[G-bo]

Hi folks,hope i'm posting in the proper place.Firstly I am not familiar with Zorin at all and I would like to put windows 7 on this laptop that was given me.I can get into bios by pressing f2 on startup then I set the boot menu to the dvd but it will not boot from disc.Instead it will eventually go into Zorin.I cannot see what I could be doing wrong.the laptop is an "emachine E442-V634".You likely need more info than that so please let me know,I have been at this for hours and cannot for the life of me figure whats up with this(maybe something to do with the strange os that's on it?).thank you,cheers.

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Look on the Main page.  There is an option for SATA Mode.  Try toggling it to the other option then Save and Exit.

 

https://www.manualsl...?page=37#manual

[RKinner]

Look on the Main page.  There is an option for SATA Mode.  Try toggling it to the other option then Save and Exit.

 

https://www.manualsl...?page=37#manual

[G-bo]

hi, thanks I tried that but unfortunately it always ends up on zorin(tho it took longer)If you have any other suggestions I would be glad to hear them.Have to run out now for a couple hours but will play with it again when I get back,thanks.

[RKinner]

Can you try Hiren's?

 

See if the older version will boot:

 

https://www.hirensbo...g/old-versions/

 

maybe put it on a USB drive if the CD doesn't work.

[G-bo]

hi,I have no idea what that is linked to me ...is that some sort of windows boot cd?I did find an advanced settings menu when zorin boots up and it has some interesting options on it they are;

resume........................................resume normal boot

clean...........................................try to make free space

dpkg............................................repair broken packages

failsafex.......................................run in failsafe graphic mode

fsck.............................................check all file systems

grub............................................update grub bootloader

network.......................................enable networking

root.............................................drop to root shell prompt

system-summary.........................system summary

do any of these options sound helpful?if not I will have to try to make a bootable flash drive,thanks.

[G-bo]

I have downloaded hirens boot cd from the link you sent me.Should I burn the iso image to a dvd?

I am pretty sure the zorin os is a mess tho,I tried to go to the cd drive just to see if it would but it said something like path not found.

Not much else seems to be working either but it does boot up to the desktop.getting late here will burn the iso image tomorrow.Not sure what to do with it then tho.thanks. 

[RKinner]

Hiren's is a bootable CD or USB.  Has a mini windows on it and a lot of useful software. 

The older version uses the MBR which is what an old PC like yours would use. 

Idea was just to see if it would work.

 

I have seen people say you need to delete all existing partitions before trying to load win 7.  They suggested using gparted which is a free boot from CD or USB you can download.

https://gparted.org/

Gparted is also available on Hiren's.

[G-bo]

hi RKinner,thanks for all you're help .No good news so far I'm afraid.I burned the iso image of the hirens boot disc.Put it in but can't boot to it.Now it will only go to the desktop once in awhile.

Even when it is on desktop it won't do anything(even the simplest functions)tried to look at the dvd once i was on desktop and it says path not found (sometimes).I am starting to think that they deleted

everything they could off the hard drive and the system before giving it to me which is fine but wondering if they may have damaged the system and the bios or something.

tomorrow i will burn "gparted" and see if I have any luck running that but I kind of doubt it.Seems like the os is in pretty rough shape,thanks.

[RKinner]

I think Grub is probably interfering with the boot.  I found a manual on Grub:

https://www.gnu.org/...tml#chainloader

 

Perhaps if you removed the Hard drive, connected it to another PC with a USB to SATA or IDE adapter then wiped its mbr you could get rid of Grub.  May also need to reset the BIOS to default.

 

I haven't worked with Grub and haven't used any version of Linux in about 16 years so I'm not the best resource.

Most of the guys on this forum are Windows people.  You might want to find a dedicated Linux forum.

[G-bo]

hi ,not sure why but it decided to boot to usb today and I managed to put windows 7 on it.I cannot get it to connect to the internet yet tho(I've taken the internet connection from my desktop and plugged it into the laptop)thought that would work but likely needs a driver or something maybe?Anyways I should be able to get it sorted from here as the heavy lifting is done .

Thank you very much for your help and your time,it is much appreciated,cheers,Glen.

[RKinner]

Probably needs several drivers but the Network Adapter has to come first.

 

See if you can get the Broadcom LAN driver  from

https://www.emachine...nt/drivers.html

You will have to download on another PC and put it on a USB drive.

 

It's zipped up so you will have to right click and Extract All, Extract.  There doesn't seem to be a setup.exe so I would try right clicking on OEMSetup.inf and install.

 

If that doesn't help then:

Right click on Computer and select Manage

Click on Device Manager

 

Right click on Computer and select Manage and then Device Manager then View, Show Hidden Devices.  
Now look in the right pane for yellow flagged devices.  Right click on one and select properties then click on the Details tab.  
Change Property to Hardware IDs.  Click on the top one then right click and copy.  Paste that into a reply.  Repeat for all yellow flagged devices.

[G-bo]

hello thanks for the link to the drivers .I only have 1 "yellow flag" in device manager.

 

PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_1692&SUBSYS_04891025&REV_01

[RKinner]

That's the Broadcom Network Adapter.

I found a Dell driver for it.

 

https://dl.dell.com/...ork/R282233.exe

 

It should work for you if you loaded the 64 bit version of Win 7.  Download and save it then move it to your PC.

Right click on it and Run As ADmin.  It will unpack itself into a folder somewhere.  There is a Setup.exe file which you can right click and Run As Admin.

[G-bo]

thanks for that link...worked like a charm.All good now

And thanks for all the help wouldn't have got it done without ya,take care and stay safe,Cheers,Glen.