Gateway DX4710-09 does not boot

Post by Ben Myers
I have a Gateway DX4710-09 tower system to figure out here. It does not
boot. Instead, after going thru the BIOS routine and the AHCI BIOS
stuff, it simply stops with a blinking cursor, like there is no boot
record or something. System is Intel dual core with 6GB memory, 640GB WD
drive and 64-bit Vista.
Question, not answered anywhere in the Gateway documents: Is he default
SATA drive setting AHCI or IDE when delivered from the factory??? I've
tried both settings to no avail. Ultimate Boot Disk sees the drive as an
NTFS drive.
All the other BIOS settings look normal and reasonable, and the system
CMOS battery was replaced recently, because that is a cheap fix if it
works... Ben Myers

Fixed. Here's what I did on advice from a friend. First, I set the
BIOS to AHCI. Next, I rebooted and pressed F8. This got me into
Vista's non-destructive recovery, so I ran the recovery, after which the
system booted up just fine.

As is often the case with good old Windows, there are no clues as to
what went wrong in the first place.

I was able to do some Windows updates, but not Vista SP2 for the usual
8-digit hex code reason. I'll leave that up to the owner to figure out.
I spent enough time with it... Ben

chicagofan

2010-07-24 23:42:25 UTC

Fixed. Here's what I did on advice from a friend. First, I set the
BIOS to AHCI. Next, I rebooted and pressed F8. This got me into
Vista's non-destructive recovery, so I ran the recovery, after which the
system booted up just fine.
As is often the case with good old Windows, there are no clues as to
what went wrong in the first place.
I was able to do some Windows updates, but not Vista SP2 for the usual
8-digit hex code reason. I'll leave that up to the owner to figure out.
I spent enough time with it... Ben

Glad you got the problem solved, since the other smart, technical people
like you are on vacation. :)
bj

Ben Myers

2010-07-25 15:26:49 UTC

I have a Gateway DX4710-09 tower system to figure out here. It does not
boot. Instead, after going thru the BIOS routine and the AHCI BIOS
stuff, it simply stops with a blinking cursor, like there is no boot
record or something. System is Intel dual core with 6GB memory, 640GB WD
drive and 64-bit Vista.
Question, not answered anywhere in the Gateway documents: Is he default
SATA drive setting AHCI or IDE when delivered from the factory??? I've
tried both settings to no avail. Ultimate Boot Disk sees the drive as an
NTFS drive.
All the other BIOS settings look normal and reasonable, and the system
CMOS battery was replaced recently, because that is a cheap fix if it
works... Ben Myers

Fixed. Here's what I did on advice from a friend. First, I set the
BIOS to AHCI. Next, I rebooted and pressed F8. This got me into
Vista's non-destructive recovery, so I ran the recovery, after which the
system booted up just fine.
As is often the case with good old Windows, there are no clues as to
what went wrong in the first place.
I was able to do some Windows updates, but not Vista SP2 for the usual
8-digit hex code reason. I'll leave that up to the owner to figure out.
I spent enough time with it... Ben

Glad you got the problem solved, since the other smart, technical people
like you are on vacation. :)
bj

That's why I have people to call on the phone to share horror stories
and solutions to problems. When a newsgroup goes on vacation, someone
on the phone may be able to help. And vice versa.

Vista stinks. So do the recover partitions now favored by
Acer-eGateMachines and most others. Cheaper than including DVDs in the
package with a system sold, and pathetically unreliable, especially when
a hard drive goes way south... Ben Myers

chicagofan

2010-07-25 17:15:17 UTC

Fixed. Here's what I did on advice from a friend. First, I set the
BIOS to AHCI. Next, I rebooted and pressed F8. This got me into
Vista's non-destructive recovery, so I ran the recovery, after which the
system booted up just fine.
As is often the case with good old Windows, there are no clues as to
what went wrong in the first place.
I was able to do some Windows updates, but not Vista SP2 for the usual
8-digit hex code reason. I'll leave that up to the owner to figure out.
I spent enough time with it... Ben

Glad you got the problem solved, since the other smart, technical people
like you are on vacation. :)
bj

That's why I have people to call on the phone to share horror stories
and solutions to problems. When a newsgroup goes on vacation, someone
on the phone may be able to help. And vice versa.
Vista stinks. So do the recover partitions now favored by
Acer-eGateMachines and most others. Cheaper than including DVDs in the
package with a system sold, and pathetically unreliable, especially when
a hard drive goes way south... Ben Myers

I hate to hear you say that about Acer-eGate machines, because Gateway
has been my choice for 20 yrs or more. This Gateway laptop has lasted 4
yrs. with no problems, don't know where I should go, when it finally
dies. :( Glad I chose not to go with Vista when I bought it.
bj

SC Tom

2010-07-25 20:31:22 UTC

Fixed. Here's what I did on advice from a friend. First, I set the
BIOS to AHCI. Next, I rebooted and pressed F8. This got me into
Vista's non-destructive recovery, so I ran the recovery, after which the
system booted up just fine.
As is often the case with good old Windows, there are no clues as to
what went wrong in the first place.
I was able to do some Windows updates, but not Vista SP2 for the usual
8-digit hex code reason. I'll leave that up to the owner to figure out.
I spent enough time with it... Ben

Glad you got the problem solved, since the other smart, technical people
like you are on vacation. :)
bj

That's why I have people to call on the phone to share horror stories
and solutions to problems. When a newsgroup goes on vacation, someone
on the phone may be able to help. And vice versa.
Vista stinks. So do the recover partitions now favored by
Acer-eGateMachines and most others. Cheaper than including DVDs in the
package with a system sold, and pathetically unreliable, especially when
a hard drive goes way south... Ben Myers

I hate to hear you say that about Acer-eGate machines, because Gateway has
been my choice for 20 yrs or more. This Gateway laptop has lasted 4 yrs.
with no problems, don't know where I should go, when it finally dies.
:( Glad I chose not to go with Vista when I bought it.
bj

I agree with Ben about Vista. When I got my Gateway notebook, it came with
Vista, and after a couple of weeks in hell, I couldn't wait for Windows 7 to
come out, hoping that it would be better. Thankfully, it is (at least to me
it is, and I guess that's what counts).

