Suckin'-Ass Gateway!!! I mean, a PC question...

[Quiet_Cool]

Yes, I dumped off the Gateway and bought new. Problem is, I dumped it off on my father (for free for the record; I wouldn't take advantage of family, and I even warned him as to what it meant to be receiving a Gateway). It's doing its same old B.S.

So if there are any PC intellectuals out there who might be able to toss a hint my way as to what might be the problem, and more specifically how to, if at all possible, fix it.

Here's what it seems to be doing: The files seem inaccessible. You can't access the START menu. It "depresses" but the menu never comes up. It'll shut-down and restart, but it warns when the system comes back up the it "detects a problem with the hard disk." You can get into MY COMPUTER but can't access the files. You can run a search, but cannot access the files then either. You also get the warning that something is interfering with ActiveX and the page may not display correctly. We noticed in the search files screen that there are now two listings for the HARD DRIVE: LOCAL HARD DRIVES (C) and LOCAL DISK (C). This wasn't there before, and the first of the two is listed at the top, whereas before, the drives were listed alphabetically.

The two listings seem to contain the same files, but it's impossible to know for certain if that's the case when we cannot access any of them. Other than that, all I can say is different is the immense slowness the system is operating at.

Anyone have any clues? I know my brief explanation isn't much, but it's all i can get from the damned thing. So if anyone has heard of any viruses that act as such, or has seen anything like this before, by all means drop in and toss some direction this way.

Thanx again,

Q_C

 

[Lisa Denton]

QC did you try kickin it?

Gateway? Isn't that a sub-division of Tonka Toys?

Anywho, I dunno gateways, but here is some stuffs to do to a REAL computer that might work on that, or not, cause I dunno gateways.

Your hard drive may not be affected, if your OS is trashed it might say it is but it don't know. Reset CMOS, this is the easiest yet most drastic action you can take to save your OS, better than Systen Restore which if you have you can't get to.

Look up the motherboard specs on your good computer, then "CMOS Jumper location" and "reset settings" and wear a anti-static wrist strap or hold the case while you change the jumper to its reset, wait 10 seconds, then change it back.

This should kick everthing back like it was.

I dunno if that is possible with a gateway, all I remember about gateway is somethin about a cow, and I don't want to suggest pouring milk into your DVD tray, cause that might sound stupid.

See ya, Lisa.

 

[cantdog]

Lisa, you're a treasure!

I hope this does it, QC. Because if it is a virus, it has already done enough so that starting fresh is the only way out.

 

[cloudy]

Lisa, you're a treasure!

I hope this does it, QC. Because if it is a virus, it has already done enough so that starting fresh is the only way out.

What I was going to suggest....get your Windows disk, and reformat.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Cloudy is probably right. It sounds like your OS is corrupt. You may not need to reformat, but a reinstall of the OS is needed.

If that doesn't work then you will most likely have to reformat and reinstall. Sucks but...

 

[Foxee Browne]

Want to fix it for sure .... install a new hard drive and fresh copy of your OS. Either you have a very bad virus or the hard drive is dying.

 

[R. Richard]

First try a rescue boot CD. You can find CD's with a minimal operating system installed. You can then boot the CD and look around your hard drive. You may be able to rescue some or all of your data files, even if the hard disc OS is trashed and/or the hard disc is dying.

 

[TxRad]

Try doing a repair from the original gateway OS disks....

This might work or at least give you enough time to pull your personal files....

It also sounds like the boot sector on the hard drive is corrupt... there are several programs that can do that with a cd boot, Norton being one of the better ones, believe it or not....

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Try doing a repair from the original gateway OS disks....

This might work or at least give you enough time to pull your personal files....

It also sounds like the boot sector on the hard drive is corrupt... there are several programs that can do that with a cd boot, Norton being one of the better ones, believe it or not....

That was my first thought, Tx. But a few years ago this happened to me (not on a bloody Gateway, either!). It was Windows Explorer that was fucked up. Since Explorer is integral to the OS, it gave me those same error messages and appeared to be the boot record.

But if that were true, the computer wouldn't boot at all, I would think. A reinstall fixed it.

 

[TxRad]

That was my first thought, Tx. But a few years ago this happened to me (not on a bloody Gateway, either!). It was Windows Explorer that was fucked up. Since Explorer is integral to the OS, it gave me those same error messages and appeared to be the boot record.

But if that were true, the computer wouldn't boot at all, I would think. A reinstall fixed it.

Windows uses the first OS boot in the boot sector and goes no farther at that point.... once the system is up, Explorer grabs everything from the boot sector to display folders and files... hence two conflicting sectors....

