Machine ran fine (windows 7) before wiping the hard drives. Thing is, I couldn’t access the boot menu to install a new OS via thumbdrive because the display cuts out when I get there, and I’m 1000% sure HP did this on purpose because I’ve seen other people experience the same issue in forums and videos even after verifying each individual component worked and that the setup screen still functions. I theorize whats happening is the boot menu is running normally but they have it cut the feed so that only trained HP employees know what buttons to press in what order. Ctrl Alt Delete during this phase restarts the machine, and accessing boot menu before wiping then pressing enter booted like normal.

(one of the damn things are locked up like Alcatraz btw, rivets in the case, had to wire it to another computer while leaving it in the original bracket)

But after installing Windows 10 LTSC onto the drive it still doesnt finish booting, and with no display output it’s hard to know whats going on.

I could try some Linux distros with compatibility in mind if I get any suggestions.

Whats next to try?

UPDATE 7 OCT

Things I’ve tried so far:

  1. install linux mint from USB

Result: Failure/No Response

Cause: Unknown

  1. Installed a bootable linux mint to an EFI drive partition on the hard drive using a second computer then installed that drive on the machine in question.

Result: Failure to boot

Cause: Unknown

  1. Burn a Hirens BootCD and use Plop Boot Manager to make bootable USB usable and potentially enable some graphics

Results: Pending, I didnt have any CDs/DVDs large enough to burn Hirens

Here are some Images of the BIOS Setup screen at default values except for Diagnostics and boot priority.

Notice the USB drive is listed alongside the unallocated hard drives.

UPDATE 7 OCT #2:

Walked away for a snack and came back to this big beautiful screen!

Now clearly it has managed to get past the boot menu to Linux Mint. Mouse is responsive.

This is a very unsatisfying conclusion, because I do not know why it works now but did not work before. I don’t understand.

UPDATE 7 OCT #3:

PS This machine appears to be 32 bit only, despite the 64 in the processor’s name, so the mainline Ubuntu distros don’t support it, but I was able to get an MX XFCE running.

  • SpikesOtherDog@ani.socialEnglish
    3·
    5 days ago

    If you get stuck, reply to this comment with pics of your bios settings screens. I HAVE put Linux on a couple pavilion machines, and the bios screens are sometimes a bit tricky.

    Conversely, you can mount the drive in a different machine and use virtual box to install Linux. You can then move the drive to the HP. I had to do this once with a Dell that was slowly failing and the USB ports stopped working.

  • SpikesOtherDog@ani.socialEnglish
    2·
    5 days ago

    It might not support secure but at all, which makes sense and isn’t necessary for Linux anyway.

    Also, according to some posts, you may need to format your USB as MBR instead of GPT. Rufus has a drop down and Ventoy hides it in a menu

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      5 days ago

      Conversely, it might be using Secure Boot without presenting the option, which could prevent a Linux install or other OS changes.

      It’s hard to say judging by the lack of visuals but I’m operating under the assumption that there is no boot from USB support, and I have tried with MBR as this machine predates the widespread adoption of UEFI.

  • NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.comEnglish
    2·
    5 days ago

    Yeah I experienced a lot of stuff that made me feel like HP really doesn’t want people installing another OS on their machines, as far back as the Windows 8 days, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some foolishness at play here. Weird stuff like not letting you properly boot from a USB drive.

    Have you tried connecting to an external monitor or TV using HDMI or VGA? Have you looked up your specific model number and seen what buttons to press to bring up this menu? I’ve had success there before on this.

    With Windows 10 installed, you can search for “UEFI” or “BIOS” and it will bring up an option that will aid you in booting to the UEFI/BIOS from Windows. That may be something to try here too and see if that gets the computer to boot into it and then you can possibly make changes to either make the system wait a few more seconds or show you the screen for the actual buttons to press for a future occurrence.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      5 days ago

      It’s already connected via VGA from the motherboard (this device has a card in the PCIE slot that I’m not even going to bother with). This is a desktop not a laptop, as are all the m8000s, all peripherals are external.

      Right now I’m trying to install Linux Mint onto the HDD then plugging it back into the machine, if that fails I will try to make a Hirens BootCD and then see what I can do from there (it has a CD Drive, and as you mentioned probably doesn’t support booting from Thumbdrive).

  • SpikesOtherDog@ani.socialEnglish
    1·
    5 days ago

    Check the bios settings to see if it is set to boot Windows or other.

    Also, there is a chance that you can change the boot order in bios. You might need to change the targeted hard drive to the flash drive.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      5 days ago

      First thing I tried. It doesn’t even officially have a setting for secure boot. I’ll post some pictures the next time I work on it but I’m just about out of options until I can pick up some CDs that Hirens will fit on.