Member Avatar for chrisismyname

I own a Gateway FX 7805. It originally installed Vista with a recovery partition. As a student I purchased from my school, a Windows 7 Ultimate installation disc. I restored back to factory default settings with the Gateway Recovery Management menu Recover(tab)_Restore System to Factory Default. Then I installed Windows 7 after my computer had been cleaned. My computer recently was infected with a "Win 7 2012" fake malware. I system restored to remove the problem and wanted to do another Factory Default wipe. I was planning on doing this prior to the virus anyway. In Windows 7 I select Gateway Recovery Management and select Restore System to Factory Default. This is where my problem begins. The computer simply restarts without prompting or beginning the recovery process. My attempts to try and access system restore at startup do not work (cannot hit alt + f10 or any other button to prompt a system restore). I think the load menu changed in the switch between Vista and Windows 7. Does anyone know how to fix this? Thank you in advance. It's extremely important to me because I use my computer extensively for school work but didn't have the common sense to learn more about computers. I thought there was something wrong with my computer after installing Windows 7 when it would not properly restart after applying updates. I think that my problem might be caused by the upgrade to Windows 7, in which I think the original partition was removed, wiped or damaged, possibly by virus and I may have to create recovery disc specifically for my new Windows 7 operating sytem. I had assumed that the partition which is still there based on the fact that my 320gb hard drive still allocates space to the recovery partition. Again any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edited by chrisismyname because: Spelling Errors
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  • Latest Post Latest Post by pacav69

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— short, practical checklist before wiping or ordering media. is right that reinstalling from clean media gets you back to a known-good state, but if you want to check whether the factory recovery is still usable, try these safe diagnostics first.

First — confirm the hidden recovery partition really contains a factory image and hasn’t been erased. In an elevated Command Prompt run DiskPart to list partitions and (temporarily) assign a drive letter so you can inspect the files:

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
list partition
select partition X    <-- replace X with the partition number that looks like the recovery/OEM partition
assign letter=R
exit

Then in Explorer or the command line use dir R:\ to look for folders or files named Recovery, Factory, install.wim / .swm / .gho, or a small recovery executable. When done, remove the letter with DiskPart (select partition X then remove letter=R) so the partition stays hidden.

Second — check the OEM boot trigger. Many Gateways use a BIOS “D2D / recovery” flag so Alt+F10 launches the hidden recovery. Enter BIOS (watch the splash for F2/F1/Del) and look for any D2D/Recovery option and enable it; then try Alt+F10 (hold Alt, press F10 immediately after power-on). If the BIOS option is missing or the recovery files are gone/corrupt, the keystroke won’t start recovery.

Third — preserve data before experimenting. Make a full user-data backup and, if possible, a disk image (Macrium Reflect Free, Clonezilla or similar) so you can restore the current disk state if needed.

If you find a factory image (.wim/.gho) you can restore it from WinPE or by using Gateway recovery media; if the partition is missing or corrupted, the fastest reliable route is a clean OS install and downloading drivers from Gateway. If unsure or uncomfortable with these steps, order replacement recovery discs from Gateway or have a tech create a restore USB from the image you’ve saved.

Member Avatar for pacav69

The best way to install windows 7 is to do a clean install. That is to say backup all your document files and drivers and then format the hard drive to do a clean install.

If you boot from the windows 7 DVD you can use the "repair this computer" option and it will go through and repair your computer.

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