Windows 10 on Dell Inspiron 15R N5010

The Inspiron N5010 is a Mid 2010 as a consequence none of these models have active warranty. Therefore Dell will not provide any driver updates for this model.

Make sure your BIOS is at revision A15 before updating however.

Windows 10 however has a large number of drivers inbuilt. In most cases Windows 10 will have all the drivers needed inbuilt or obtain them automatically from Windows Update. There have been some mixed results on the upgrade however:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19642484?pi41097=1

I upgraded my N5010 and my sound only worked if I had headphones plugged in.  I reverted back to Win7.

Hello Mr. M. Ghazal, your's is a wonderful experience. Was it a free upgrade? could you elaborate the procedure, which will benefit all inspiron N5010 users as Dell clearly says it is not going to develop necessary hardware drivers required for upgrade to win 10 from win 7.

You may provide it in community so that it will useful to all and everybody will thank you for the same

Hello Dr. Parkash:

I'm using my Dell N5010 with Win 10 upgrade for about 2 months for now, and had no problem at all, all drivers are working perfectly, I'm even using it for gaming with a heavy games and the performance is much better than before. I had a free upgrade from Microsoft but didn't use it straight because I wanted a clean fresh copy, so before the installation I format my operating system drive and had a fresh copy of Win 10 enterprise edition installed. As I mentioned earlier, had a shock first because everything was upside down with my drivers and screen resolution, but within an hour everything was sorted automatically! (My internet download speed is 4Mb line)

Hope this help you with your upgrades.

Regards

Hello Mr. M. Ghazal

Thank you very much for a quick and informative reply. I also will format ( in fact i took microsoft's online help they cleaned my boot sector and installed using ISO, it failed and then the guy at the microsoft end told me that Dell has no drivers for its Inspiron N5010, and do not intend to, so your system can not avail the free upgrade)

You mentioned you did avail the free upgrade. But you did not use it and obtained fresh copy( did you purchase one?) and installed and with your internet speed of 4mbps it is now working fine.

Now my questions are

1, How do I get a fresh copy of windows 10 enterprise? Is it available freely as upgrade to win7?

2. I have a DVD for free upgrade, made using online support for free upgrade, can I use that?

3. Can you explain the procedure step by step so that the free upgrade can be availed as you have done so, and there is still time till 29th July 2016.

I hope this is not bothering you too much. All inspiron N5010 users will benefit from your clear step by step answer..... it will be wonderful

Thanks and regards 

Att: Dr. Parkash:

Sorry I forgot about your first two questions.

1, How do I get a fresh copy of windows 10 enterprise? Is it available freely as upgrade to win7?

You have to buy the licence and download it from Microsoft.

2. I have a DVD for free upgrade, made using online support for free upgrade, can I use that?

You can use the DVD to start your upgrade or to do a fresh new installation.

Hi again:

Yes, I had the chance to do my free upgrade through Microsoft update and had Win 10 downloaded to my Dell N5010. However, since I wanted a fresh clean new copy, without keeping any information on my drive and after doing the necessary backups. Before I tell you about the steps, you have to note the followings:

In order to do an upgrade with your operating system, you have to know that Microsoft only offer you the upgrade regarding your current operating system edition (i.e: if you are currently using Win 7 professional edition, your Win 10 upgrade will also be to Win 10 Professional edition) you can't do an upgrade from Win 7 Professional to a Win 10 Enterprise edition for free.

My procedure was as the following:

1. Bought Win 10 enterprise edition and had it copied on my D drive. 

2. Started the setup in Win 7 platform.

3. During the preparation of the installation I chose to delete everything on the C drive and not keeping any file.

4. Fresh version of Win 10 Enterprise edition was installed after a couple of restarts. 

5. After seeing Win 10 Logo (Just before seeing normal desktop) my system showed a blank screen for long.

6. restarted the laptop, but problem was the same.

7. Inserted Win 10 CD again and chose to fix my startup section (booting section).

8. After final restart, Win 10 Operating system was working in a dummy mode. (Screen resolution was terrible, driver where not installed).

9. I tried checking Dell website for driver, but of course no drivers were supporting Win 10.

10. Was struggling to download Google Chrome browser and the performance of the laptop was terrible. (Reason was so many process in the background downloading drivers without me knowing about it)

11. "Just like a flash" screen resolution was restored to the highest quality. I checked the device manager to find what else needs to be done, and found nothing!. all drivers were installed and updated.

12. Checked and still checking every time and then for updates but Win 10 does everything for you. (Even when there are a new update for your graphic card, Win 10 upgrades it for you).

*. What you need to be careful about is your internet consumption (Never use a metered connection because the will cost you a lot of money.

My dell N5010 warranty was expired and the general specs are:

I5 processor, 4 GB Rams (but I upgrade it to 6GB before Win 10 upgrade), 500 GB harddrive, AMD 1GB graphic card.

Wish you luck everyone. 

Thanks for sharing. But unfortunately, I have been unsuccessful in installing Win 10 on Dell Inspiron N5010. The ATI Mobility Radeon drivers failed on Win 7 itself, so I suspect that that is what is causing this problem. Booting - even during install - goes into the now infamous Black Screen.

