A young couple we know have a Gateway model 510 computer with respectable specs: Windows XP Home, Pentium 4 3GHz, 512Meg RAM, etc. which has suddenly developed lots of problems.
I have built many computers, but my experience does not include experience with Gateway machines.
It appears their Windows is corrupted. The search function does not search, clicking on Start then Programs does not open the directory of Programs, although I can get there by opening the C directory and then opening program files etc. It is impossible to update to SP-2 since it stops during the system scan and reports unable to load installer for HDC etc. It also stopped recognizing the printer that was working.
OK, I thought, I will run a Windows repair using their Gateway OS installation disk. At first it demanded a password which they of course did not know, but I used Winternals Lockpick to reset to a blank password (not good for security, but I can change that later) and ran a repair. No changes were made and of course all of the problems are still there. I then ran sfc /scannow to repair (?) all of the files with no changes -- and no improvement either.
First question, do any of you know from first hand experience whether a Gateway machine will run with an install of a non Gateway Windows XP. I am considering taking one of my spare harddrives and installing Windows XP on it and swapping it for their C drive. My wife had a Dell when we were married and it wouldn't allow that -- some bit of code buried in a ROM detected it was not the expected flavor of Windows and balked.
I tried installing one of my printers, and ran into the same "unable to load installer for HDC". The printer works fine with multiple machines of mine -- just not theirs. I even downloaded the latest drivers but to no avail.
The BIOS is strange to me. Very limited in what it offers. I wanted to set it to boot from the CD instead of the HD so I could boot from the Winternals boot CD and didn't see the usual menu items allowing you to choose what to boot from first, second etc. It might be there, but I didn't see it. Not much in the way of BIOS controls. No memory timing settings at all, no FSB settings that I could see -- although for what I am trying to do neither of these are of any interest. It is just unusual to see a motherboard with virtually no user accessible controls. I knew there was some reason I have never bought a built up computer in my life.
Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. I would like to help them get their machine back to working, but am not making much headway thus far.
I have built many computers, but my experience does not include experience with Gateway machines.
It appears their Windows is corrupted. The search function does not search, clicking on Start then Programs does not open the directory of Programs, although I can get there by opening the C directory and then opening program files etc. It is impossible to update to SP-2 since it stops during the system scan and reports unable to load installer for HDC etc. It also stopped recognizing the printer that was working.
OK, I thought, I will run a Windows repair using their Gateway OS installation disk. At first it demanded a password which they of course did not know, but I used Winternals Lockpick to reset to a blank password (not good for security, but I can change that later) and ran a repair. No changes were made and of course all of the problems are still there. I then ran sfc /scannow to repair (?) all of the files with no changes -- and no improvement either.
First question, do any of you know from first hand experience whether a Gateway machine will run with an install of a non Gateway Windows XP. I am considering taking one of my spare harddrives and installing Windows XP on it and swapping it for their C drive. My wife had a Dell when we were married and it wouldn't allow that -- some bit of code buried in a ROM detected it was not the expected flavor of Windows and balked.
I tried installing one of my printers, and ran into the same "unable to load installer for HDC". The printer works fine with multiple machines of mine -- just not theirs. I even downloaded the latest drivers but to no avail.
The BIOS is strange to me. Very limited in what it offers. I wanted to set it to boot from the CD instead of the HD so I could boot from the Winternals boot CD and didn't see the usual menu items allowing you to choose what to boot from first, second etc. It might be there, but I didn't see it. Not much in the way of BIOS controls. No memory timing settings at all, no FSB settings that I could see -- although for what I am trying to do neither of these are of any interest. It is just unusual to see a motherboard with virtually no user accessible controls. I knew there was some reason I have never bought a built up computer in my life.
Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. I would like to help them get their machine back to working, but am not making much headway thus far.
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