Updating 10 year old PC to windows 10

Aodhan5000 · 09-11-2020 12:06AM #1

Hi all,
Uncle looking to get me to upgrade his old emachine ET1850 desktop to windows 10 (it's about 10 years old). I tried just downloading the media creation tool onto the desktop but it kept stopping at 50% progress giving me the error code attached (shocking enough ol' picture but I was rushing). Googled it briefly and tried disabling antivirus with no joy. I'm just wondering is it a bios issue? I made a bootable version of Windows on a usb and I'm thinking of chancing it but could everything go very wrong then if sh*t hits the fan?

Tried finding drivers on emachine website but nothing came up when I typed in the model or serial number. Found some other website that gave a few options, downloaded the tool but apparently I've to pay to use most of it and im pretty sure some of the latest available drivers were from 2013, pre windows 10 days id say. Any advice on where to go from here would be much appreciated. I've considering just sticking in a new A320, APU 8gb of ram and an SSD but I'd say he'd rather I just got the thing working on windows 10.

Any advice on what to do would be much appreciated. Thanks

Edit: Just crossed my mind, might it work if I disconnect the old hard drive, stick in a new SSD and try and install windows to that in case it was that some programs on the hard drive where interfering with install/download? Note I still haven't tried updating it using bootable USB in case something goes wrong. Only problem is I've no spare SSD on hand but I could probably pull out one of my hard drives and try it if ye think it'd work. Cheers

beauf · 09-11-2020 12:41AM

That chipset isn't supported. Intel GMA 4500. /Intel G41 Express Chipset. Even if you get it working the performance will suck.

Personally I just scrap that machine and buy a used one for 50~100. You're wasting your time on that machine.

https://www.adverts.ie/for-sale/computers/desktops/492/q_i5/sortby_price-asc/price_20-150/

Worztron · 09-11-2020 08:19AM

Hi Aodhan. GNU/Linux aka Linux would be a better fit for such an old PC.

wingnut · 09-11-2020 08:23AM

Worztron wrote: »

Hi Aodhan. GNU/Linux aka Linux would be a better fit for such an old PC.

Linux mint or peppermint OS

Worztron · 09-11-2020 08:35AM

wingnut wrote: »

Linux mint or peppermint OS

Hi wingnut. Yes, both good choices for anyone new to Linux. MX Linux is also great. Also, Xubuntu 20.04.

Aodhan5000 · 09-11-2020 08:54AM

Worztron wrote: »

Hi Aodhan. GNU/Linux aka Linux would be a better fit for such an old PC.

I would go Linux but he needs windows 10 for his programs I think. If I just chance the upgrade on it via bootable USB could it **** up everything or would it be grand?

beauf · 09-11-2020 09:02AM

Regardless of OS I'd much prefer to be using a newer by 10 years newer i5 or similar even just browsing the web, than a 20yr old machine. Any sort of modern web browsing or media content will crawl on this hardware. Even office work would be torture. It's like trying to keep a 56k modem alive. Why?

For the sake of €50 not worth it.

Worztron · 09-11-2020 10:51AM

Aodhan5000 wrote: »

I would go Linux but he needs windows 10 for his programs I think. If I just chance the upgrade on it via bootable USB could it **** up everything or would it be grand?

Fair enough. 👍🏻

ED E · 09-11-2020 10:57AM

Aodhan5000 wrote: »

I would go Linux but he needs windows 10 for his programs I think. If I just chance the upgrade on it via bootable USB could it **** up everything or would it be grand?

Fair chance of ending up with a BSOD. Or if the drive is original you may just run through the rest of your reallocations.

A €50 sh1tbox off adverts would be 10x better. Honestly not worth tricking with nor getting done with in its current state.

Aodhan5000 · 09-11-2020 05:26PM

ED E wrote: »

Fair chance of ending up with a BSOD. Or if the drive is original you may just run through the rest of your reallocations.

A €50 sh1tbox off adverts would be 10x better. Honestly not worth tricking with nor getting done with in its current state.

Fair enough, I spose I'll deliver the bad news to him. Reckon I'm better off throwing an AMD Apu yolk together or finding an old gen i5 office pc

beauf · 09-11-2020 06:14PM

To be honest a cheaper regular AMD, and a dedicated basic GFX card is probably good enough and much cheaper.
If you need to game then a regular AMD and a better GFX will run rings around the APU.
A new motherboard gives you faster I/O and the whole machine will feel much better.

Hard to make a argument for the APU on a cost per bang ratio.

Worztron · 09-11-2020 06:17PM

wingnut wrote: »

Linux mint or peppermint OS

Ubuntu MATE 20.04 would also have went well.

Bass Reeves · 21-11-2020 01:55PM

Just for anyone updating a machine from Windows 7- Windows 10. I did it recently to a 10 year old machine that has an early generation I3 processor and plenty of hardrive. I am looking at the feasibility of getting another 3-4 gigs of Ram but that is for another day. It only used for Browsing the web, a bit of scanning and printing and email. It slow to open Chrome but ok after that.

Here's a few tips. Remove any anti Virus programs, I had AVG free and Bitdefender, only one switched on at any one time. I also uninstalled Skype and Revo uninstaller and generally cleaned a load of other programs that I no longer use off it. Before I did this I was getting different errors ( could not create endpoint getting rid of AVG sorted this). Then It progressed further along but still failed on a 08 error cafe I think. It was at that stage I cleaned it down completely. I also ran a registry cleaner at this stage( free version of CC cleaner). It downloaded W10 after that and did the upgrade fairly hassle free. It took 4+ hours to complete the task and I have fiber BroadBand so expect to spend time at it. I reinstalled Bitdefender after.

Just remember to back up important files and photos so as if any disaster happens you still have these.

Updating 10 year old PC to windows 10

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