Switching OS

[Geministar]

Hi,

I recently was given an IBM Thinkcentre M50 - OS Windows XP Professional - Intel Celeron 3.06GHz. (I was told the previous owner was a school district). anywhoo.. After windows starts up, I have to click the ctrl, alt, delete to get windows started - then I'm prompted for a username and password.

I've been trying to change the OS to Windows 7 ultimate, which I have on disc so that I can get around this password crap, but I don't know what's wrong - I've gone into setup utility and changed the startup sequence - the option I have in there is USB CDROM - I don't know if that's the same thing as booting from a cd, but it doesn't work and doesn't read the cd and it restarts and sends me back to the password page. I know I'm sort of a noob at this, but some help would be nice!

Thanks!

 

[mike1959]

When you are in the BIOS, and the 'Boot sequence/order', do you have any other options to choose from? You might see something like, 1st, On-board IDE/SATA, 2nd, CD/DVD ROM. To install your new Windows 7, you need to have the order, 1st, CD/DVD ROM drive. But as the PC came from a school, maybe, the admin may have removed the options from view. In that case you need to reset the BIOS. You might see an option in the BIOS to do that, if not, switch off, pull the mains plug from the mains power. Look on the motherboard near the silver battery, for a small (3mm) jumper. It joins 2 pins together, 1 is empty. Pull the jumper up, put it back on the middle pin and the empty one, then put it back where it was. Power up the PC again, go back into the BIOS (F2?) and set the 'Boot order' to 1st, CD/DVD. Put Windows 7 disk in, restart PC and follow the usual instructions. (If you are unsure about the jumper and pins, take the silver battery out for a couple of mins, then replace, It has the same effect.) Once Windows is installed, you can swap the 'Boot order' back, to '1st Onboard IDE/SATA'. Hope that helps.

 

[Geministar]

Thanks Mike, I'm looking at the BIOS Startup sequence as I type this, the other options are:

USB CDROM
IDE CD: TSSTcorp CD-ROM TS-H192C
PCI BEV: IBA GE Slot 0200 v1228
IDE HDD: ST340212AS-(P1)
USB HDD
USB FDC
USB KEY
PCI SCSI

I also took a look at the motherboard where you mentioned, and there is nothing by the battery that is plugged into something, I see the pins, but nothing covers it. I will take a picture and add it here if I can.

 

[mike1959]

Boot sequence problem

Ok I see the current boot order you have. That's a lot of options. But the only two you need to get in order, are, 1) IDE CD:TSSTcorpCDROMTSH192C
2) IDE HDD:ST340212AS If I've read it right, that is the order to install your Windows OS. When you have it installed, you can swap those two around, or leave them as they are, just leave the CD drive empty when you switch off.
If you CAN move these options around in the BIOS, then the other info I gave can be IGNORED. * I have used a few PC's where the previous user had blocked the 'User' from making changes, as you want to, and I was trying to undo some of the problems that may be stopping you installing Win7. After you have got the boot order as above, you usually need to press F11 to 'save & exit'. (The BIOS 'reset' pins I mentioned, are near the battery, 3 pins about 5mm across 1st to 3rd, and a joiner or jumper plugged over 2 of them, By moving the jumper onto the other 2, it puts the BIOS back to factory settings. But you need to move it back straight away.)
Hope this all makes sense, easy to do, hard to describe.

 

[Geministar]

Hi Mike,

I put the settings in order as you suggested, still nothing. I opened up again and looked for the pins again - still don't know which jumper it could be - I read the other ones but they're for the fans - there is another one though, for sata 1 - 4. I've taken some pics of the motherboard if that would help - I'm not entirely sure of the model but it is a Thinkcentre motherboard.

I can give you more info of the setup utility if that would help - I don't know exactly what would help though.

On the main tab it says that I'm wondering about - Boot Block Revision Level 2E37A if that might have something to do with my troubles?

Thank you so much for helping me =D

the pictures

 

[mike1959]

Installing Win7

Ok. Couple of other thoughts. Your 1st device must be a DVD drive, is it possible your 'IDE CD' is CD only? (ie won't read DVD's). Windows 7 is supplied on a DVD.
So you only need to replace your CD drive with a DVD one. ( Or use an external DVD drive in a USB socket.) The BIOS 'reset' header, is just the 5mm high pins on the motherboard, no wires attached. There will be a plastic covered jumper (black or yellow on mine), size about 3mm wide, 4mm tall. The size of this text, III . The jumper joins 2 of them, all you do is lift it off, make it join the 'other' 2 pins, then put it back on the first 2, as you started. Do any mods like this with the mains lead out of the wall, not just switched off at the wall. The 3 pins are normally very close or next to the CMOS 'Coin' battery. OK?

 

[ruready2]

Ok. Couple of other thoughts. Your 1st device must be a DVD drive, is it possible your 'IDE CD' is CD only? (ie won't read DVD's). Windows 7 is supplied on a DVD.

Good answer Mike. That would be my guess as well. The SSTcorp CD-ROM TS-H192C is a Samsung CD-ROM device only. It will not read a DVD.

 

[mike1959]

Windows 7 & install problem

I saw the photos this morning, Fri 24. You're right, you don't have the reset 3-pin header, so in that case you could pull the battery out, and put it back after 10 minutes. BUT I don't think you need to now ! All PC's I have owned have had that feature. You can understand why PC's that are used in schools and public places, are set-up so that the user can't get in and modify settings. So now, all you have to do is buy or swap a DVD drive for your CD, and I don't see why it would not install. Windows 7 is not as 'taxing' on the a PC's hardware as was Vista, 1GB of ram is ok, 2GB is more than enough. I have used Win7 as an upgrade on Vista for almost a year, on a very ordinary Dell 3.2Ghz P4, so far not a single problem. Have taken a picture of the 'reset' pins, so that you would spot it on a different PC. Hope it all works out.

 

[gbhall]

Just a relevant point for anyone else tempted to 'reset the bios'. Some of those settings are important !!! Before you reset Go into every page of the bios and carefully note the settings...after reset you will need to carefully check every one again and if necessary, put it back to how it was. Failure to do this could make your PC unstable, or at worst, unusable.