Just a quick note on another Windows 10 Technical Preview installation I did recently. I finally managed to replace 80 Gb Western Digital HDD in old Dell OptiPlex 745 I have at home (child’s PC 🙂 ) with fast and nice 750 Gb Barracuda ES2 (which was freed up after moving all my data to NAS) and decided to install Windows 10 TP on this box.
I can confirm that Windows 10 installation on Dell OptiPlex 745 was smooth and quick and all devices were recognized automatically without any need to search for drivers. The only issue I noticed so far is that non-admin user with non-Microsoft account had some difficulties with installing additional display language – I clicked download language and entered admin password in respective prompt many times but seemingly nothing happens after this, whereas under administrative account additional display language was installed successfully (though I also clicked download more than once until system somehow switched to the new display language). But I guess I need a bit more time to see if Windows 10 works well on this box.
UPDATE: It looks like language is just not yet available so I take my words about adding Russian language back – it can not be added so far. Also I can confirm that Sims 3 runs well on Windows 10 🙂
UPDATE#2 12.2016: This box now runs most current build of Windows 10 without any issues though it has slightly different config – 750GB Seagate HDD + discrete video card which passive cooling system was mangled severely to fit it into this tiny case. All works fine though performance for a person spoiled with high performance laptop with SSD drives it is too sluggish…
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Mike, I was wondering if that was 32-bit or 64-bit. I installed 32-bit and then realized that I can’t take advantage of the 8gb RAM that I installed. The reason I ask is that I am freezing on Windows startup logo with the 64-bit. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I believe it was x64… I normally opt for x64 always, but recently noticed that for old devices with less than 4GB it is better to use x32 as it eats up less memory and on old machines with 2GB of RAM any x64 edition of Windows is slower… Not sure what hardware you are using but normally freeze on startup can’t be just because of OS bitness. Likely to be some incompatible (no driver for Windows 10) or faulty hardware – seen this when tried to install Windows 10 on some really old laptop…
Thanks. It is an Optiplex 745. I have upgraded to 8gb ram, 750gb hdd, and an ATI Radeon 6xxx series video card. Like I said, 32-bit loaded fine but then I upgraded RAM so I can’t take advantage of it until I go 64-bit. I might try 8.1 and see what happens. Then upgrade to 10 if it boots fine.
disculpa si instalaste el de 32 bits cuando ya tenias las 8 gigas en ram, eso se debe de que debes de instalar el de 64 bits porque es superior de 4 gigas en memoria ram se considera que es de 64 bits y debes de instalar el sistema de acuerdo a la especificación que estas manejando
I just checked Optiplex 745 I have and what I have installed and running on it is x64 Windows 10. It has built in video card and 4GB of RAM… Maybe check your BIOS version, mine has 2.3.1 and latest is 2.6.6. I also guess I may have slightly newer revision of motherboard on it as it was replaced at some point in Dell service center.\nI definitely recommend you to update your BIOS especially if you run anything older than 2.3.1 (as I see 2.3.1 version was described as “Urgent. Dell highly recommends applying this update as soon as possible. The update contains changes to improve the reliability and availability of your Dell system.” [source]). I will try to apply 2.6.6 to my box today 🙂
I am trying to update my BIOS from 2.6.4 to 2.6.6 and it keeps failing. do i need to go to windows x64 first? and if so should i wait until i install my new CPU?
BIOS is self-sufficient meaning that it just do not care/can’t fail because of any upper-layer stuff (like your Windows version), whereas your upper-layer stuff can fail because of BIOS change sometimes as it do have dependency on it. Off the top of my head you can try reset BIOS settings to defaults before starting BIOS update process and/or remove all non-essential hardware just in case.
