Windows 10 does not like old hardware

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Executioner
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Windows 10 does not like old hardware

Post by Executioner »

I have an old Asus P5K-E with wifi mobo that is +10 years old. I had it saved in a box. I installed windows 10 pro as a fresh install, version 1909 with no issues. I then gave the setup to my father-in-law in September. The system already has thrown 2 blue screens during updates, and another blue screen while browsing on youtube. It will not install the November and December updates. They both error out. A repair did not work either. Hard drive SSD checks out fine with no issues reported.

I did a restore to a previous time about 2 weeks back, and I tried to install 2004 version that was just released. After a reboot, it will not take that version either. So finally I got tired of trying to fix it and just installed windows 7.
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FlyingPenguin
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Re: Windows 10 does not like old hardware

Post by FlyingPenguin »

That's Core 2 era. Probably too old to get proper CPU and mobo support. Microsoft is sun setting support for old hardware. I'm surprised you didn't get an "unsupported Hardware" message when you tried to install it.

There's actually features missing from those older processors that are required for Win10.

Win 8.1 should run fine on it, and still has another 2 years before it's end of support.

If you stick with Win7, use a modern browser, lock it down with the CSS Exfil addon, and a good ad blocker like uBlock Origin, and make sure that it has AV installed. MS is still supporting Security Essentials in Windows 7.

Also consider installing Ubuntu Linux on it if all he's using it for is web browsing.
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Executioner
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Re: Windows 10 does not like old hardware

Post by Executioner »

Well I have 7 home installed and we will see if it still has problems. If it crashes, then it's a hardware issue with the mobo. I got another uses one coming. It's a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H (rev. 1.1). It will come with an i5 cpu and 8 gigs of ram, and a 250 gig SSD.

with that said, I'm looking at getting this wifi card with external antenna: https://www.amazon.com/Pce-AX58BT-Next- ... cs&sr=1-31

If 7 ends up working with no issues, the I will be installing Eset Internet Security and Malwarebytes Pro.
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Executioner
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Re: Windows 10 does not like old hardware

Post by Executioner »

Guess what? Stupid me - when you get blue screens, it's a good hunch that its the ram. Sure enough - I ran memtest and 2 of the 4 sticks were bad with LOTS of errors. That is what I get for buying cheap ram.
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