installing windows on very old pc

[robijntje]

Hello, my stepdad has this veeeeerrrryyyyyyyyy old pc that he wants to sell, but the hard drives are still PATA and not SATA (I know, he should just smash the shit out of it but he's too greedy when it comes to earning money, lol). I used a PATA to SATA adapter from a friend so I could use the hard drive as an external hard drive and formatted the hard drive that way, because both me and my friend (who knows more than me when it comes to pc's) couldn't get the pc to boot via DVD, not even my setting first boot to DVD and second and third off... It just keeps booting from the hard drive. Now, because he wants to sell this pc, I'd like to install windows on it, but since I can't boot from DVD and there even isn't an option to boot from USB, me and my friend are all out of ideas...

 

Anyone that would be so nice to help me?

 

Thx in advance,

 

Robijntje

[lubblig]

Just so you know, if there has been anything on that harddrive that your dad doesn't want anyone else to know of then you probably shouldn't sell that hdd. It doesn't matter if you format a hdd, you can still find what information that has been on there. So you may want to consider this before trying to install Windows and then selling it. Because even though most people wouldn't care about trying to recover your dads old files (like pictures and documents etc) it's still a possibility that someone might. So think about this before selling it.

 

EDIT: As for how to install the operating system, I'm not sure but when I had similar problems on an old computer. Instead of booting into the bios on launch, there was an option to launch the boot selector or something like that. This selector basically selected what device to boot from that particular boot. So try starting your computer and looking at the boot screen from your motherboard and seeing what available menus you can look at. You entered the bios using Escape, F10 or something similar. This boot selector (or whatever it's called) will have something similar like F8. I don't know for your particular motherboard and since it's an old one, I don't know if it has one.

 

But anyway, try and look for the boot selector and then see if you can choose the dvd (or maybe even USB if you have one available). That is what I'm guessing.

 

EDIT 2:

 

I looked into it, if you follow this:

 

from lifehacker.com then it should explain what I was trying to above. I think this is the way to go. (Article here)

 

This is probably how it'll look when you enter the menu and you'll just have to choose which ever boot device you want and it'll boot THAT time. Next restart will be the default so remember to do it again if it's necessary during install of windows.

[blu4]

Just so you know, if there has been anything on that harddrive that your dad doesn't want anyone else to know of then you probably shouldn't sell that hdd. It doesn't matter if you format a hdd, you can still find what information that has been on there. So you may want to consider this before trying to install Windows and then selling it. Because even though most people wouldn't care about trying to recover your dads old files (like pictures and documents etc) it's still a possibility that someone might. So think about this before selling it.

Writing to the hard drive multiple times with 1/0 makes the drive data non-recoverable. USAs Gutmans format with 35 passes gets rid of ALL the data and nothing will be able to recover it. In most cases 3-6 passes make it so difficult that no software (available to the public that I know of) will be able to get it back.

[lubblig]

Writing to the hard drive multiple times with 1/0 makes the drive data non-recoverable. USAs Gutmans format with 35 passes gets rid of ALL the data and nothing will be able to recover it. In most cases 3-6 passes make it so difficult that no software (available to the public that I know of) will be able to get it back.

I know, but a normal format of the hdd will not do anything to it (since free software can easily recover all the data). But if you follow Peter Gutmann's way of securely deleting something of off a hdd then you should probably be fine.

[Guest]

Hello, my stepdad has this veeeeerrrryyyyyyyyy old pc that he wants to sell, but the hard drives are still PATA and not SATA (I know, he should just smash the shit out of it but he's too greedy when it comes to earning money, lol). I used a PATA to SATA adapter from a friend so I could use the hard drive as an external hard drive and formatted the hard drive that way, because both me and my friend (who knows more than me when it comes to pc's) couldn't get the pc to boot via DVD, not even my setting first boot to DVD and second and third off... It just keeps booting from the hard drive. Now, because he wants to sell this pc, I'd like to install windows on it, but since I can't boot from DVD and there even isn't an option to boot from USB, me and my friend are all out of ideas...

 

Anyone that would be so nice to help me?

 

Thx in advance,

 

Robijntje

What happens when you just disconnect the drive and try booting?

 

How are you changing the boot device? By priority list or device selection menu.

[robijntje]

Just so you know, if there has been anything on that harddrive that your dad doesn't want anyone else to know of then you probably shouldn't sell that hdd. It doesn't matter if you format a hdd, you can still find what information that has been on there. So you may want to consider this before trying to install Windows and then selling it. Because even though most people wouldn't care about trying to recover your dads old files (like pictures and documents etc) it's still a possibility that someone might. So think about this before selling it.

