Restoration CD's.

[ZeldaFan001]

The whole Restoration CD thing for computers and manufacturers seemed to be the best way of restoring a computer, but with Windows XP, I don't think the system works anymore.

Alright, my problem is that my sister (who I have agreed to work on her computer) has decided to clean everything off her hard drive and start over new. Her problem was that spyware crippled her system so much, that it would take 5 minutes to shut down. So I agreed that I would clean it off for her.

Well, everything is going good, until something horrible shows up. You put the Drivers CD in, it puts files on, you put Windows XP in, and it loads some files, but stops there. The screen it stays stuck on is "Please wait while the setup files are being put on your hard drive." The LED on the hard drive light stays on and nothing happens. I finally gave up after 5 hours of waiting.

When I restart and boot to the hard drive at this point, it goes to a screen that says you must put in a CD containing a previous version of Windows to qualify for an upgrade, when the CD is meant for computers with no versions of Windows.

What should I do? I could just skip the Drivers CD, install Windows XP and then put my drivers on, but there is a possibility that the Gateway CD won't load drivers by claiming that it is not a computer purchased from Gateway.

I need some help here. I know Dark Nation works for Gateway. Any possible solutions to this dilemma?

[Flash Man]

System Restoration disks are gold, for systems that are all built the same. For systems that are not they are not very good. There has to be a CD that you can boot that re-images your hard drive so that Windows will come back up. If you have lost the CD I would call Gateway up and request they send you a new one. The name "Driver CD" obviously does not sound like it is the right one. To me that would mean all the drivers for the hardware of the computer are on the CD, not the Operating System. That is most likely why it request that you put your original Windows CD in. If Gateway refuses to send you a new CD and you cannot find the one with the Operating System image on it then you are screwed. You would have to purchase a new Windows CD or get a free Linux (http://www.linux.org/) OS.

[Eckels]

dont be so obvious flashy

[Ich]

Suprnova.com, bittorent, and pirate, in blue, red and green, respectively.

Trinity rescue kit (http://trinityhome.org/trk/), maybe?

[Dark Nation]

I was unaware that I work for Gateway. If so, then they owe me a lot of back pay! :moo:

Anyway... if you've already formatted and/or done a system restore, then (if you have a full XP CD) format the system again and try installing XP from that CD. Next, go to gateway's website and download the drivers you need (there should be a gateway update program you can download that will tell you what drivers you need for that particular system configuration).

Hope that helps.

[ZeldaFan001]

I think the tool I need is a program that formats your drive to NTFS. For the Gateway program that formats your CD, it does it for FAT32, but since it automatically installs XP for you from the disk, you can't choose to format the drive that way.

Does anyone remember a program featured on The Screen Savers that boots to a diskette, comes up with a DOS prompt, and allows you to format using NTFS? I know one exists, but can't seem to find it.

If I get my hard drive formatted the right way, I think it will work.

[Flash Man]

Boot Disk (http://www.bootdisk.com/)
I would recommend using Win98 OEM (http://www.bsd.ee/~nezdali/PHOTOZ/dj/boot98.exe). Now that I think about the problem more, I have seen computers with imaging disks that do not work since the hard drive is not formatted, or the partition table is wiped. It might be halting at a point and when it halts it requests the Windows CD because it cannot format or partition the hard drive itself. I would try booting the disk and partitioning a FAT32 ( XP can handle it, the imaging software as well ), and then formatting it.
WARNING THIS WILL REMOVE ALL INFORMATION FROM THE HARD DRIVE
To do so boot the disk then type : fdisk and then delete the current partition table, then recreate it. Reboot and then type format c: and you should be able to re-image your hard drive. If that does not work I would fall back on my original plan. One more thought, you should download Hard Drive testing software to make sure the hard drive is not failing. You can grab some at Western Digital (http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp).

[Gerudo]

windows xp keeps records of every other day (at least mine does), so look up... i'm not sure specifically what that function is called, as i am using a pos win98 machine right now, but maybe someone else will know. either way, just try to "rewind" the system to a date from several months ago... :shrug:

[Flash Man]

System Restore is a feature that is used when Windows XP is actually up and running. His sister's computer is not running at the moment. Whether he had System Restore or not I doubt it would work. Every time I have used System Restore on any system it never worked, and normally the problem was a simple few clicks away and fixed. I disable it to save hard drive space.

[ZeldaFan001]

Originally posted by Dark Nation
GWScan from Gateway is what we use at work (I'm a workstation technician). Yes, it even works on hard drives that aren't from Gateway or in Gateway systems.

Oops, that's where I got that stupid idea. I figured you worked for Gateway just from mentioning this tool in one of my previous threads. :redface: :sweat:

Anyway, does anyone know if the Windows XP Boot Disks allow you to format a hard drive to NTFS without entering Windows Setup. I can't restore the computer without this, because my hard drive was formatted to FAT32 by Gateway, but the Automatic Installation of Windows XP thinks it is formatted to NTFS, thus causing a conflict and causing my sister's computer to freeze. But, if I format in Windows XP Setup, it starts putting on files which causes problems and I am unable to load Gateway's drivers.

My explanations are not always easy to read, so hopefully you can understand what I am saying. I appreciate any more help.

[Flash Man]

Did you even try to do what I said? Windows XP and almost ALL Imaging software allows FAT32. I said that you should re-partition your hard drive with fdisk and format it. If you do not want to try that then I suggested to verify your hard drive is working properly with Western Digital's tool.