Gateway System Recovery

  • Thread starter Thread starter kingbee14
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kingbee14

Hello,

I'm trying to do a system recovery for a friend. She has a gateway computer.
I forgot the model. Gateway suggested I try one of the following steps.
http://support.gateway.com/s/software/microsof/Vista/7515910/7515910su9.shtml
or
http://support.gateway.com/s/software/MICROSOF/vista/7515418/7515418su534.shtml
She is in another state so it's very difficult to do over the phone since
basically it's like being blindfolded. Her computer is messed up so it looks
like recovering using link one is out of the question. So my question is if
I have her use the link 2 which requires the disc, how should I have her do
the recovery? When it comes time to select what kind of partition to create
which do I select? Format partition? She is the kind of person who is not
familiar with computers and gets aggrivated pretty easily so I'm trying to
do this as easy as possible. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks to all! :)

Brandon
(e-mail address removed)
 
kingbee14 said:
Hello,

I'm trying to do a system recovery for a friend. She has a gateway
computer. I forgot the model. Gateway suggested I try one of the following
steps.
http://support.gateway.com/s/software/microsof/Vista/7515910/7515910su9.shtml
or
http://support.gateway.com/s/software/MICROSOF/vista/7515418/7515418su534.shtml
She is in another state so it's very difficult to do over the phone since
basically it's like being blindfolded. Her computer is messed up so it
looks like recovering using link one is out of the question. So my
question is if I have her use the link 2 which requires the disc, how
should I have her do the recovery? When it comes time to select what kind
of partition to create which do I select? Format partition? She is the
kind of person who is not familiar with computers and gets aggrivated
pretty easily so I'm trying to do this as easy as possible. Any
suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks to all! :)

Brandon
(e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...

Is it by chance still under warranty? If so, have her contact Gateway for
the warranty repair procedure.

If the hard drive isn't trashed, there's a third option, depending on the
model. On my Gateway notebook (before the HDD crashed), there was an F8
option at boot up. As soon as the Gateway splash screen comes up, press F8
repeatedly until the Recovery Options screen comes up.
Find out what model number she has, go to Gateway's site, and download the
manual for that model. There will be a section in there on how to restore to
factory condition if Windows doesn't start. This is assuming that there is a
Recovery partition on her HDD from the factory.

If she has virtually no knowledge of computers and doesn't have the patience
to follow instructions over the phone, she may be better off bringing it to
a local repair place. Stay away from the assembly line stores such as Best
Buy. Local shops generally are cheaper and do a better job. Or you could
make a weekend trip to visit her and fix it yourself.

Before you undertake any of the steps listed in your post, be sure to have
the Gateway Operating System disk and the Drivers disk for her machine. If
you have the OS disk, but not the Drivers, download the drivers from Gateway
and burn them to a CD. You'll need that after the OS has been installed and
running. If there is anything on the HDD she needs, she/you'll need to save
it externally before starting any kind of recovery.

But, let's assume the PC still boots. Has it been scanned for viruses and
other malware, and if anything was found, has it been taken care of? What
kind of problem(s) does the PC exhibit? Is she getting any error messages?
There are a few things to try before undertaking the task of a complete
reinstallation. Did she install any new software or hardware that caused the
PC to start acting erratically? Has Windows' System Restore been tried? If
she can't get into normal mode, will the PC boot to safe mode or safe mode
with command prompt?

That weekend visit's looking better all the time, isn't it?

SC Tom
 
I want to thank you for your reply! It's not a bad idea to have someone
local help her with the recovery. Pretty much the computer has been running
strange lately. We uninstalled AVG and part of it still remains on the
computer. Also there are some other issues. Since I am in Ca. and her in Fl
it's hard guiding over the phone. But I wanted to thank you for the reply
again! Take care

Brandon
 
So much for the weekend visit! That would definitely be a long flight or
drive. Plus it would be a heck of a lot cheaper to buy 2 or 3 new computers
than pay airline fare!

Did you look into Team Viewer http://www.teamviewer.com/ as another reader
posted? That may be another option, if her PC is running well enough to
install it.

SC Tom
 
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