If I had anything on the drive I needed, I'd try repairing the boot sector first and then to repair the OS second... if that fails then it's reinstall time....

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I have no idea, I just wanted to come in and see Q-C's sexy AV! I kees you!

 

[S-Des]

I dunno if that is possible with a gateway, all I remember about gateway is somethin about a cow, and I don't want to suggest pouring milk into your DVD tray, cause that might sound stupid.

See ya, Lisa.

LOL, you really are brilliant!

Be careful QC. The suggestions are all good, but my nephew had one (a laptop) and it crashed. He tried doing a recovery, but it made Windows crash. I tried installing a new version of Windows, but then his CD ROM crashed, so you can't load it. It's fixable, but at this point it's barely worth it (he had to buy a new power supply, and it was $100 ).

 

[pop_54]

Yes, I dumped off the Gateway and bought new. Problem is, I dumped it off on my father (for free for the record; I wouldn't take advantage of family, and I even warned him as to what it meant to be receiving a Gateway). It's doing its same old B.S.

So if there are any PC intellectuals out there who might be able to toss a hint my way as to what might be the problem, and more specifically how to, if at all possible, fix it.

Here's what it seems to be doing: The files seem inaccessible. You can't access the START menu. It "depresses" but the menu never comes up. It'll shut-down and restart, but it warns when the system comes back up the it "detects a problem with the hard disk." You can get into MY COMPUTER but can't access the files. You can run a search, but cannot access the files then either. You also get the warning that something is interfering with ActiveX and the page may not display correctly. We noticed in the search files screen that there are now two listings for the HARD DRIVE: LOCAL HARD DRIVES (C) and LOCAL DISK (C). This wasn't there before, and the first of the two is listed at the top, whereas before, the drives were listed alphabetically.

The two listings seem to contain the same files, but it's impossible to know for certain if that's the case when we cannot access any of them. Other than that, all I can say is different is the immense slowness the system is operating at.

Anyone have any clues? I know my brief explanation isn't much, but it's all i can get from the damned thing. So if anyone has heard of any viruses that act as such, or has seen anything like this before, by all means drop in and toss some direction this way.

Thanx again,

Q_C

I had a similar problem with Dell PC... Dell Bios told me there was a problem with the hard drive every time I booted requiring 'F whatever' to be pressed to continue... Explorer was also playing up refusing to do as it was told once the OS was up and running... I mananged to get it to run scandisk and it turned out that there were in fact a damaged sector or several on the hard drive... Obviously bits of Windows corrupted or missing in the damaged bits... A new hard drive and new OS install was the only option... Which was still much cheaper than a new PC and afterwards all was perfect, I called Dell all the shit in the world while it was playing up, then when I took out the old hard drive and reminded myself that Dell don't actually make the internal bits (Western Digital HDD), I forgave Dell, after all the Dell Bios did tell me where the problem was.

There are boot sector virus's about that will fuck up the system in a similar manner I believe, but if your anti-virus didn't pick them up then getting rid of them is impossible unless you're a computer technician and can mess about in the registry and or Bios... You firstly have to consider is it worth the time and effort assing about with it, partitioning, re-installing, etc etc only to find it might still be messed up.

You Secondly have to consider if the old Gateway is worth spending £50 for a decent hard drive replacement or not.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Thanx, everyone...

Actually, when I got home last night, before I could even check the net, I was informed that the problem was fixed (though I'm willing to be temporarily), or at least that the PC was functioning again.

I appreciate the help, and am pretty glad I didn't have to milk any cows (although that tells you how reliable the damned Gateway Corporation is; the manual said goats ). Anyway, when it acts up again, I know where to go.

Thanx again,

Q_C

 

[Foxee Browne]

There are boot sector virus's about that will fuck up the system in a similar manner I believe, but if your anti-virus didn't pick them up then getting rid of them is impossible unless you're a computer technician and can mess about in the registry and or Bios... You firstly have to consider is it worth the time and effort assing about with it, partitioning, re-installing, etc etc only to find it might still be messed up.

You Secondly have to consider if the old Gateway is worth spending £50 for a decent hard drive replacement or not.

Pop is right. It is not worth the time (and money it will cost) to take it to a computer tech and TRY to repair it. It will be much more cost effective to install a new hard drive as the master and the old hard drive as the slave to recover any documents. More than likely the place you buy the hard drive from can do this for you..... it a quick easy job. Plus they can run a boot time anti virus scan for you, it will scan the old hard drive for virus' before it actually boots up, very helpful in a case such as this.

I still say that hard drive is on it's last legs ....

Just this geeks 2 cents.