Trouble installing Windows 10 Surface Pro 3

[bethas321]

I was given a used SP3 that wouldn't boot into Windows. I downloaded the Recovery Image and it failed to install W10. It has been so long, I don't remember the error. So I installed linux, just to see if it would the machine worked and it installed fine, things like touch and a few other things didn't work, So I downloaded a copy of W8.1 and it installed fine. It appears the WIFI card no longer works. I've tried installing a vanilla W10 a couple of times and received a different message each time. One of the messages was the image was incompatible with the SP3 and the other was the watchdog error. I've also tried to upgrade from within W8 and that fails also. I believe the problem is the WIFI card. Is there any way to edit the W10 image to maybe remove the wifi driver? Or is there a way "force" the install somehow? W8 works fine it's just that it is no longer supported and I can get any new apps from the marketplace.

 

[sharpuser]

Can you avoid the WiFi problem by attaching a USB WiFi stick, or a Cat5 adapter dongle?

 

[bethas321]

Yes, I've tried using a USB wifi adapter, I have it attached now and a ethernet via dongle. Everything fails. It is possible there is another hardware problem. Under devices, there is an unknown devices that will not update via Windows Update. I don't have any clue what it is, The device isn't the wifi though as it does show up in device manager, it just has an error 10 and the driver won't istall.

 

[bethas321]

So, after trying to upgrade to W10 for what felt like the thousandth time, it finally hit me. I needed to turn off wireless in the bios. After that, W10 installed with no problems.

 

[sharpuser]

Brilliant! I’m sure that tip will help someone else, too.

 

[bethas321]

I do want to note that it is a vanilla install of W10, since I installed from within W8. I don't know if the Surface Image will install even with the wifi turned off.