Restore Gateway computer to Factory settings.

glenntarr

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Apr 10, 2014
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I am having a major problem completing a Restore to factory setting on my Gateway computer. I had both Win 7 and Ubuntu on my hard brive.
Anyway, it stopped booting either in Grub or from the repair disc. I never got a push any key upon opening the repair disc by manually chosing the CD/Ram
When it opened the repair window. When I ran the startup repair, It would run for a very short time, then it would say repoob. Upon doing that it still would not reboot.
So I tried the recover the factory settings. With no results.
Now I have my American Megatrends page open. It says SATA Port o hard drive supported, then SATA Port 2 hard drive supported. Then SATA Port 4 DVD/Ram and under that it says Error: S.M.A.R.T. Staus Dad, Back up and Replace. I am not sure if it is telling me a hard drive is bad, or if the DVDRAM is.
If I hit the F1 to continue, and enter the port 0 Hard drive, it says Invalid partition table. If I hit the port 4 It loads windows files, It goes to the System Recovery Options. I use the Use Recovery tools option, Click on the Setup repair, it runs more than 12 hours. Then tells me the MBR is corupted.
So then I open the command Prompt and attempted to restore or reinstall the MBR and I am not sure it if did or not. Because the reboot would not open Win 7.
At this point I do not know if one or the other hardrives are bad, the DVDROM is bad or both. I don't know what to do at this point. Or if I have screwed everything up. And will have to get profesional help.
If I try the recovorey management option, It starts to install or repair. on the Gateway page. But then goes tight back to the American MegaTrends page.
I am at a lose as to what to do. I am sure most of my problem is that I've done something wrong. Or lots of somethings.
 
"Factory settings" are usually stored in a hidden partition on the hard drive as an "image" of the original setup. My guess is some combination of the GRUB/Ubuntu install and then rewriting the MBR has made the drive essentially inaccessible. There are some utilities that might help you but I don't know how you could install them now with the current state of the machine.

It sounds like some professional help is needed if you need to save any data on the drive or you could possibly just do fresh format and install. If you go the latter route, don't do a "quick" format. Do a full format. Just be aware that a full format can take quite some time depending on the size of the drive. Of course you'll need to be able to boot from your CD/DVD drive so change the default boot device setting in the BIOS and make sure you have a bootable CD. If you don't have an install CD that came with the machine you'll probably need to contact Gateway to get one.
 

glenntarr

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Apr 10, 2014
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4,510
Thanks, thx1138v2 I would be happy to try the full format or fresh format as you suggest before contacting a professional. All I have to do is figure out how to get to the format stag, without windows opening. Can you suggest how I might do that formate at this stag. I am sure that I wipped out the hard drive trying to remove Grub/Ubuntu and thus wipped out the hidden settings as well. I do have a bootable recovery disc repair disc, and four recovery discs. I can open the repair disc, but not the recovery discs.

If I turn on the computer and let it open on its own, it posts "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key. If I put if I reboot, I don't get a press any key. And I have to go Display Boot Menu, and select the DVD/ROM. Then it reloods windos, and I get right back to the System Recovery Options. Which I click on the use recovery tools. If I hit the restor your computer it asks for an system image. Whic I don't have. Then it sends me to the Choose a recovery tool. Some of those will open, some will not. So at this point you susgesstion seems the only one left before taking it back to Frys Electrice as it has one year about 9 months of warranty left. If you can give further information It will be very helpful.