Wont let me install windows

[moogler]

I recently got a pc as a gift from a friend. He formatted the hdd before giving me it and now it wont let me install windows. I can go into bios and change things but for some reason sometimes when it powers on it goes into DOS and says:
Bad command or filename display
Bad command or filename mode
Bad command or filename mode
Bad command or filename keyb

Or

Please install a device or drive with an OS

I have absolutely no idea on how to fix this issue.

Edit: Before going onto to display the bad command errors it asks me to pick the language for my keyboard.
The specs are:
Amd a8 6600k
16gb ddr3
1050ti
Some 500w psu
500gb seagate hdd
Some case
The bios seem to be kinda up to date and kinda not the bios date is 22/04/2015 and the version is FB.

 

[Dugimodo]

Sounds like you are still trying to boot from the hard drive, you want to be booting from a USB flash drive or a DVD rom drive with a windows install disk in it.
You might need to change the boot order in the BIOS so that it picks one of these devices first.

Seems like it's partially booting from something at least, keyboard language settings are not a normal part of startup. Maybe he didn't wipe it completely.

 

[BadAsAl]

Previous poster kinda covered what I was saying.

 

[moogler]

Sounds like you are still trying to boot from the hard drive, you want to be booting from a USB flash drive or a DVD rom drive with a windows install disk in it.
You might need to change the boot order in the BIOS so that it picks one of these devices first.

Seems like it's partially booting from something at least, keyboard language settings are not a normal part of startup. Maybe he didn't wipe it completely.

Im pretty sure I changed it, I changed the boot priority from the hdd to the usb and i still get the same. I've tried only having the hdd installed and the usb installed. I get the same message everytime.

 

[Dugimodo]

For some BIOSes you can press a key to get a boot menu during early startup - or force a boot from a particular device on next startup from within the BIOS somewhere. See if you can do that and find your install media from the list.

What are you using to install from and are you sure it works?

 

[moogler]

For some BIOSes you can press a key to get a boot menu during early startup - or force a boot from a particular device on next startup from within the BIOS somewhere. See if you can do that and find your install media from the list.

What are you using to install from and are you sure it works?

Im using a USB stick that I've used countless times to install win10

 

[LinuxDevice]

Try creating a bootable memtest86 system using whatever device type you are installing from (e.g., use a thumb drive if this is what you install from...burn a DVD if this is what you install from). See if this alternate media will boot. Try with no hard drive attached at all if this fails. FYI, this is a test to offer clues and not intended as a solution.

 

[moogler]

I dont know if this matters but it wont let even select the hdd as a boot option but shows up in bios

 

[LinuxDevice]

I dont know if this matters but it wont let even select the hdd as a boot option but shows up in bios

If the drive shows up in BIOS, but isn't selectable as a boot option, can you remove other boot options and see if this drive then becomes available? If not, then perhaps it isn't formatted in such a way that it is believed to be a bootable device. One example would be that sometimes a UEFI system adds a "protective MBR" to cause a legacy BIOS system to not think the device is unused...this protects against legacy systems formatting UEFI disks out of sheer ignorance. This also can stop legacy software from thinking the drive is bootable.

When this happens to me I use "dd" on Linux to overwrite the start of the disk with NULL bytes (it removes the protective MBR). Doing so won't hurt a disk if you don't have any data on it to worry about. However, I'm not sure how you would go about doing that on Windows. On the other hand, if you have a BIOS setting for "purely UEFI" or "purely legacy BIOS", you might try both and see if one of them sees the disk as bootable. Be warned that if the disk is UEFI format and the BIOS is set to pure UEFI mode, then it still won't believe the disk is bootable if the UEFI disk doesn't have the right boot content.

 

[moogler]

I dont know if this matters but it wont let even select the hdd as a boot option but shows up in bios

If the drive shows up in BIOS, but isn't selectable as a boot option, can you remove other boot options and see if this drive then becomes available? If not, then perhaps it isn't formatted in such a way that it is believed to be a bootable device. One example would be that sometimes a UEFI system adds a "protective MBR" to cause a legacy BIOS system to not think the device is unused...this protects against legacy systems formatting UEFI disks out of sheer ignorance. This also can stop legacy software from thinking the drive is bootable.

When this happens to me I use "dd" on Linux to overwrite the start of the disk with NULL bytes (it removes the protective MBR). Doing so won't hurt a disk if you don't have any data on it to worry about. However, I'm not sure how you would go about doing that on Windows. On the other hand, if you have a BIOS setting for "purely UEFI" or "purely legacy BIOS", you might try both and see if one of them sees the disk as bootable. Be warned that if the disk is UEFI format and the BIOS is set to pure UEFI mode, then it still won't believe the disk is bootable if the UEFI disk doesn't have the right boot content.