Hi, I have a serious problem…my stock OptiPlex which has been upgraded to windows 10 wont play sounds…I know my pc doesn’t run any opengl based programs but this is taking it too far I plugged headphones, speakers and even to a tv but no luck… plese help me…
I have just installed windows 10 just a few days ago, and it was so smooth at first, that was after I upgraded to new video card that was compatible with Windows 10. I have only 4 GB of RAM, and it seems to do pretty well for a computer made in 2007. The main problem I had from the beginning was the sound. The sound was clippy and seemed to be a lag. I updated the sound device driver in device manager, but I had to download the driver from dell and have device manager look for the unpacked files from the installation package. The driver is SoundMAX. It works better than it did. Updating the BIOS to 2.6.6. seemed to speed the OS up a little, and disabling some devices not needed seemed to help a little more. After reading this, upgrading the Dell Optiplex 745 may not be worth the trouble. Dell even hasn’t tested this PC for Windows 10 which means the drivers they supply isn’t designed for the OS. I am trying to get this thing to work, and it is working OK. It is playing 4k video with a new Graphics Card and can stream netflix, so it is OK for those uses.
I experienced frequent crashes on this PC with Windows 10 installed.
Well you have to analyze on what it crashes exactly, normally it can be isolated to certain driver or software, more rarely it can be crash of some Windows component and underlying H/W issues may cause this too. So isolate what exactly crashes and investigate further 🙂 Solution may be something as simple as driver update or application update.
Hi , i have a Dell Optiplex 745 2gb 32bit Windows 7 ! (ok old )
So as i dont download much at all just browsing , air tickets , outlook Ect i decided to give it a shot and download win 10 , not a problem at all !
The 745 has memory of about 76gb ,so after downloading win 10 wiped win 7 off my pc , still now have
over 50gb memory , its not alot but for my use its great ,saved me 300euro on new pc !
So if you are NOT into games or films keep your pc , but keep it clean optimise and get rid of all junk as will slow it down
PS avg keep giving good bargains ie 60 days free , Enjoy!
I’m currently working on my 745 as a project. I upgraded the following:
Windows 10 64 bit (Home)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86GHz)
SSD 240 GB – KINGSTON SA400S37240G
8 GB RAM 800 Mhz ( although Bios reports 667)
Zotac GT 710 @ 2GB RAM
I have a Q6700 Quad Chip ordered, I’ll try running with the existing BIOS then if needed will update. I am paranoid about updating the bios. There is a newer version as late as June 20 2020, but not sure if it is necessary.
The current Config will be good for browsing and as a Media center for the TV. Gaming is sluggish with this chipset… only tried world of warships and that was painful at lowest settings.
I dont consider the PC useless since it would still serve useful for people who just browse or watch Netflix, Youtube etc. It is interesting to see how far Hardware can remain useful.
I installed the Q6700 chip but the system just beeps 3 times. So I tried to update the BIOS
I cant get the BIOS to update. I downloaded the latest version 2.6.6 “HEIDEN_2.6.6.exe” , but when I run as Admin it gives this error:
“An error was encountered trying to access the flash program data image. Please reboot and try again…
I tried disabling services other than MS and it did not work. I also ran as admin, and tried compatibility.
The current BIOS has previously been updated to 2.6.4
I think W10 is possibly blocking it so I will put the old hard drive in to see if it can do it.
I had same problem trying to update bios. I noticed 2 different links on dell and only one works:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/el-gr/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=grj7t&productcode=optiplex-745&oscode=ww1
SHA1: c4a90442b47eaa93e896417ff546cc59eacc5f6b
The file with SHA1: 78cab8ba237ae15d8a0428c0738e292069bf19d1 does not work!!!!
update
Ok this system is very sensitive to change, i went through this many times when upgrading the RAM. The system beeps I had were 1-3-2 which relate to RAM.
1. I removed 2 sticks and the beeping stopped, then I swapped the 2 out to validate no issue in the with RAM.
2. I then put in the Q6700 cpu, and the system booted with the 2 sticks of RAM only. also note with the BIOS version 2.6.4
3. Once that worked I put back the RAM for a total of 8GB and the system loaded, i confirmed the change in BIOS
Note when adding video card it can give you a hard time but the solution I found was leaving card in but plugging the cable into Onboard VGA…. it gives you an error saying it detects card and to shutdown… after that plug the cable to your card nd it will boot.
I am already on BIOS 2.6.6 and just ordered an Intel Xeon X3230, which from all I have read should be a lot faster than what is in my 745.
Reading Ziggy mentioning adding a video card, just wondering what are the fastest ones that we can upgrade to, without upgrading the PSU?