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Long time ago we bought Modecom FreePC with win10 on it. Upon first boot it asked which version of the Windows to use (32 or 64bit). Unfortunately I was not there for the initial boot and the person setting it up chose 32bit.

How to reinstall Windows in 64bit version on it?

My journey so far:

I flashed fresh windows 11 installer, just to try it out. Chances were slim because it is in fact old stick. I turned it on and it went to desktop. During POST or equivalent, there was no text saying press F2 to enter BIOS. I tried anyway, F2 F8 del etc... No dice

Then I tried starting setup.exe - this at least said its not compatible.

Then I tried Windows settings > reset > troubleshoot > restart to bios/uefi. Went straight to desktop. So that's why I am thinking that BIOS access may be blocked.

The stick has sd card and I'm now flashing the card with win10 64bit hoping that the card is on boot order list and it can boot from there.

All the manuals I found so far are more like data sheets. No instructions on how to for example enter the BIOS.

EDIT: I was able to get into BIOS by spamming esc - there seem to be 1s delay before it shows anything on screen. I still can't boot any usb stick with win10 installation - screen flashes black and stays in BIOS

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  • Have you tried entering BIOS/UEFI setup yet? If yes, what exactly did you try? I very much doubt it’s impossible to get it. It’s still a regular PC.
    – Daniel B
    Commented Apr 27 at 13:44
  • You can access the firmware from Windows if you don't know any other way. The usual ESC or DEL should work though.
    – ChanganAuto
    Commented Apr 27 at 13:50
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    @harrymc The OP knows how to install Windows, their question is about how to access UEFI in order to set the boot order. The manual is multi-lingual AND includes English. But it doesn't support Windows 11, its Intel Atom is more than 8 years old!!
    – ChanganAuto
    Commented Apr 27 at 13:53
  • @DanielB The fact it is a PC Compute stick makes it exactly no regular PC :) There are compute sticks so locked down it is impossible. I updated the question
    – Mike
    Commented Apr 27 at 14:06
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    @harrymc The question title is unfortunate, there's no way to convert, but the OP has the correct idea right there in the 2nd paragraph. You were the one mentioning Windows 11 and irrelevant and wrong details about the manual. This is textbook definition of gaslighting.
    – ChanganAuto
    Commented Apr 27 at 14:07

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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To get to the BIOS

Use wired keyboard, hold esc then turn on the stick.

In the BIOS select bootable media. Make sure to flash compatible Windows version.

Unfortunately the CPU found on the stick does not support 64bit Windows according to this link. The NX and PrefetchW are required to run 64bit version, and the later can't be bypassed.

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  • Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
    – Community Bot
    Commented Apr 27 at 15:25
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    So that's the reason why similar hardware ("Bay Trail") were sold with 32bit Windows preinstalled... With Linux is the other way around, apparently you need 64bit OSes albeit with an additional 32bit bootloader (it may or may not still be required with current Linuxes). Bay Trail is weird, to say the least, always was. There were many problems with Linux back in the day. Now maybe things are better, i.e., better hardware support.
    – ChanganAuto
    Commented Apr 27 at 15:56

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