Can't find my Gateway P-7811 FX Restore Disc and Windows 7 RC Almost Over

Yeah, I'm an idiot and have started looking for my recovery disc until the very last minute and hell if I can find the damn thing anywhere. I guess I'll keep looking but I've only got about one day left then my computer starts shutting down every couple hours until I manage to either upgrade it to full Windows 7 (I've heard at Best Buy if you bought the computer there they'll do it for you for $50 but I'm sure there's a catch) or restore the computer to the original Vista settings. I've been working on backing up my important stuff on my main hard drive and I'm hoping to restore to Vista because I'm extremely low on funds right now.

Any way I can get a second restore disc from Gateway, if the Best Buy deal actually happening or is it just some kind of rumor or limited time deal that's expired a ways back or doesn't apply to my situation? Should I have started thinking of a way to take care of this a good amount of time before the very last minute when the RC trial is just to expire? One of these is a completely rhetorical question that I already know the answer to, can you guess which?

I'm also considering switching to Linux as a temporary solution but is that possible or even smart? I like my PC games and I doubt I'd be able to play many of them if I switch over to Linux...

 

i dont think you can upgrade to the retail from an rc build im pretty cure you have to do a fresh install. also you dont have a recovery disc unless you made one yourself. if your didnt erase the 10 gig-ish partition then that is your recovery.

 

I mean the system restore disc or whatever it's called. I recall using it before when I needed to do a fresh start. I also seem to recall you can upgrade from the RC and it just moves all your old files to Windows - Old or something, although my RC is saying something about a clean install...

 

There is a recovery option thats stored in a 10 GB partition. I think it can be accessed using function keys. F10 i guess. I deleted the 10 GB partition so i have no way to check it out. Try different function keys while the system POST. Also just to let everybody know this ... dont try deleting the recovery partition if you plan to use vista in future coz there is no gurantee that the recovery disc will work for everybody. Gateway recovery disc burning might show successful but its not guranteed to work. Mine does not and i deleted my partition. Luckily i'm not planning to use VISTA. About Windows 7 HP upgrade for $50 when buying a new PC/laptop, thought the offer was still there. Have to check with BB now about that. This offer is only for PC's bought after the release of Windows 7. For those VISTA machines (PC/LAptop not netbooks) bought after mid JUNE 2009 they qualify for free Windows 7 upgrade. And this offer is/was not for any laptop/PC bought at BB before JUNE 2009.

 

I'm pretty sure I've never had an 10GB parition anywhere unless it's somehow not visible...

I think there's a disc that came with the box I can use to restore the laptop to the factory default with Vista and everything. I think I just have to worry about restoring all the original drivers from there or something like that.

 

Computer - Right Click - Manage - Disk Management or Win+R type in compmgmt.msc . Check if there is any 10GB partition

 

There's a an unlabeled partition called "recovery partition". So how do I use it?

I've reverted the system clock to January 1st, which might buy me some time to figure out what to do.

 

i guess the changing the system clock wont be of any help. Also you will need the gateway system restore program to access that partition. Let me try checking out if there is some way to access that.

Edit : Try this thread. Second post looks easier.

 

Actually I just searched for the Gateway Recovery Management program and I'm burning a factory default disc (or two, actually) right now. I've got 45 minutes to midnight. Literally. lol

I've deactivated my Adobe Creative Suite will I have to do something with my copy of Microsoft Office as well? Actually, I'm not sure what I did with my discs for those, either. Dammit...hopefully those'll be a bit easier to find.

Yeah, basically I've gone to the Recovery Management program and chosen the option to "Create Factory Default Disc". I'm taking it this is what I'll need to restore my laptop back to the original Windows Vista.

There's also an option for "Create Driver and application back-up disc". I'd like to back-up the drivers but I do have a fair number of applications installed and I'd need a lot of discs for all of those. Hopefully there's a way to pick and choose which ones are copied over or something. Cross that bridge once I get to it as it were.

Ah yes, and so far setting the clock back a month HAS taken care of the warnings as if I actually need them at this point. However I'm taking NOTHING for granted and even if my computer doesn't start shutting down every couple hours after 12am I'll still be going about whatever I need to do to restore to Vista. I bought this thing back in 2008 (when I signed up for these forums 'cause I was looking to buy a nicely-priced gaming laptop) so if the $50 deal only applies to people who bought a PC recently that means I'll have to start saving for the upgrade which I'll assume after I downgrade to Vista will be much smoother than trying to upgrade from the RC.

