Problems with clean install of Vista on FX Notebook

Hey,

Ok so I went back to BB and picked up the FX gaming notebook. I had been reading on here that I should do a clean install of vista so I popped in the cd that came with it and installed vista. However after the install the computer is all messed up.

Seems that driver are missing. I tried to solve that by going to the gateway site and Nvidia. My biggest problem right now is that I cant get the computer to recognize the 8800m gts in it. I downloaded the drivers from Nvidia and it just says that there isnt any compatible hardware in my computer. It isnt in the device manager either. Damnit the laptop was fine and now I am stuck trying to fix the damn thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

go return and get another one, or just go to geeksquad and ask what they can do for u. OR just search the net and people mite give u a step by step instruction which i had not yet find any.

 

Problem is that I live far away from BB and I got the last one in the area. Alright here is what I have tried so far:

Gateway Support Website - nothing but some wireless drivers
Nvidia - Says I dont have a graphics card that they can support
LaptopVid2Go- INstalled drivers but changed nothing

Still nothing in device manager. I am confuse as all hell. I went into the BIOS too thinking I maybe had to enable the Nvidia or something.

I have also tried to detect new hardware and get nothing as well. DAMNIT

 

ok, the only 2 drivers you are really going to need (as I remember) will be these :
1. the motherboard drivers are here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/download.aspx?url=/14528/a08/infinst_autol.exe&agr=N&ProductID=816&DwnldId=14528&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All+Operating+Systems&lang=eng

if the link stops working just search for intel pm965 drivers, easy as pie.

2. next the video drivers:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17042
read the instructions carefully, you must download both the driver AND the modded inf file, then replace the driver inf file with the modded inf file.

that should get most of your drivers back in working order. the rest of the missing drivers are at the gateway support site, but the 2 above are the most important.

I think that the problem most people are having is that they are not installing the intel motherboard/chipset drivers and they do no understand that you cannot install the standard nvidia driver from nvidia's website without a modded inf file like the ones from laptopvideo2go. i wish that nvidia would just go ahead and allow the mobile video cards to install without the modded inf. :/

anyways I hope this helps - this is one heck of a laptop and once you have everything in order it cannot be beat for the price.


Eric493 - make sure you are downloading vista 32bit drivers if you used the gateway reinstallation disk to install vista, as vista32 bit is what it re-installs. normally you have to call microsoft and pay them an extra 10 dollars to get the 64bit vista install disk so unless you have gone through that experience, stick with the 32bit drivers. (the reason i bring this up is that you said the only drivers on the gateway site were wireless ones, which is true if you are looking at 64bit downloads. if you choose 32bit downloads you will see many more drivers to download. )

 

Thanks SOO much. That was all I needed...well almost. Last thing I am looking for is drivers for the little media buttons up above...maybe I just need to install media center though or something.

 

eric493-
glad i could help. I havent found the hotkey driver yet, but the volume up/down and mute/unmute still work which is just about good enough for me. I hope gateway puts these drivers on their site soon, for the sake of full functionality.

 

If you haven't wipe the recovery 10gig partition in front of the harddrive, you can find all your drivers in there. You can either, go into each folder manually ie d:/recovery/i386/app** and find whatever driver/program you need or install Gateway Recovery Center. To find this, you still need to do it manually, but its there. Unfortunately, my recovery partition is locked again because I installed GRC and it won't let me view any files...

Does anyone here know how to view the files in the recovery partition protected by angel program?

 

Ah sweet maybe I can do it then

 

Nope cant get in same problem locked out. That doesnt make sense. Where would I get gateway recovery center?

 

Ya I dont have gateway recovery center on the computer anymore must have wiped it when I did a clean install of vista oh well

 

When I did the clean install I wiped everything, deleted all partitions in Vista setup, recreated them the way I like things to be, and did a completely fresh install. I did not install over the existing windows vista, and I deleted the recovery partition. The only drivers I used to get everything back and running were the ones in my post above. So far the only hardware that is not working 100% is the hotkey strip for the media options.

As far as that recovery partition, they use some tricks with autoruns and executables that keep you from seeing the files. You can get around it but it is a pain. You dont have to have any Gateway software installed for this partition to remain locked as they are using basic windows functionality to keep you locked out, including NTFS permissions.

To point you in the right direction as to how to get these files out of the partition, you will need to set the NTFS permissions so that your user account has RWX permissions. The hidden executable is playing around with read only/hidden attributes it looks like (since even when you have full NTFS premissions you cannot un-set the hidden flag for these files), but once you have NTFS permissions you can use a command prompt to see the files (using dir /a:h). Once you can see them you can copy them elsewhere that is not protected by the recovery software using the dos copy command (copy *.dat c:\recovery or whatever). The directory structure within the recovery partition doesn't really lend itself to a logical thought process, so you have to poke around in the dos prompt to find what you are looking for.

I am sure there is an easier way to deal with those files, but when I was playing around on that partition that is what worked easiest for me. Plus, the time it was taking to get anything out of there was well above and beyond my desire to have the media hotkeys work 100%.

 

Well I found a simple solution to this problem with Recovery BS. Because PC Angel puts stupid .exe files and other junk in the directory it wants to be pain in the arse, what I did was :

1) RAR the D:/I386.
2) Delete all pc angel stuff inside the RAR file.
3) Rename D:/I386 to D:/I386old or just delete it.
4) Extract it back to D:/
5) Find and install back the gateway recovery center.

Or, you can just keep your RAR(compress to the max to save space) and take out stuff when you need it. But they are all labelled APP*** so its pain in the arse to keep looking for things when you need something.

Anyways, I can access my drivers now, if you guys need something, PM me with your email and I can send to you. I do not know the uploading policy to this forum nor if the drivers are copyprotected so, don't ask me to do to in here.

Thanks!

 

If you guys follow the procedure to create GRC backup to DVD, then you dont have to deal with these.

I really wonder why Computer Company can't spend $2 to burn the dvd for us.

 

ya I know but the cd is confusing cause there is a reinstall cd but it is lacking drivers which seems redundant to me. I think what I may do actually is go to best buy and make one of those backup dvds on their floor model. hehe

 

If you would have read the manual they provided you wouldn't have these problems.

 

the bluetooth is not working, even after i install the bt driver from grc dvd.

 

Make sure you don't have two bluetooth drivers loading when you startup.

One from microsoft is in 'Startup'.
Second from broadcom is in registry 'run'.

Move the bluetooth from startup to elsewhere, restart, see if that solved your probllem. If not, uninstall broadcom bluetooth, move back MS bluetooth back to startup reboot. Test your bluetooth device on default drivers. If all works, then move bluetooth from startup, restart, reinstall broadcom bluetooth from GRC.

I am running my bluetooth mouse and headset right now, it works very nicely, except my headset keep disconnecting everytime when I close the bluetooth device screen, so Bluetooth Devices screen must kept open all the time. meh...

 

Did you try holding down the FN button while pressing F6 . That turns bluetooth on/off ..

 

I had this problem with mine. I got online with gateway support through a direct ethernet connection. They took control of the computer and messed around with the partition. For some reason, the gateway recovery center did not install on my clean up version, but once it was installed, it was smooth sailing.

 

Actually I can live with the "burn recovery DVD from laptop" thing, barely.

The thing I hated most is why laptop company feels like to pack the driver in a special format and the need of using a propreitary program to install the driver.

Why can't they just unpack the driver and put them in directories like "CPU, Chipset, Graphics, Network"..etc..etc..?
This is FAR easier to install and they don't have to use the program and write complex scripts.

 

Thx. That's how it didn't work.