Member Avatar for eventhorizon

This is a Gateway W350A computer with windows vista.
It has a recover partition on drive D, and I do not have any recovery CD's nor DVD's.

I'm trying to restore it to factory settings, already backed up my stuff. First problem, the Gateway recover center wasn't there so I found it in the computer through command prompt and installed it. Every time I open it and choose Factory System Recovery it prompts me to restart the computer. When I do so, nothing happens. It only takes you to windows normally. Tried from system restore, again the computer restarts and just loads windows normally. Already looked at the recovery partition, the files were hidden and made them visible. However they still have a lock icon and can't get any to run.

I tried Alt+F10 and Ctrl+F10 after turning on the computer and that only takes me to BIOS setup. F5 alone and apparently there should be another option like "Fix my computer" which eventually can lead you to reset to factory settings, however that option is not listed. Only the Safe mode, safe mode with command prompt etc.
I tried all the F's by themselves, pressing Cntrl and Alt separately and none will take me to anything leading to the restoration.

***F11 (which according to Gateway is the one that should take you to the menu I'm looking for) pressed shortly after turning the laptop on makes a small purple loading bar appear at the bottom right of the screen which I presume should take me to the menu I am looking for, but it only appears to load, and then goes to a black screen and then I see the small bar loading windows at the middle of the screen and eventually takes me to windows.

How can I get it to reset to factory settings? help please.

ps. Someone suggested already a support link in the gateway website. Nothing from there worked as it tells you exactly what I already unsuccessfully tried.

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A concise expert note adding diagnostics and safe alternatives for this Gateway W350A / Windows Vista recovery problem (thread contributors: , , ). The original poster later used the in‑Windows recovery manager to create repair discs; the material below explains lower‑level reasons the OEM recovery environment can fail and offers additional recovery options that were not detailed in the replies.

Common lower‑level causes

  • The machine may be skipping the OEM recovery boot because the boot loader or partition flags were altered (MBR/BCD changes after repairs, imaging or third‑party tools).
  • The recovery partition can exist but not be bootable if it is not marked active or its boot files are missing/corrupt.
  • Locked/permissioned files on the recovery partition may show a lock icon and be unreadable from a normal session.

Useful diagnostics and safe commands (run from an elevated command prompt or recovery console)

  • Check and (carefully) mark the recovery partition active with diskpart:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
list partition
select partition <n>   # replace <n> with the recovery partition number
active
exit

Warning: setting the wrong partition active can make Windows unbootable. Image the disk first.

  • If the Windows boot environment is damaged, run Startup Repair / repair console commands from Vista recovery media:
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd
  • If files on the recovery partition are permission‑protected, obtain read access without altering OEM payloads:
takeown /f D:\ /r /d Y
icacls D:\ /grant Administrators:F /T

Operational alternatives (when OEM recovery won’t work)

  • Create a full disk image before making changes (free tools exist) so the system can be reverted.
  • If the recovery partition is missing or irreparably damaged, use a retail Windows install and the laptop COA key for a clean install, or obtain official recovery media from the manufacturer. Expect to reinstall drivers and any OEM software afterward.

Useful cautions

  • Always back up personal data before marking partitions active or running BCD/MBR repairs.
  • Removing external devices and confirming BIOS boot order (advice echoed earlier by ) can prevent accidental boots from the wrong device.

This guidance complements the thread’s troubleshooting by focusing on partition/boot‑level fixes and safe fallback options for long‑term recovery.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for JOSheaIV

Okay if it is indeed F11 I want you to restart the computer and spam that key till either the computer starts beeping at you, or the menu pops up. If this doesn't work try the F8 and do the same thing I said before.

I have a dell laptop I have done this to countless times and have alot of experience with resotring to factroy settings.

WARNING! Unplus everything before you proceed. If you have something in the expansion car slot (Like a tv tuner) pop it out. Remove all your USB devices. All that should be plug in is your power adaptor. Not doing so could make it so that device will not work (I left my TV tuner in the expansion slot and it pretty much ignored it and I had to restore to factory settings again to fix it (after I remeoved it))

Also you'll find it funny, if you leave anything in the recycle bin before you do this, it should be there after the factory restore (talking from expeerence again)
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ALSO

found this link to

Edited by JOSheaIV because: Useful info found
Member Avatar for eventhorizon

Okay if it is indeed F11 I want you to restart the computer and spam that key till either the computer starts beeping at you, or the menu pops up. If this doesn't work try the F8 and do the same thing I said before.

I have a dell laptop I have done this to countless times and have alot of experience with resotring to factroy settings.

WARNING! Unplus everything before you proceed. If you have something in the expansion car slot (Like a tv tuner) pop it out. Remove all your USB devices. All that should be plug in is your power adaptor. Not doing so could make it so that device will not work (I left my TV tuner in the expansion slot and it pretty much ignored it and I had to restore to factory settings again to fix it (after I remeoved it))

Also you'll find it funny, if you leave anything in the recycle bin before you do this, it should be there after the factory restore (talking from expeerence again)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALSO

found this link to

Hi, I tried that. It does beep and beep and a bar (which I kind of remember is the one that shows before giving the menu I am looking for) shows up. But then once it stops beeping, you know, holding the key too long and keeps beeping even after you released the key, it waits a bit and then the damn windows loading bar shows up and bang, back again to windows.

Any other back door?

I majored in computer science so if you know any other "hafixes" I will more or less have no trouble following you.

Thank you!

Edited by eventhorizon because: n/a
Member Avatar for JOSheaIV

Okay so you tried both keys? and the link I sent you? Hmmm I know you may have done this but just again do me a favor. Hold that Function key even after it beeps keep holding it (well actually I spam the key myself not sure which works better) and don't stop until you see the menu. If this doesn't work I have another idea.

Did you say you have the recovery disk? If so go to you BIOS, set you primary boot device to you CD drive instead of your harddrive, then reset the system and make sure the reovery disk is in the player. This should force it to go to it. Let me know results, ext (I don't mind tons of detail). Also sorry this asnwer may seem rushed, I am just tired but these were two basic things to try first. I'll also try and find some more stuff out in the next few days if I can

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Hey did some searching real fast and found this

The way to restore Gateways is to hold down the ALT Key and repeatedly hitting f10 then it should bring you to a boot sequence screen then choose the HDD and then hold down ALT and repeatedly hit f10 again that should promt the restore feature for gateway. If that doesnt work the only way to do it is to boot into windows and run the eRecovery program.

Edited by JOSheaIV because: n/a
Member Avatar for eventhorizon

Hi I already took care of this. But pressing down F's never worked. What I ended up doing was creating repair disks which was the only option working in the recovery manager program inside windows.

Okay so you tried both keys? and the link I sent you? Hmmm I know you may have done this but just again do me a favor. Hold that Function key even after it beeps keep holding it (well actually I spam the key myself not sure which works better) and don't stop until you see the menu. If this doesn't work I have another idea.

Did you say you have the recovery disk? If so go to you BIOS, set you primary boot device to you CD drive instead of your harddrive, then reset the system and make sure the reovery disk is in the player. This should force it to go to it. Let me know results, ext (I don't mind tons of detail). Also sorry this asnwer may seem rushed, I am just tired but these were two basic things to try first. I'll also try and find some more stuff out in the next few days if I can

-----------------------

Hey did some searching real fast and found this

The way to restore Gateways is to hold down the ALT Key and repeatedly hitting f10 then it should bring you to a boot sequence screen then choose the HDD and then hold down ALT and repeatedly hit f10 again that should promt the restore feature for gateway. If that doesnt work the only way to do it is to boot into windows and run the eRecovery program.

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