Ive tried changing it from legacy and UEFI but that didnt work either :/

 

[LinuxDevice]

I dont know if this matters but it wont let even select the hdd as a boot option but shows up in bios

If the drive shows up in BIOS, but isn't selectable as a boot option, can you remove other boot options and see if this drive then becomes available? If not, then perhaps it isn't formatted in such a way that it is believed to be a bootable device. One example would be that sometimes a UEFI system adds a "protective MBR" to cause a legacy BIOS system to not think the device is unused...this protects against legacy systems formatting UEFI disks out of sheer ignorance. This also can stop legacy software from thinking the drive is bootable.

When this happens to me I use "dd" on Linux to overwrite the start of the disk with NULL bytes (it removes the protective MBR). Doing so won't hurt a disk if you don't have any data on it to worry about. However, I'm not sure how you would go about doing that on Windows. On the other hand, if you have a BIOS setting for "purely UEFI" or "purely legacy BIOS", you might try both and see if one of them sees the disk as bootable. Be warned that if the disk is UEFI format and the BIOS is set to pure UEFI mode, then it still won't believe the disk is bootable if the UEFI disk doesn't have the right boot content.

Ive tried changing it from legacy and UEFI but that didnt work either :/

Are you familiar with Linux? Can you boot on a live DVD of some sort?

 

[karenjoly]

What is odd is the machine appears to load MS-DOS and then complains about a misspelled command all on its own. So the obvious conclusion to draw is that the previous owner did not format the drive and has left DOS installed . A true skeptic would consider a bootable anti virus application as well.

 

[Colif]

what motherboard is it?
No m.2 drives on motherboard over riding the install process?
No card readers with an sdcard in them?

that asking for language thing is an anomaly

are there any unexpected drives in the boot process? it won't let HDD into list, what does show? what is at the top?

could try running dban to wipe drive as then you won't get those warnings at boot, well, apart from the one asking for a boot device as at that stage, you will only have a blank drive - https://dban.org/

 

[moogler]

what motherboard is it?
No m.2 drives on motherboard over riding the install process?
No card readers with an sdcard in them?

that asking for language thing is an anomaly

are there any unexpected drives in the boot process? it won't let HDD into list, what does show? what is at the top?

could try running dban to wipe drive as then you won't get those warnings at boot, well, apart from the one asking for a boot device as at that stage, you will only have a blank drive - https://dban.org/

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-HD2, There is no m.2 drives installed in the only drive installed the HDD and the USB I am trying to use to install windows from, No card readers with an SD card in them either, It's weird the HDD does show up in BIOS as being connected to the motherboard now but will not let me select it as a boot option I've tried different SATA cables and different ports I managed to get another HDD that I know works but when I connect that to the motherboard the same stuff happens even though the HDD has win 7 installed on it.The PC worked fine running windows 10 before he decided to give me it.

 

[Dugimodo]

Sometimes there are two boot orders to set, one for choosing hard drive, usb, optical etc, and another for choosing the priority or order of the hard drives. E.G. you set the second boot option for hdd (say) then you choose the order any hard drives boot in. Depending how it's formatted the usb drive might be in the hard drive list, and sometimes drives are in the list twice and you may need to try both.

Also it may be worth looking to disable secure boot if it's enabled and enabling legacy boot if it's an option.

What I'm getting at here is I don't think you have managed to tell it to boot from USB first effectively yet. Have the USB drive connected before you go into the BIOS so it appears on the boot options.

 

[Colif]

So you get

Bad command or filename display
Bad command or filename mode
Bad command or filename mode
Bad command or filename keyb

even with a different hdd attached?

I am not sure if that is DOS or if its the BIOS itself. those commands are used in conjunction with updating bios, i can see some signs that you could boot into dos to run updates on some Gigabyte boards. Your board has dual bios so there are 2 bios on your PC but one is never used, it is meant to replace the normal bios on a restart if it recognises current one is corrupt, it restarts PC and copies itself onto normal one. Maybe those commands are the result of the 2nd one not being able to flash 1st. (just guessing)

Have you tried resetting defaults in bios? Perhaps you need to go to motherboard web site and get the latest bios for motherboard and flash it, see if that helps. This will help: https://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/121/tech_qflash.htm

You only have 3 bios to choose from and last is a Beta so perhaps flash F2