Odd request - Installing Windows 10 to MBR not GPT?

[Entropism]

So I got my wife an older Lenovo Thinkcentre m71e, with an i5-2400. Tossed in a new SSD to put the OS on, and a 3TB storage drive. Now that we have the specifics, here's the issue/request:

For some reason I can't actually shut down the computer. It shuts down as far as windows goes, but the power light, system and CPU heatsink fans stay active. To complete shutdown, I have to hold the power button for a few seconds, which actually shuts down the system.

I've been told that this is due to the latest Lenovo bios for the system. Not sure exactly why, but they're saying that windows MUST be installed on an MBR partitioned disk, or this issue occurs. Mine, of course, is GPT. How exactly can I ensure that a reformat and reinstallation of Windows gets the drive up and running in legacy/MBR format?

OR, if anyone is familiar with this system/board, how do I ensure this actually works as it's supposed to as a GPT formatted UEFI drive?

Thanks!

 

[Fardringle]

Go into the laptop BIOS and change the boot format from UEFI to Legacy. Boot from the Windows 10 installation disk, delete ALL partitions from the SSD, then reinstall Windows. Windows will automatically format the drive as MBR.

 

[Entropism]

Fardringle, as far as I can see, there's no option for this in the bios. That was my first instinct, but this is the most barebones, bullshit BIOS I've ever seen.

Also, small thing: Desktop, not laptop.

 

[Fardringle]

Look for a Secure Boot option in the BIOS. Disable that, and then you should be able to disable UEFI. If not, then as far as I'm aware you won't be able to clean install Windows 10 on that machine since Windows automatically formats (with no option for customization) the drive as MBR or GPT depending on whether it's booting as UEFI or Legacy. One somewhat annoying way to get around it is to install Windows 7 on the SSD formatted as MBR, then upgrade to Windows 10 since Windows will keep the existing formatting in that case.

 

[Entropism]

Ugh. Might just have to do the Windows 7 bullshit then. That's... Pretty annoying.

No secureboot option whatsoever in the BIOS.

 

[Dahak]

.... Not sure exactly why, but they're saying that windows MUST be installed on an MBR partitioned disk, or this issue occurs. Mine, of course, is GPT. How exactly can I ensure that a reformat and reinstallation of Windows gets the drive up and running in legacy/MBR format?.....

The other thing too is, if you just do a format or delete the partitions, the drive is still flagged a GPT.
To change this you have to clear everything off the drive, or convert it back to MBR
the easiest way to do this is with diskpart.

From a Windows install media, does not matter if its Win7, Win10, booted legacy or eufi.
Press Shift-F10
at the command prompt type in "diskpart"

diskpart

then type

list disk

it will output your disks in the system, you may notice a * under the GPT heading
type

Select Disk #

Where # is the disk that you want to clean.
MAKE SURE this is the correct drive
then type

MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE RIGHT DISK  then type  clean

This will make it so that it will change the drive to the correct MBR/GPT type depending on the boot method (legacy or UEFI)

 

[Entropism]

Dahak, I had actually typed that out and never posted it last night. Did exactly that (found it on the Lenovo forums) and it worked. Amazing that their own BIOS update would basically kill the system it was installed on.

Thanks for the help, guys.