Gateway Service Issues

Does anybody know how I can get in touch with a real person at Gateway? Their phone system is automated and keeps hanging up on me, ugh!

Anyone else having problems with their service? My brand new laptop crashed - operating system not found. I ordered recovery disks from Gateway and could not install them - kept locking up in same spot. Best Buy could not install either so they sent my laptop to Gateway because they thought it was a hard drive problem.

Gateway just sent it back saying that the recovery disks they sent me were bad and I need to order new ones. They had my laptop, why didn't they just try using new disks to make sure it wasn't a hard drive problem?? And am I expected to pay for a new set of disks?

Are they really that clueless? I still think it's a hard drive problem.

 

I don't know of a direct line to Gateway but If you having issues and waiting on recovery disk. I would try install linux like http://www.ubuntu.com/ just to see it installs. If it doesn't its Hard Drive problem or maybe even a heat issue. If it installs I would try to borrow someone Vista disk and just use your key on the bottom of your laptop.

I'm not saying using linux just use it to test your computer.

 

Is the hard drive recognized in BIOS?
Is the hard drive the first device in the boot order?

 

I don't know the answer to those questions, I'm not that technical. But I had a tech support friend try to install them and also Best Buy, they got the same result. The first disk (system disk) installed without any problems. Then the 1st of 2 recovery disks always hung up at 33% complete.

I really got the run around on this. Best Buy blamed me because there were finger prints on the disk. Then they got the same problem and said they found a partition on the hard drive that was bad and removed it. They still couldn't get it to install and sent it to Gateway, who determined the disks were bad and sent them back to me, without good disks!
I had bought the "bad" disks on their website for $20. Shouldn't they have replaced them if they were bad?

 

get your money back. You bought somthing that should work outta the box and it isnt.

 

I agree but how do you prove that to Gateway when they won't even load the recovery disks to see if there is a hard drive problem. They blame it on bad disks (which also came from them).

Whether the disks are bad is not the issue. But how did my laptop get to be in the state that it is if it's not a hardward problem? I don't think I had a virus but is it possible for a virus to wipe out the operating system?

 

possible im sure. there are some mean people out there.

 

If you aren't technical enough to press F2 on boot to go into the BIOS to do simple troubleshooting then you need to send the laptop in to Gateway for them to fix the problem. Whether that means replacing the hard drive, changing boot settings, reinstalling the OS, or simply shipping you working recovery dvds.

What laptop model is experiencing this problem?

The less information you can provide, the harder it is going to be to get any help, regardless if it's here or with Gateway. Going to Best Buy for help is usually a waste of time, as you already found out.

It could be a hardware problem, it could be a software problem, you aren't providing nearly enough information for anyone to be able to determine the culprit. You will need to troubleshoot yourself or find someone that can work with you to troubleshoot so you can provide more info to this forum to continue being helped on this issue.

To PROVE the recovery dvds are bad you need to test them in another computer they are supposed to work in.

If the recovery dvds show the hard drive and partitions (Which may just be unallocated space on the hard drive since geek squad deleted the "bad" partition), the hard drive is responding and is being recognized by the BIOS.

If it is an intermittent hard drive issue you will need to run diagnostic software on the drive to exploit the problem.

It could have been as simple as the BIOS trying to boot from the wrong device, however since the geniuses over at geeksquad deleted the partition already, you have more work ahead of you no matter what.