Gateway GT5654 Needing help here where Gateway fails me!

LadyButterfly8i8

Distinguished
Dec 6, 2009
2
0
18,510
Hi all,
I'm hoping for some excellent expert opinions here...
I bought a Gateway GT5654 about a year and a half ago. I am completely new at all the BIOS flashing, upgrading, etc etc and since I have upgraded from Vista, which came with, to 7 (thank God for 7) It has become obvious that I need to flash the BIOS. Updates are getting confused, inaccurate drivers are being updated, and my PC is running slower than ever. I think I pretty much have a decent PC for what I need - full-time student, single mom (= lots of games, music and media) no one a "real" gamer, but my 7 year old son is working on it ;)

Gateway seems so out of the loop with 7 updates and upgrades! On top of that, they have discontinued my model right at the "year warranty" mark, and it's a B* to find anything on their site now.

SO - I would like to post my specs here, via Belarc, and see if anyone of you lovely geniuses out there are willing to help a young lady in need ;)

For starters:
Here is what Gateway says my updated BIOS should be flashed to:
BIOS version 61GW114GS for the ECS-MCP61PM-AM motherboard for the models listed below.
Release Date: 8/21/2008
File Size: 1,190 KB
Download Time: 3 min @ 56K
Operating Systems: Windows Vista (32-bit)
Windows XP

• Notice - It doesn't list Win7!!

Is this correct? Or is there a newer one? I don't want to have to worry about this one for another year or two at least!

Also, just general drivers for Win7 for my machine, the best, latest, etc. so I can get this puppy back into shape!! Links, directions to the country of origin, whatever ya got would be great! lol...

Specs:

Operating System System Model
Windows 7 Professional (build 7600)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States) Gateway GT5654
Enclosure Type: Desktop
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
2.60 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded Board: ELITEGROUP MCP61PM-AM 1.0A
Bus Clock: 201 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 11/16/2007
Drives Memory Modules c,d
381.02 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
127.40 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

Mitsumi CD-ROM Drive
SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro USB Device [CD-ROM drive]

Generic USB CF Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 3
Generic USB MS Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 5
Generic USB SD Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 2
Generic USB SM Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 4
SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro USB Device -- drive 1
WDC WD40 00AAJS-22YFA SCSI Disk Device (400.09 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WCAS83369081, SMART Status: Healthy 2944 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 1024 MB
Slot 'A1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'A2' has 512 MB
Slot 'A3' has 512 MB
Local Drive Volumes


c: (NTFS on drive 0) 322.12 GB 92.26 GB free
d: (NTFS on drive 0) 33.69 GB 15.33 GB free
f: (NTFS on drive 0) 105 MB 74 MB free
v: (NTFS on drive 0) 25.10 GB 19.74 GB free
Network Drives
None detected
Users (mouse over user name for details) Printers
local user accounts last logon
Angela 12/2/2009 12:47:14 AM (admin)
Kids! 11/30/2009 3:28:38 PM
local system accounts
Administrator 7/13/2009 9:53:58 PM (admin)
Guest never

DISABLED Marks a disabled account; LOCKED OUT Marks a locked account

hp deskjet 940c on LPT1:
Journal Note Writer Driver on Journal Note Writer Port:
Microsoft Shared Fax Driver on SHRFAX:
Microsoft XPS Document Writer on XPSPort:
Send To Microsoft OneNote 2010 Driver on nul:
Controllers Display
ATA Channel 0 [Controller]
ATA Channel 1 [Controller]
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 [Display adapter]
HP w2007 [Monitor] (20.0"vis, s/n XXXXXXXXXX, December 2007)
Bus Adapters Multimedia
Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller (2x)
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller ATI Unified AVStream Driver
High Definition Audio Device
Virus Protection [Back to Top] new Group Policies
Microsoft Security Essentials Version 2.0.6212.0
Scan Engine Version 1.1.5302.0
Virus Definitions Version 1.71.417.0
Realtime File Scanning On
None discovered
Communications Other Devices
PCI Soft Data Fax Modem with SmartCP


Marvell Yukon 88E8039 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
primary Auto IP Address: xx.xxx. xx.xx.xx.xx
Gateway: xx.xx.xx.xx
Dhcp Server: xx.xxx.xxx.x
Physical Address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Microsoft 6to4 Adapter
Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Networking Dns Servers: xx.xx.xx.xx
xx.xx.xx.xx
Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller
CanoScan D660U
Media Center Extender
Microsoft USB IntelliMouse Optical
Identity Device (NIST SP 800-73 [PIV])
Multimedia Card Reader
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub (2x)
Generic volume shadow copy
G:\
H:\
I:\
L:\
M:\



Oh... and here is this one if it helps- CPU-Z:




I apologize if this is slightly off in my post placement - feel free to move it, all you powers that be!

(And if there is ANYTHING at all you see wrong here settings-wise PLEASE don't hesitate to tell me- even if it's just a personal pref deal - what would you do differently? Anything like partitions, next purchases/upgrades,(I do know I need a new graphics card, but what do you suggest?, etc...

THANKS TO ALL WHO HELP ME OUT HERE!! :hello:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 

LadyButterfly8i8

Distinguished
Dec 6, 2009
2
0
18,510
Thanks so much for the quick reply!! :love:

So... I'm getting an official non-official goferrit on the BIOS - and it is the latest right?
Ta, W7 upgrade advisor isn't the greatest on getting current hardware drivers etc, but it has helped some...
It's GATEWAY that seems to really want to make things difficult on me for upgrading. Theres a ridiculous application there that seems to be pre win 95 :eek:
and refuses to work for me.
Since I clean installed, and without reloading the gateway system repair disks/ Gateway update utility I made holding old drivers, is there another Gateway update utility I can just download that is meant for W7 or at least Vista? Where would I run singing through a field of daisies to find said utility, kind sir? ;)

Or... the dreaded ... is this all I am left with? A non-functioning utility because I, and others perilously owned our machines for over a year? (Oh the sheer nerve of us all!) :pfff:


Thanks again , glad to be in the group here!

Lady8i8