 

EDIT: As for how to install the operating system, I'm not sure but when I had similar problems on an old computer. Instead of booting into the bios on launch, there was an option to launch the boot selector or something like that. This selector basically selected what device to boot from that particular boot. So try starting your computer and looking at the boot screen from your motherboard and seeing what available menus you can look at. You entered the bios using Escape, F10 or something similar. This boot selector (or whatever it's called) will have something similar like F8. I don't know for your particular motherboard and since it's an old one, I don't know if it has one.

 

But anyway, try and look for the boot selector and then see if you can choose the dvd (or maybe even USB if you have one available). That is what I'm guessing.

 

EDIT 2:

 

I looked into it, if you follow this:

 

from lifehacker.com then it should explain what I was trying to above. I think this is the way to go. (Article here)

 

This is probably how it'll look when you enter the menu and you'll just have to choose which ever boot device you want and it'll boot THAT time. Next restart will be the default so remember to do it again if it's necessary during install of windows.

Okay, i'll try this, but I think I already tried, i'll let you know what happened

[robijntje]

Writing to the hard drive multiple times with 1/0 makes the drive data non-recoverable. USAs Gutmans format with 35 passes gets rid of ALL the data and nothing will be able to recover it. In most cases 3-6 passes make it so difficult that no software (available to the public that I know of) will be able to get it back.

okay, i'll first check if I can manage to install windows and if I see that it will work I'll first do the passes and then install windows

[robijntje]

What happens when you just disconnect the drive and try booting?

 

How are you changing the boot device? By priority list or device selection menu.

I changed the boot device in the bios and i think I also did it in the boot menu but that i'm not sure, and how can I install an OS if the hard drive is not connected?

[Guest]

I changed the boot device in the bios and i think I also did it in the boot menu but that i'm not sure, and how can I install an OS if the hard drive is not connected?

Just a diagnostic process Laugh Out Loud, getting it to boot into the installer would be a good start, from there you could reconnect the drive and proceed with the install.

[robijntje]

Just a diagnostic process Laugh Out Loud, getting it to boot into the installer would be a good start, from there you could reconnect the drive and proceed with the install.

Okay, i'll try that first

[robijntje]

Just a diagnostic process Laugh Out Loud, getting it to boot into the installer would be a good start, from there you could reconnect the drive and proceed with the install.

 

 

I know, but a normal format of the hdd will not do anything to it (since free software can easily recover all the data). But if you follow Peter Gutmann's way of securely deleting something of off a hdd then you should probably be fine.

 

 

Writing to the hard drive multiple times with 1/0 makes the drive data non-recoverable. USAs Gutmans format with 35 passes gets rid of ALL the data and nothing will be able to recover it. In most cases 3-6 passes make it so difficult that no software (available to the public that I know of) will be able to get it back.

 

 

Just so you know, if there has been anything on that harddrive that your dad doesn't want anyone else to know of then you probably shouldn't sell that hdd. It doesn't matter if you format a hdd, you can still find what information that has been on there. So you may want to consider this before trying to install Windows and then selling it. Because even though most people wouldn't care about trying to recover your dads old files (like pictures and documents etc) it's still a possibility that someone might. So think about this before selling it.

 

EDIT: As for how to install the operating system, I'm not sure but when I had similar problems on an old computer. Instead of booting into the bios on launch, there was an option to launch the boot selector or something like that. This selector basically selected what device to boot from that particular boot. So try starting your computer and looking at the boot screen from your motherboard and seeing what available menus you can look at. You entered the bios using Escape, F10 or something similar. This boot selector (or whatever it's called) will have something similar like F8. I don't know for your particular motherboard and since it's an old one, I don't know if it has one.

 

But anyway, try and look for the boot selector and then see if you can choose the dvd (or maybe even USB if you have one available). That is what I'm guessing.

 

EDIT 2:

 

I looked into it, if you follow this:

 

from lifehacker.com then it should explain what I was trying to above. I think this is the way to go. (Article here)

 

This is probably how it'll look when you enter the menu and you'll just have to choose which ever boot device you want and it'll boot THAT time. Next restart will be the default so remember to do it again if it's necessary during install of windows.

I'll just do multiquote so all of you can read this, I can enter setup or I can enter AWDFLASH or something.. (floppy disk).. so no external boot menu, i'll try to boot from cd now in bios

 

Edit:

I can choose to boot from:

floppy

ls120

hdd-0

scsi

cdrom

hdd-1

hdd-2

hdd-3

zip-100

LAN

 

Which one should I take to boot from dvd? or is it only possible to boot from cd?

 

Edit 2: fuck this shit, the buyers will have to put their own OS on it, i'm not gonna lie awake all night about this anyway thx for responding