Help, what is wrong with the PC

yorkshirecath

My son has messed about with his computer.
Tried to wipe it and the result is this. He says he's wiped windows but we don't have a disk to reinstall it. He then tried to download windows onto a USB and install it
We now have this screen. If I try and exit without saving changes(I haven't changed anything) it just comes back on. Is it a computer shop job?
Thanks

Greg Hook

That's the BIOS screen.

Is there an option to boot from USB?

noiseboy72

Scroll along to Boot and select USB. This will allow it to boot from the USB.

Might be worth checking if it has a recovery partition, as you will need all the drivers etc. as well as the windows operating system itself.

yorkshirecath

If he boots from the USB he gets this message....                                                                       

EndlessWaves

Delete the two partitions in the picture first (assuming there's nothing on there which isn't backed up, but with most of the space unallocated it looks like it's been wiped once already).

yorkshirecath

Just says there isn't a partition ?

DavidG1

try formatting the unallocated space or new and then format the unallocated space and then continue with the install

John7

Is this a shop bought PC that had Windows installed on it? Does it have a sticker on it with the Windows registration key. If so, you don't want to format the HDD - you need to run system recovery I think.

Not an expert on OEM recovery, perhaps others can advise.

EndlessWaves

It's generally all up for download these days, should you wish to restore the manufacturer junkware.

No need to worry about recovery partitions unless it's a PC with lots of custom hardware.

That's normal and you should be able to run setup with the disk like that.

The message underneath is more interesting, I'm not sure what would cause that. Have you looked at the setup log files? I'm assuming they're on the install USB stick.

DavidG1

Your son may have changed the order of the of the SATA cables connecting the drive to the motherboard. Some motherboards are fussy about which SATA port the boot drive is connected to, it may be worth checking that the drive is connected to the SATA 0 port (or SATA 1 port if there isn't a SATA 0) and check the setup of SATA ports in the BIOS - the drive should be listed being connected to the SATA port