Also I suppose I might have a bit of security knowing that I may actually have until 2am to "get my affairs in order" before saying goodbye to all my C-drive data.

What the hell?! I've burned the first disc but every time I try to insert a second one it says "Error 203 Burning failed. Please insert a blank CD/DVD into the optical disc drive and press OK to continue." are all my DVD-R's except the first one deffective or something?! There aren't any stores open right now...well except maybe Wall Mart but I'm not going to wake my parents up in the middle of the night to buy extra DVD-Rs!!

Well there is an option to just restore to factory defaults...but...do I WANT to do this? Does the factory default include Windows Vista? Do I need to back-up some other things first?

Making an application/driver back-up disc. It's actually working so I can be fairly certain that this error I'm getting when trying to burn the 2nd disc isn't because of bad DVD-Rs. What the hell is it, then?!

Anyway, one thing I want to be sure of first and foremost is if I hit the button to "restore system to factory default" that it'll include the original Windows Vista OS that came installed on the Laptop.

It's past 2am and my computer still hasn't shut down so I'm hoping I've bought myself some time. Just waiting for some answers about the factory defaults.

 

I think with the restore program you can do a restore from the system restore partition and not use the cd/dvd.

Edit. Before restoring back to factory default make sure you back up everything. Its gonna be like how you used it for the first time after buying it. So make sure you back up all ur personal stuffs.
Like i said before, burning the cds/dvds successfully also doesn't guarantee you of a successful restoration using them. Its prone to errors while burning them and also while restoring the system using them.

 

Yeah I already started doing that before. Like I said I deactivated my Adobe Creative Suite (Production Premium). I just figured out how to do that recently actually because I wanted to scan some stuff I drew with Photoshop CS3 on my Desktop computer so I had to run over to my laptop, which already has CS4, REINSTALL CS3 and then deactivate it (apparently I didn't deactivate CS3 before I uninstalled it). I'm not sure if I need to do anything similar with Microsoft Office but I seem to recall having to do a keep restore to factory defaults before and being able to reinstall Office without any trouble-all I need to do if find my discs for it-that'll be the hardest part in any case.

I've got my external 1TB hard drive, and while I've managed to somehow near fill the damn thing up with junk that means a couple things-1 most of my important stuff is on there-2 I can use at least some of it to back-up my most important data from the C drive.

It looks like resetting the clock back HAS bought me some time but I'll probably be restoring to system defaults sometime tonight. It's messing with certain programs like TweetDeck which apparently can't function without a correct system clock (I'm betting it's because of the time stamps or whatever. I'm relying of my iPod Touch right now but it's so much easier using the keyboard). I'll spend most of today making sure I've got everything I need to be transfered over to my external drive transfered like it needs to be.

 

Dont depend on the clock coz i think that somehow the windows rc is gonna detect the exact time and date when the system is online and gonna activate the 2 hr shutdown cycle.

 

Since you have the 10 gig partiton have you tried.........

http://support.gateway.com/support/...y Recovery Management v3.1.3008&uid=261663115


and here is gateways patch............

http://support.gateway.com/s/issues/260121793.shtml

 

I already have that. It seems to already be on my system. I'll be using it later today to restore my laptop to factory defaults. I suppose it's reassuring to read that it'll restore to Vista, though so that's good.

Great! I ran the damn thing but it just restarts my damn computer! I don't know it might have something to do with the "critical hard drive failure" warning I keep getting when I boot up the computer-maybe it's interrupting the restoration process which is absolute BULL. My E drive is completely burned out somehow, I guess I could go and try to remove it or something and see if that gets rid of the error but I really don't feel like opening this damn thing up right now. There's also some CHKDSK checking on the C drive but #1-I guess it'd be fixed by the reboot #2-CHKDSK freezes up partway through the scan and #3-The screen that pops up right when I turn on the computer seems to be for a Western Digitial drive and not a Seaway or whatever my C drive is so I'm pretty sure it's talking about the E-drive and hope and pray to God it's not the C drive that's going to have some kind of "critical failure".

Anyway to initiate the restore from the boot-up menu or am I just screwed?!

