[drgopta]

Hello, wondering if anyone can give me a few suggestions about my problem.
I have a gateway desktop DX (can't rememeber the rest, work at the moment)
It had windows 7 on it. Nvidea video card, bigger power supply.
The story goes, it is about 2 years old. It was starting to freeze up for 10 seconds at a time. I decided to do the erecovery system.
It might be worth mentioning the hard drive also had unbuntu loaded on it.
I ran erecovery ALt F10 and it eventually went into windows and was loading things after the format. It was still loading things when it asked for a reboot. I Rebooted. Now it just runs through the DOS part and cycles power. I tried running the recovery again and it formats but never boots to windows. I removed the video card just to take that out of the mix.
I installed a brand new hard drive. It now boots to the screen asking for a boot disk. I have tried windows 7 boot disks and unbuntu disks in the dvd drive and other cd drive, and an micro sd card. It fires up the cd drives but doesn't accept them. When the micro sd card is selected it just beeps a lot and freezes up.
I have spent a lot of time in the bios changing the boot order.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help.

[Advertisements]

the hard drive also had unbuntu loaded on it

Did you create a separate partition for Ubuntu when you installed it? If so, what did you use to create it, and was that when your problems started?

I decided to do the erecovery system

What kind of recovery feature did you have? Restore partition on the hard drive, or Restore CD? And... do you have a full Windows Installation CD (not just a recovery cd, but the retail OS install disk).

I have tried windows 7 boot disks

Again, a boot disk will not help you here. Do you have a full, operating system installation disk from Microsoft?

[ranchhand3]

the hard drive also had unbuntu loaded on it

Did you create a separate partition for Ubuntu when you installed it? If so, what did you use to create it, and was that when your problems started?

I decided to do the erecovery system

What kind of recovery feature did you have? Restore partition on the hard drive, or Restore CD? And... do you have a full Windows Installation CD (not just a recovery cd, but the retail OS install disk).

I have tried windows 7 boot disks

Again, a boot disk will not help you here. Do you have a full, operating system installation disk from Microsoft?

[drgopta]

the hard drive also had unbuntu loaded on it

Did you create a separate partition for Ubuntu when you installed it? If so, what did you use to create it, and was that when your problems started? The ubuntu install cd completed a separate partition on its own. I never had a problem with this, just thought I would mention it in case it somehow has to do with my other problems.

I decided to do the erecovery system

What kind of recovery feature did you have? Restore partition on the hard drive, or Restore CD? And... do you have a full Windows Installation CD (not just a recovery cd, but the retail OS install disk).
I didn't get any physical cd's from gateway. The original hard drive has a separate partition just for restoring windows 7. It has two options, a total restore, and a partial restore. The cd's i was using to try to boot from, I downloaded from another computer and burned to a cd.

I have tried windows 7 boot disks

Again, a boot disk will not help you here. Do you have a full, operating system installation disk from Microsoft?

Unfortunatly no. I thought the unbuntu would work though, but maybe not?

[ranchhand3]

I can't help you if you don't give me information. The post you just made doesn't tell me anything. Please answer the questions, I can't help you if I don't know what you did and what software you currently have. I still do not have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish-do you want to install Ubuntu? Do you want to install W7? Do you want to partition your hard drive and install both? I need detailed information.

[drgopta]

Sorry, I replied inside of the replies above, It just doesn't look like it at first glance. It looks like just the last line was the only reply. I'll add more in a few min. I greatly appreciate the help.
Thanks again.

[drgopta]

Did you create a separate partition for Ubuntu when you installed it? If so, what did you use to create it, and was that when your problems started?

The ubuntu install cd completed a separate partition on its own. I never had a problem with this, just thought I would mention it in case it somehow has to do with my other problems.

What kind of recovery feature did you have? Restore partition on the hard drive, or Restore CD? And... do you have a full Windows Installation CD (not just a recovery cd, but the retail OS install disk).
I didn't get any physical cd's from gateway. The original hard drive has a separate partition just for restoring windows 7. It has two options, a total restore, and a partial restore. The cd's i was using to try to boot from, I downloaded from another computer and burned to a cd.

I have tried windows 7 boot disks
Again, a boot disk will not help you here. Do you have a full, operating system installation disk from Microsoft?
Unfortunatly no. I thought the unbuntu would work though.

I can't help you if you don't give me information. The post you just made doesn't tell me anything. Please answer the questions, I can't help you if I don't know what you did and what software you currently have. I still do not have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish-do you want to install Ubuntu? Do you want to install W7? Do you want to partition your hard drive and install both? I need detailed information.
My overall goal is to get my computer back to the day I bought it from the store with Windows 7 installed.
The recovery system that came with it is a partition on the hard drive which isn’t working.
If I try to boot up and not use the recovery system (Alt F10) it just keeps cycling power.
I replaced the hard drive with a new one, which is looking for media to boot from to continue.
I don’t want to have to buy another windows 7 cd to install it. Gateway will no longer support my efforts to restore my computer.
Worse case is I can just put free unbuntu on it. I don’t want to partition the hard drive to install both..
Thanks

[ranchhand3]

Ok, the fog has lifted, thanks. I am surprised that Gateway will not send you a restore disk, possibly for a nominal amount with your OS on it. I think Dell and some others do, I am not positive since I haven't purchased a computer in 15 years since I build my own. I suggest that you call customer support, explain your problem and ask directly if they will supply a restore disk. They certainly have the serial # of your computer on file and you should have the license # for Windows from the sticker somewhere on your computer. Maybe someone else here knows and can jump in. Another thing you might try is to call Microsoft, give them your license # off the Windows sticker and they may send you a disk. Won't hurt to try.
Basically, as far as Windows 7 goes, without that restore partition you are up a creek without a paddle. Another customer screwed with the consent of our government that allows manufacturers to do this. Obviously you can always use Ubuntu only, that is an option.
As far as your old hard drive goes, did you ever run a scan utility on it to verify that it is actually, mechanically failed, such as Seagate for DOS (free)?