Micky wrote:
I tried to install win10 over win10, and I was able to get to 60% but
ten seconds afterr I moved the mouse so that the screen lit up again,
it crashed.

And even if it got to 99%, it says it's going to have to start
windows several times, and t here's n o way it coud boot even twice
in a row without crashing 30 seconds later for one of those times.

So I dug out the XP laptop to get back on line, and soon after that I
had a new plan:

Instead of installing win10 over the win10 IN the computer, I'll take
the drve out, put it in a dock, plug the dock into the XP laptop, and
run the win10 install program I made using the Media Creator.

That's one of the intended uses, isn't it? And since the XP laptop
never crashes, and iiuc it won't have to restart anything, since i'm
updating what is not the operating system in use, so it will go faster
too.

Will this work?

Will it work better with my win7 laptop?
(I'm still looking for the cord for that but I t hink I know where
it is.)

So I think the summary of what you're saying is, you have
a pile of electronic hardware, but it's not a computer
any more. Because it does not reliably compute.

How will "sneaking up on it" help ? What will be
the eventual outcome ? At a critical moment, it'll
throw you under the bus.

It would be like owning an automobile, with non-working
brakes (no fluid, lines cut), punching a hole in the
floor boards, so you can stick your feet down to stop.
Is it a car any more ? Or a pile of parts for sale ?

You need some sort of test utilities to narrow down
what hardware is defective. Which is not necessarily easy.

Some brands of OEM computer, come with diagnostics on the
hard drive. But not many of those are noteworthy. I liked
the diagnostics provided on Sun Sparc, because they weren't
just "sham diagnostics". The diagnostics were designed to
detect trouble.

I've purchased diagnostics before, that turned out
to be sham routines, and just intended to suck money
out of your wallet. The topic is very much "live and learn".

Paul