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Every time I try to install it, I open up the boot menu and it tells me which to boot from. The USB Flash Drive appears in the list, but when I press enter, it just blinks a white underscore over a black background in the top left of the screen. This computer doesn't have BIOS. It blinks for around 10 minutes or so, and continuing on forever until the computer just shuts itself down. Can someone help me with this?

I have Windows XP and Linux Mint on it. It's very old.

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  • What operating systems do you have currently have?
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 2:39
  • I have Windows XP and Linux Mint on it. It's very old.
    – gabe zombieskep
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 3:34
  • If you created the installation media to only support UEFI mode then your installation media won't work on your system with Windows XP
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 3:37

3 Answers 3

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That sounds like as if the USB stick isn't properly prepared as a boot medium.
Just copying the ISO file to the stick is not going to work.

You need to use a special utility (like Rufus or UNetBootin) to prepare the stick in the correct way and copy the content of the ISO file to it.

Note that you need to tell the utility to make a MBR compatible boot-medium. Your system is too old to support UEFI boot methods.

Be aware that Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 (even 64-bit) will work on this computer but it will be very slow. (The E2200 Pentium CPU was already a low-end CPU when it was new.)
At least 4 GB RAM will be needed to make it workable (and a SSD is highly recommended).

You may also have issues finding drivers for all hardware components. Windows 7 drivers (if available) will in most cases also work on Windows 8.1, but will most likely not work in Windows 10.

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  • Thank you so much! I will try this.
    – gabe zombieskep
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 14:20
  • Last night I was trying and it wouldn't work with John's solution, and I realized the drive needed to be formatted to NTFS. So I did that and it still wouldn't work. Hopefully your solution will.
    – gabe zombieskep
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 14:24
  • @gabezombieskep The USB stick formatted as NTFS? That won't work AT ALL because your Bios can't read NTFS. NTFS for the setup-medium is only possible if you have a UEFI Bios with native NTFS support or that can load the UEFI NTFS driver. Your old system has neither.
    – Tonny
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 15:10
  • Alright, will exFat work instead? I will format it now.
    – gabe zombieskep
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 15:16
  • I found out that exFat does not work. I'm trying to use fat32 now. It's formatting.
    – gabe zombieskep
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 16:26
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Your computer has BIOS. ALL small computers (personal computers) have BIOS.

Turn on the computer. Now immediately press the Esc key repeatedly until the Startup Menu opens. Press F10 to enter BIOS Setup.

Now in the BIOS Setup:

  1. Look for Secure Boot and disable it if Secure Boot is set on. Depending on the age or make of computer, it may not have Secure Boot, and not to worry if it doesn't

  2. Set the Boot Order for USB at startup .

Now boot with your USB Key.

Once you have set BIOS to what you need, then you need to start with an ISO that is made for your computer.

Good luck getting started.

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  • So I did all your steps. And I try to boot up normally, but it still shows up the flashing underscore and doesn't boot to anything.
    – gabe zombieskep
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 3:05
  • Try a different operating system media meant for your system
    – anon
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 10:00
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    Disablng Secure Boot isn't possible or needed. This thing is old-school Bios all the way.
    – Tonny
    Commented Oct 18, 2020 at 11:01
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Update: So I reformatted the drive to fat32. Then I went to the BIOS settings and changed the priority boot option to an option called SanDisk. I assumed this was the usb stick, because the brand of the stick is SanDisk. Once I loaded it in. It said This is not a bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and press any key to try again . . .

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