New Laptop

Tez77

Enthusiast
Hi got a new laptop for family member they had windows 7 for there old computer that never went on it when i got the laptop i asked for no os but i no u put a os on anyway and u have to put key in.My Question is how do i get to the boot menu in the book says tap F8 no look there and if u try the disk when u are on windows 8 u cant change partions seems to be loads on the drive.Just need clean drive nothing on it ready for windows 7 done this on many pc over years but finding the F key part hard
 

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
I don't use windows 8 myself (and I'm assuming that's what is installed currently). But if you want to get into the bios/boot menu apparently you can follow the few steps in this handy vid

[video=youtube;IqkCS0sRz5c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IqkCS0sRz5c[/video]

Cutting a long story short however, if you press restart whilst holding shift, it should allow you to get into the boot menu
 

dogbot

Bright Spark
If you asked PCS for no OS then presumably you do not have a serial number for the installed W8 (no sticker on the PC). If so, then the W8 is of no use to you.

When you install W7, choose custom. When you get to where you select which drive to install on, select the drive and in advanced elect to format the drive. Carry on and you should have a clean install. That's how I remember it anyway.
 

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
I agree with dogbot.
Detailed instructions on how to do a clean install are given in the welcome booklet.
 

Tez77

Enthusiast
Thanks for info the booklet says pop windows 7 in drive then tap F8 this is for boot menu this is the prob i am having just dont seem to work goes to loading win 8
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
My Optimus IV was ordered sans OS, it also came with an copy of Windows 8 for which of course I had no key. I had a legal copy of Windows 8 that I wished to install - a similar process to yourself Tez77.

The boot menu of course allows you to boot the DVD drive before the hard disk and that's a BIOS function which might vary from laptop to laptop (or rather from BIOS to BIOS) so the PCS booklet might not be accurate there.

When you boot the laptop from cold the very first screen you see, one that typically advertises the BIOS manufacturer or whatever (mine says StyleNote), will have one or more function key options listed on the screen (usually at the bottom). One of these will be to enter the BIOS setup (often, but not always, F2) and there may be another for boot options (mine is F7). That's the function key you need to press, and you don't have long, seconds only, about as long as the BIOS advert is on screen. So keep pressing that function key repeatedly (about twice a second is good) as soon as the thing boots and until you see the boot options displayed. If you don't have a boot options function key then press the function key to enter the BIOS setup (F2?) and then in the BIOS setup navigate to the boot options page and change the boot order so that the DVD boots before the hard disk. Exit setup saving the changes and reboot, the Windows 7 install DVD will now boot.

Once you have the Windows 7 setup running I would suggest that you choose custom install. Delete all the current partitions on the disk so that all the space shows as unallocated. Then create one partition which is the size of the whole disk. Windows 7 setup will automatically create an additional (very small and hidden) partition and this is required by Windows. So you'll have two partitions, the automatically created small one and the huge one you created. Do nothing at all to the smaller one but do format the larger one. Install Windows into the larger, formatted, partition.

I hope that helps? :)
 
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Tez77

Enthusiast
ubuysa u are a bright spark lol thanks alot worked checked start up in bios disabled win 8 and clicked on other os then del all partitions and installed win 7 great thanks very much
 
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