and very old

The reason why I mentioned only using windows xp or 7 is due to it most likely having no windows 10 drivers and being stuck running generic system resource drivers for the board. 

MORE THAN LIKELY , they aren't using a 3$ goodwill pc as a main driver or and online machine anymore and hardware that old will actually run A LOT faster with an original version of windows xp or 7 than a modern version of 10 that has had CPU exploit security updates implemented. If they aren't intending it to be used online , then xp and 7 would be much better.

I have several 775 machines with the same chipset running W10 really nicely. Core 2 Duos and Xeons (X33xx). Getting off topic anyway - he tried Ubuntu, and if that fails, XP isn't going to help.

[emosun]

1 minute ago, TehDwonz said:

he tried Ubuntu, and if that fails, XP isn't going to help.

I could argue that there are many hardware configs that could produce errors on linux and not on windows for any number reasons. 

It's basically cheap or even free to TRY older windows versions. No reason to not try.

[mamamia88]

3 hours ago, emosun said:

gotta be more specific you aren't saying what version of windows just the bitrate

a machine that old will want either windows xp or windows 7

It was originally a windows 7 install. Tried windows 10 because I've had luck with coa stickers activating free before

 

3 hours ago, emosun said:

I could argue that there are many hardware configs that could produce errors on linux and not on windows for any number reasons. 

It's basically cheap or even free to TRY older windows versions. No reason to not try.

Tracking down an iso but I'm sure I could get one

 

3 hours ago, BlueScope819 said:

Can you install an OS to the drive on another machine and see if it boots off of it?

Probably though the ssd did already have a version of debian on it that also failed to boot

[mamamia88]

43 minutes ago, emosun said:

it's a 775 machine and very old

The reason why I mentioned only using windows xp or 7 is due to it most likely having no windows 10 drivers and being stuck running generic system resource drivers for the board. 

MORE THAN LIKELY , they aren't using a 3$ goodwill pc as a main driver or and online machine anymore and hardware that old will actually run A LOT faster with an original version of windows xp or 7 than a modern version of 10 that has had CPU exploit security updates implemented. If they aren't intending it to be used online , then xp and 7 would be much better.

It's actually an i5-650 which according to Google was 1156. I don't really have an intended use. I saw a pc at a goodwill far away from home and impulse bought it. It did have a 1tb wd blue in it and if that worked would have been worth the gamble. I was honestly thinking of either just giving it back to goodwill or using it for like chrome on my tv

[mamamia88]

2 minutes ago, BlueScope819 said:

Seems like the board is broken. You can strip out the CPU, memory, and storage and return it if you want.

What makes you suspect that? I've gotten all my hardware detected and can even fully boot to a mint live usb. It's just when I go to install some form of os it seems to fail.

[mamamia88]

56 minutes ago, TehDwonz said:

It's new enough that W10 should work fine. Spec here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-compaq-8000-elite-small-form-factor-pc/4065894/document/c01926347

 

@mamamia88 try making a Linux live CD/DVD or USB stick. Does that boot? Or even a Windows 10 recovery disc.

Yes live usb works. I booted from a mint usb and it worked. Wasn't until I left the house and came home to find the installation frozen at 100% and tried forcing it to restart to see if it took that I gave up. Anyway might just try installing mint on the ssd from another pc and see kf that works

[TehDwonz]

5 minutes ago, mamamia88 said:

Yes live usb works. I booted from a mint usb and it worked. Wasn't until I left the house and came home to find the installation frozen at 100% and tried forcing it to restart to see if it took that I gave up. Anyway might just try installing mint on the ssd from another pc and see kf that works

Yeah, that's what I'd do too. Also, remove any hardware that is not essential to the install process - like extra sound or network cards. Even GFX if you have on-board available?

[mamamia88]

19 minutes ago, TehDwonz said:

Yeah, that's what I'd do too. Also, remove any hardware that is not essential to the install process - like extra sound or network cards. Even GFX if you have on-board available?

All that's available. I might have something lying around for a gpu not sure tbh. 

[TehDwonz]

6 minutes ago, mamamia88 said:

All that's available. I might have something lying around for a gpu not sure tbh. 

Yeah don't add that in - you want the bare minimum of hardware. Eg, unplug drives other than the one you are installing to, DVD-ROM or unnecessary USB devices (even the mouse...).

Another thing to try is change the BIOS settings for the SATA HDD/SSD to "IDE" mode instead of AHCI/RAID. That would exclude any driver issues there.

 

You can change a windows install back to AHCI later, with some simple registry edits. Just needs to be done before reverting the BIOS setting, or it won't boot.

 

EDIT: also, make sure the installation USB stick is in one of the rear ports, not a front I/O. USB2 if possible, not USB3.

Edited July 7, 2020 by TehDwonz

[LogicalDrm]

Could be locked BIOS. It is OEM after all, from ancient times. And by locked I mean there's some chip that requires some activation code from OS. Meaning that you can only install things verified by HP. I had similar issues with old LG laptop where I could install 64bit Vista, but no 64bit drivers.