Not sure how you managed it. I wish I were be as lucky as you.

Hello

I have found a solution to install ( free upgrade or a purchased one).

As Dell has declared it is not going to provide any support for Dell Inspiron 5010 for windows 10, what one has to do is to change the hard disk. The compatible hard disk is that of Toshiba, 1 TB and if you get it done through a Dell dealer ( I found one in Pune) then the free upgrade with all the necessary drivers etc. can be done. 

Remember, 29th July is approaching, and if you want to follow this process the cost is about 5 to 6 INR

it depends on the technical person and the dealership, how much to charge.

Hope you take advantage of this procedure

All the best

Dr Prakash Deshpande

Hi

Can changing the hard disk rally be the solution. As far as I know it's still has the original disk, details below.

Form time to time since starting this thread, I start up this computer, in the hope that an update will provide a fix.
Typically will roll it back to the recovery point to just after install Windows 10 Pro from a purchased DVD, it once again works perfectly, but with low res video, provided I prevent access to the Internet. 

However once access to the Internet is allowed ( a firewall setting in my router box) only to have it go "Black Screen" usually on the next reboot. Leaving it to do further updates etc does not help.

[Disks]

Item Value
Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model WDC WD5000BUCT-63PUZY0 ATA Device
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed hard disk
Partitions 3
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 0
SCSI Target ID 0
Sectors/Track 63
Size 465.76 GB (500 105 249 280 bytes)
Total Cylinders 60 801
Total Sectors 976 768 065
Total Tracks 15 504 255
Tracks/Cylinder 255

Please Change  The Hard disck      Model WDC WD5000BUCT-63PUZY0 ATA Device 

Use a Toshiba made 1 Terrabite hard disk instead. Please go to a Dell Technician or a computer engineers who can do this replacement. This is cheaper. You can use your 

Model WDC WD5000BUCT-63PUZY0 ATA Device  as an external disk ......

It is a choice to be made,  replace tem Value 
Description Disk drive 
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives) 
Model WDC WD5000BUCT-63PUZY0 ATA Device 
Bytes/Sector 512 
Media Loaded Yes 
Media Type Fixed hard disk 
Partitions 3 
SCSI Bus 0 
SCSI Logical Unit 0 
SCSI Port 0 
SCSI Target ID 0 
Sectors/Track 63 
Size 465.76 GB (500 105 249 280 bytes) 
Total Cylinders 60 801 
Total Sectors 976 768 065 
Total Tracks 15 504 255 
Tracks/Cylinder 255

or be with windows 7 as Dell is not going to support inspiron 5010 for windows 10 that means the drivers for windows 10 can not be or are not suitable to the Hard Disk

Thanks 

All the best

Sorry, how is hard disk replacement a solution?

Also, I had replaced the original disk with a very modern SSD and it was working with that before the latest driver update. It's the driver that's the problem, not the disk.

Sorry - unless you explain technically how a hard disk replacement is a solution, this is NOT an acceptable answer.

Hello

This is for all who are upset due to Dell's inspiron N5010 not being compatible with windows 10, free upgrade or otherwise.

If you have one inspiron N5010 with official copy of windows 7 and 8 ( the versions declared my Microsoft eligible for free upgrade) then unless you want to remain with your present OS and want to upgrade to Windows 10 ( officially free upgrade or by Purchasing a new copy after 29th July 2016, the only solution to this problem is change the hard disk. Please understand I have never said I will do that job, and have suggested to go to a qualified Dell technician or a Qualified /experienced technician for getting this done.

I have got it done for whatever prize, or free of cost, that is my prerogative. I do not offer to do this work and Mr Faredoon has misconstrued the answer.

I do not wish to say anything more and I am not a technically qualified person to explain as Mr Foredoon expects. Mr. Faredoon, please go for windows 10 or not before 29th July 2016, it is your baby. I have nothing to gain or loose in that case. and in case Microsoft extends the date of free upgrade, that  will be better for all the users of official win 7 and win 8 ( allowed versions).

I guess the forum is for responsible statements and not for making money. 

Today it is 26th July of 2016 and after 29th this thread of discussion( upgrade of win 10 on Dell Inspiron N5010) will probably be closed for good.

With this I wish all the best to all and especially to Mr Foredoon who has doubts that I want to put my hands in his pocket........ha ha ha........ I do not even know who this person is and I appreciate the flight of imagination ( the level of insecurity ) 

Thanks for your patience and best wishes

Dr  Prakash Deshpande

Sorry, how is hard disk replacement a solution? Also, I had replaced the original disk with a very modern SSD and it was working with that before the latest driver update. It's the driver that's the problem, not the disk. Sorry - unless you explain technically how a hard disk replacement is a solution, this is NOT an acceptable answer.

I upgraded from Win7 to Win10. Graphics Accelerator Driver not working, can you help?

I can not. I do not have that kind of expertise. I regret. I can only suggest that you take your laptop to a qualified and experienced technician.

Thanks