Luckily, I followed the instructions on how to create a recovery DVD for
this machine since the hard drive went south about a month or two after I
bought it. We won't go into the story of how pathetic Gateway's support
service is. Suffice it to say that after running around in circles with them
for about 6 months, I never got a replacement drive for the one I sent back.

--
SC Tom

chicagofan

2010-07-28 16:01:44 UTC

Post by SC Tom
I agree with Ben about Vista. When I got my Gateway notebook, it came with
Vista, and after a couple of weeks in hell, I couldn't wait for Windows 7 to
come out, hoping that it would be better. Thankfully, it is (at least to me
it is, and I guess that's what counts).
Luckily, I followed the instructions on how to create a recovery DVD for
this machine since the hard drive went south about a month or two after I
bought it. We won't go into the story of how pathetic Gateway's support
service is. Suffice it to say that after running around in circles with them
for about 6 months, I never got a replacement drive for the one I sent back.

Sorry about your problem. In all these years, I have never had to call
Gateway Support. Sure hope that continues, and you have no more
problems. :)
bj

SC Tom

2010-07-28 17:27:41 UTC

Sorry about your problem. In all these years, I have never had to call
Gateway Support. Sure hope that continues, and you have no more problems.
:)
bj

I've had no problems since, except that there were never any Win7 drivers
created/released for the for my notebook. It's an M6850-FX and was only a
little over a year old when Windows 7 came out. I've made do with Vista and
Intel drivers, and it runs great. I increased the RAM from 3GB to 4GB, and
swapped the T5550 CPU with a T8300. I bought it for the dedicated video chip
and video RAM, and have not been disappointed with it other than the HDD
crash and lack of support. It runs everything I want to run, and runs it
well, and that's what I wanted it to do. Since upgrading to Win7, I have had
no BSODs, which is more than I can say about when I had Vista.

--
SC Tom

Ben Myers

2010-07-28 19:07:56 UTC

Post by SC Tom

Sorry about your problem. In all these years, I have never had to call
Gateway Support. Sure hope that continues, and you have no more
problems. :)
bj

I've had no problems since, except that there were never any Win7
drivers created/released for the for my notebook. It's an M6850-FX and
was only a little over a year old when Windows 7 came out. I've made do
with Vista and Intel drivers, and it runs great. I increased the RAM
from 3GB to 4GB, and swapped the T5550 CPU with a T8300. I bought it for
the dedicated video chip and video RAM, and have not been disappointed
with it other than the HDD crash and lack of support. It runs everything
I want to run, and runs it well, and that's what I wanted it to do.
Since upgrading to Win7, I have had no BSODs, which is more than I can
say about when I had Vista.

As a rule, none of the name brand marketing companies (they are
marketing companies, not manufacturers!) like Acer-eGateMachines, Dell,
HPaq, Lenovo, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Sony ever bothers to issue drivers for a
new operating system. Just ask what's in it for them? Customer
satisfaction adds $0.00 to the accounting ledger in the short term, so
why do it?

In other words, Gateway is no better and no worse than others in this
regard.

Fortunately, your M6850-FX is new enough and it uses mainstream chips
and chipsets, so you were able to find drivers elsewhere, not at the
Gateway web site. Also, Microsoft did not change the hardware driver
model going from Vista to Windows 7, so the Vista drivers generally work
with Windows 7. I guess they did not want to piss off the world again
with Windows 7. They customarily change driver models with major OS
releases, e.g. NT to 2000 to XP to Vista.

As a rule, drivers from Intel and other chip manufacturers are more up
to date and defect-free than the ones at the name brand company websites.

Lenovo, with its mostly business-oriented laptops does post some drivers
for operating systems newer than its laptops... Ben Myers

Ben Myers

2010-07-26 03:40:12 UTC

Fixed. Here's what I did on advice from a friend. First, I set the
BIOS to AHCI. Next, I rebooted and pressed F8. This got me into
Vista's non-destructive recovery, so I ran the recovery, after which the
system booted up just fine.
As is often the case with good old Windows, there are no clues as to
what went wrong in the first place.
I was able to do some Windows updates, but not Vista SP2 for the usual
8-digit hex code reason. I'll leave that up to the owner to figure out.
I spent enough time with it... Ben

Glad you got the problem solved, since the other smart, technical people
like you are on vacation. :)
bj

That's why I have people to call on the phone to share horror stories
and solutions to problems. When a newsgroup goes on vacation, someone
on the phone may be able to help. And vice versa.
Vista stinks. So do the recover partitions now favored by
Acer-eGateMachines and most others. Cheaper than including DVDs in the
package with a system sold, and pathetically unreliable, especially when
a hard drive goes way south... Ben Myers

The Acer-eGateMachines I have handled in recent years still seem to be
of pretty good quality except for the notoriously failure-prone Bestec
power supplies that turn up inside the desktop and tower case computers.
But they are now in good company, FWIW. HPaq uses Bestec, too. When
a Bestec fails, it generally takes down the motherboard with it.

I have no problem with Acer-eGateMachines overall. I'll repeat. VISTA
stinks. Recovery partitions stink... Ben Myers

chicagofan

2010-07-28 15:58:19 UTC