How can I recover this laptop?

[xlzbx]

Hi, my girlfriends laptop ran into a problem the other day. It will not boot windows and the blue crash screen appears saying BAD SYSTEM CONFIG. The laptop is an IOTA 2320. So the onboard storage is a 32gb ssd which is not enough space even just for windows 10. It tells me this when i try and recover the pc from a usb flash drive. “Unable to recover Windows. The system drive is too small”. So then I went into Command Prompt and tried to format the drive but there was still not enough space (probably a bad idea I know but I was trying anything at this point). In the end I ended up purchasing a 120GB M.2 SSD and installed that to see if it would recover windows with enough space but it keeps saying that the drive was too small. After that I went back into Command Prompt and disabled the 32GB drive and converted the new 120GB to MBR because I already tried it as GPT. I partitioned and labeled it as C: and it still will not work. Can anybody help with this? Thank you!

[Bruce]

we have a few laptops at work with 32GB SSD’s.
a fully updated Win10 with Office installed takes about 22GB.
I think your issue is the stuff already on the drive when you go to install Windows.
during the installation process one of the first screens lets you delete all the current partitions, do that and you’ll have a clean slate to install onto.
another option, now you have a bigger SSD, can you remove the laptops current 32GGB opne and install the 120GB unit?

[xlzbx]

we have a few laptops at work with 32GB SSD’s.
a fully updated Win10 with Office installed takes about 22GB.
I think your issue is the stuff already on the drive when you go to install Windows.
during the installation process one of the first screens lets you delete all the current partitions, do that and you’ll have a clean slate to install onto.
another option, now you have a bigger SSD, can you remove the laptops current 32GGB opne and install the 120GB unit?

I have fully formated the 32gb drive and cleaned it using command prompt so there is nothing on the drive but it still would not install windows. I opened up the laptop and could not find the ssd so thats why I tried disabling it so that the only recognisable drive to install on was the new ssd. Thank you for your reply I can send a picture of the laptops motherboard if you like maybe I missed it?

[Bruce]

ah, the IOTA uses a embedded multimedia card for storage, the precursor to SD cards.
it’ll look something like this;
[ATTACH type=“full” width=“118px”]7024[/ATTACH]
so you won’t find a SSD in there after all.
not sure why it won’t install, 32GB should be fine, just.

try this, don’t use the command prompt, that only deletes the current partition, there will be others.
during the install process, when it shows you all the current partitions on the drive, delete them then.

[xlzbx]

ah, the IOTA uses a embedded multimedia card for storage, the precursor to SD cards.
it’ll look something like this;
[ATTACH type=“full” width=“118px” alt=“1603054796388.png”]7024[/ATTACH]
so you won’t find a SSD in there after all.
not sure why it won’t install, 32GB should be fine, just.

try this, don’t use the command prompt, that only deletes the current partition, there will be others.
during the install process, when it shows you all the current partitions on the drive, delete them then.

It won’t show me any because there is no install process. When I turn on the laptop it will boot from the recovery USB I put in which is fine, I then choose the appropriate language, I click recover from a drive, after this I’ve tried clicking both options (just remove my files/ fully clean the drive) of which none will work, finally it loads a little bit and tells the drive is too small. I just don’t understand how as the USB itself is only 32gb.

P.S Thanks for the info IOTA storage situation.

[Bruce]

what is the version of Windows currently on that PC?

I would be using the Windows Media Creation Tool and making a bootable USB stick from that.
don’t use the Recovery USB as it must do something different from a USB with only a Windows image on it.
I suspect the Recovery USB would have some IOTA based software or bloatware on it and may in fact not be doing a complete fresh install as it wants to keep the current list of partitions on the drive.

the bootable USB with the Windows image will give you the opputunity to remove all existing partitions.

[xlzbx]

what is the version of Windows currently on that PC?

I would be using the Windows Media Creation Tool and making a bootable USB stick from that.
don’t use the Recovery USB as it must do something different from a USB with only a Windows image on it.
I suspect the Recovery USB would have some IOTA based software or bloatware on it and may in fact not be doing a complete fresh install as it wants to keep the current list of partitions on the drive.

the bootable USB with the Windows image will give you the opputunity to remove all existing partitions.

I don’t know the version of Windows that was on it the laptop as it won’t boot, I know that my girlfriend had to purchase the 32gb usb stick because it would not update the latest windows updates due to low capacity. I had to create the windows recovery files from my own desktop pc which had the latest Windows updates on. I will have a look at the windows media creation option though.

[Bruce]

looks like those IOTA shipped with Win8.
so it’s either that or you took the free upgrade offer to Win10.
either way, create the Win10 bootable USB stick image and install that, during installation, after you delete all the existing partitions, one of the other screens will say “enter your Windows Product Key”, select “I don’t have one” to allow the install to continue.
when it’s all done and the laptop is back on the web, one of the first things it’ll do automatically is activate itself.
your digital license will already be recorded on the MS servers.

[xlzbx]

I downloaded the media creation tool and installed a fresh version of windows and its done the job, thank you so much for your help! :giggle:

[Bruce]

glad to help.
but yeah, you’re always going to have space issues with only 32GB.
I’d get a big SD card or an external USB drive and always have them connected.
be aware, if USB external drive, make it a solid state drive, not for speed although it will be, but for mobility.
external HDD’s don’t like knocks and bumps, SSD’s are immune.

[xlzbx]

glad to help.
but yeah, you’re always going to have space issues with only 32GB.
I’d get a big SD card or an external USB drive and always have them connected.
be aware, if USB external drive, make it a solid state drive, not for speed although it will be, but for mobility.
external HDD’s don’t like knocks and bumps, SSD’s are immune.

Good to know thank you!