Posts by 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

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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 …

My computer, windows xp is acting up.

When I turn it on the screen flickers and even gives me the "no signal" sign for a second or two on and off. It takes a long time to load the initial screen when it shows the options for BIOS and set up. It does load windows safe mode and I am able to move around the screen once logged in and the screen does not lose signal at all. But when I choose start windows normally the computer goes blank (black) and nothing happens.
*Last good known configuration did nothing.
*System restore did not do anything either, even went way further before the problems began.
*By the way I didn't do anything my self that should have caused this and no one is talking so... gotta figure it out my self.

Already reset BIOS and made sure everything is connected right (RAM etc.)

I also noticed from safe mode that my anti virus (avast) is off and won't scan or anything. Tried to click on it to turn it on but nothing happens.

Could it be a virus and not hardware problem? Any suggestions please, thank you!

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

http://support.gateway.com/s/software/microsof/Vista/7515910/7515910su9.shtml

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 …

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 …

Ok, so can you clarify the following, is the system booting?

If so what is the problem?

Do you mean it won't go past the BIOS screen?

Please elaborate.

Check the link to my other posting.

The computer stopped working, in a previous question I detailed all the stuff that I did to it trying to find the problem. But I just got POST card so it all narrowed down to a "no-c" code which means the CPU is faulty. I did again all the procedures that may make it work and are also recommended in the POST card manual (removed, put it back in, new thermal paste, cleaned fan, by the way it was completely clogged with dust right between the fan and the CPU when I started working on it).

The machine does go into BIOS and I can change stuff around if I want with out shutting down (which is what it does when I try to run anything else, including Windows repair disk).

Do I need to change the CPU or also the motherboard?

Thank you!!!

ps. This is the other thread before I got the POST card,
** Add to that I already tested with two other Power supply units.

http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread297497.html

Have you check the graphics card? Unplug the graphics and use the on board graphics card. Also test out your RAM 1GB at a time to check which RAM module is faulty. Currently this are the two things I can think of. Good luck!

Hi, I just ran a POST test with a card I just bought. According to the code (no-c) the CPU is dead or improperly set, cooled etc. I did the paste, put it back, disconnect, reconnect the fan's power.
My question now is, having BIOS working, is it only the CPU or also the mobo screwed?

Setup:
PC desktop
GT5656
Windows vista home premium
3gb ddr2 dual channel
500 gb hard disk
AMD athlon 64x2 6000+

Hello, I turn my computer on and it gives me the "Launch System Repair" and "log into windows vista menu" When I choose either option the computer shuts down. When going to the f8 menu, any option I choose (safe mode etc.) the computer shuts down when it starts loading safe mode or anything else in the menu. HOWEVER, the computer does not shut down if it remains in the menu itself or even the BIOS menu and settings screen, I can navigate and inside the BIOS settings and interact with it and it stays on. I have tried the following and nothing has worked:
- Put new silver paste on chip and cooling part cleaning first the old one.
- Blew air and cleaned all dirt from inside, specially cooling unit on top of processor.
- Reset BIOS taking battery out
- Tried to boot from recovery CD (it shuts down as well)
- Tried to boot from Windows vista service pack 1 CD (shuts down)
- Took out RAM and cleaned
- Tried to make it work with only one RAM stick at the time (it has 2 of 1gb & 2 500mb)
- Tested with 2 other supplies (one same voltage and another gaming one)

***There is no beeping codes or …

Hi
Looks like some OS(Operating System) files is missing or Drivers.
you proved this when you stated the PC doesn't want to start when booted normally but does boot normal when booting in safe mode.

When you boot your machine in Safe mode, only the minimum files and drivers is loaded including standard to very basic graphics drivers. this concludes that it can eighter be a driver issue or OS file thats missing. Your best bet would be to Run a normal windows repair

to run A windows repair:
Boot from OS Disk, skip the Recovery Console, choose repair the system. This will replace all windows system files only

NB: you wont loose your data

try this and let us know how it goes, post reply if you need detailed instructions

Wait, I mentioned it does turn off as well when I choose safe mode, just like it does with command prompt and log into windows (the normal way). Yesterday I already tried a different power supply which gave the same results.

Setup:
PC desktop
GT5656
Windows vista home premium
3gb ddr2 dual channel
500 gb hard disk
AMD athlon 64x2 6000+
Hello, I turn my computer on and it gives me the "Launch System Repair" and "log into windows vista menu" When I choose either option the computer shuts down. When going to the f8 menu, any option I choose (safe mode etc.) the computer shuts down when it starts loading safe mode. HOWEVER, the computer does not shut down if it remains in that menu or even the BIOS menu and settings screen, I can navigate and do stuff and it stays on. I have tried the following and nothing has worked:
- Put new silver paste on chip and cooling part cleaning first the old one.
- Blew air and cleaned all dirt from inside, specially cooling parts
- Reset BIOS taking battery out
- Tried to boot from recovery CD
- Took out RAM and cleaned
- Tried to make it work with only one RAM stick of 1GB (tip I got from some forum)
- Tested with a different power supply
***There is no beeping codes or abnormal noises

Fans work and temperature seems normal, but only read it when I'm into the BIOS settings, however not sure if it then overheats when trying to load windows.

Any more ideas???