Here's a transcript of the message:

SMART Failure Predicted on Hard Disk 1: WDC WD3200BEKT-00F3T0-(S2)

WARNING: Immediately back-up your data and replace your hard drive. A failure may be imminent.

A FAILURE has already happened. Shut up about it already!

Again, CHKDSK tries to check my C-drive for consistency (and usually freezes up at some point if I let it try to) but I'm pretty sure that's not the problem. My C drive, according to the boot-up menu is labeled ST9200420AS-(S1) so I'm fairly certain it's referring to my other hard drive. Is there any way to like "uninstall" the second hard drive without physically going in and taking it out? I'd have to shut my computer off, remove the battery, wait a few minutes, open it up, figure out which one's the E drive and remove it and I'm not exactly feeling very patient right now. >.<

 

Okay, I've removed the faulty hard drive and CHKDSKed the HELL out of my C drive so everything should be fine now, right? WRONG!!

It's still just doing a plain old restart every time I try to do the restore thing and it's driving me MAD!!!

I'm going to try to do a back-up disc AGAIN and see if that works but if it doesn't I'm completely STUMPED as to what I'm doing wrong.

All I can think of is that the partition isn't visible in My Computer so do I need to do something with it before I can use it for the recovery?

The other possibility is that the partition got corrupted at some point due to the thing CHKDSK kept talking about although I'd think it'd be FIXED now since there are no more disc consistency check alerts...

Update: Tried burning recovery discs again. Burns first one fine-insert a second one and it gives me an error 203. So I officially don't know what the hell to do now.

Basically, I click on "Restore system to factory default" the computer restarts, but no "restoration environment" as described by the help file.

It says something about "If you want to recover your system using this disc, please use the 1st disc you burned to boot." but I have a feeling I'd need the second disc too and I could really screw things up if I start the process with the first disc and can't finish it with the second-I'd probably be left with a pretty much broken laptop.

Okay, I've got a problem and it's kind of weird...according to Disk Management I've got the recovery partition, right? Well when I look at capacity it says 10GB, and when I look at FREE SPACE it says 10GB, % Free - 100%!! Yeah, it looks like the recovery partition is freakin' empty!! Now just what I've started burning to my DVD-Rs I have no freakin' clue unless I'm reading this all wrong.

 

Did you partition the original HDD ? If you did then I think that could be one reason, its not able to detect the setup files from the initial location. I suggest getting hold of an installation disc (OEM Vista) and doing a clean install with the key on your laptop. Better than doing a factory restore thats got lots of crapware..

 

It's possible that I merged the partition with the main HD, although oddly enough the disc management thing says the partition is still there somehow...really do I have to dig through my damn room to find the disc? I was really hoping there for awhile that I maybe wouldn't have to...

 

I'd say find it and hope it works. The 2 dvd Gateway installation (factory restore) thing is like a lottery.

 

If I remember correctly people were fixing the 203 error as it was a speed error in burning. If you slowed the burner down it got rid of the error, can't remember the thread off hand..........

 

I don't recall there being any option to adjust the burning speed anywhere.

Also, can anyone recommend a good, non-invasive codec pack for when I restore my laptop? Something that won't screw up computer games like Oblivion/Morrowind which can be sensitive to that sort of thing?

 

Again, stretching memory, there was some type of update to the burner or something of that nature. I think some used an external burner too.......

Edit; Forget PB's patch looks like an executable.........

And here is gateways patch..........

http://support.gateway.com/s/issues/260121793.shtml

 

Hope that link helps you.

 

I made an edit to my last post-I didn't realize this had gone on to another page already. lol

I was asking if anyone had a suggestion for a non-invasive codec pack to install once I've restored my laptop to Vista. Something that won't interfere with computer games that tend to act up with certain codecs installed (like Morrowind and Oblivion).

Wow, I just wasted another DVD-R burning the first recovery disc for the third time in a row. It seems the patch only makes the 203 error pop up more quickly. >.<

I'll see if there's some way to change the default burning speed on my DVD-R drive...

Nope, can't find any settings to adjust that in the right-click menu. It seems like a second hard drive pops up when I start burning the first disc then it kinda disappears when I try to burn the 2nd one. Any connection?

 

So did the patch not work? you would think since it is gateways it would..........

Per Gateway "WRITE LOG ERROR 203"...........

Also could I ask did you run the patch as admin, since it is a hidden partition that is?