Gateway won't launch Windows 7

T

TitanJeff

New Member
Newbie here with a Gateway NV53:

AMD Turion II Ultra M600
320 MB
4 GB Memory

We got this two weeks ago and all ran perfectly until last night when a window popped up saying the computer needed to be rebooted. When it was, the black screen following the Gateway logo had the flashing, underline that stayed there for about 30 seconds before "Error loading operating system" shows up.

I'm a mac guy so had to go online to seek answers. I was able to get into the setup utility and it recognizes the HD as IDE0: WDC WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0-(S1). Everything on the setup is default.

According to some help from Gateway and other sources, I should have been able to use Alt/F10 to do a system recovery or F8. Neither worked.

A Windows 7 disc did not come with this computer. I hate the thought of going out to purchase one. So far, Gateway support has only given me the same solutions they have on their site which is no help so far.

Since this is only a two-week old laptop, I am leaning towards sending it back. Should I assume if something goes wrong this soon I may have a lemon?

Thanks for any tips in advance.
 
It sounds to me like eithre the HDD was knocked out of the port (should be SATA, not IDE0), or a bad hard drive.

Can you boot into the BIOS (esc or maybe F2 at bootup.)? If so, look in the boot options to be sure that it shows the Hard drive in the boot lineup.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Boot priority order:

1: IDE0: same numbers as in original post
2: CD/DVD Optiartc
3: Network Boot: MBA v11.4.1
4: USB HDD: nothing else
5: USB FDD: nothing else
6: USB Key: nothing else
7: USB CD/DVD ROM: nothing else

I did try a swap with the Network Boot in the #1 slot and got a "pxe-e61: media test failure, check cable gateway" error.

And I did take a look into the underbelly of the laptop and didn't see any wires or anything else which looks jarred into the HD. I'm not sure what to look for though and didn't want to mess around much.
 
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ok. The hard drive is showing in the boot order. This tells me that it is reading. Since you can not boot from the hard drive, you may need a restore disk to fix it. (this is a prompt that you get on the desktop screen about an hour after the first time you turn it on. you have to burn the disk (4 DVD-R) yourself.
If you dont have a restore disk, then I would suggest that you call Gateway(ACER) and see if they can send you one.
 
wolfeking said:
If you dont have a restore disk, then I would suggest that you call Gateway(ACER) and see if they can send you one.
Click to expand...
I never recall anything telling me to burn a restore disc.

They want $20 to send me a new one. If I knew it would fix the problem (and not be a reoccurring issue), I would do it. But with this being only two weeks old, would I be better off to send this back and look elsewhere?

I have just a few more days in which to send it back if I want a full refund.
 
I am sure its not a recurring issue. It is reading the Hard drive, just not the data no the hard drive.

If you want a replacement, then that would fix the issue.
 
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