Gateway DX4710-09 does not boot

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

On 7/22/2010 2:19 PM, Ben Myers wrote:
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

Ben Myers wrote:
On 7/22/2010 2:19 PM, Ben Myers wrote:

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

On 7/24/2010 7:42 PM, chicagofan wrote:
Ben Myers wrote:
On 7/22/2010 2:19 PM, Ben Myers wrote:
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

Ben Myers wrote:
On 7/24/2010 7:42 PM, chicagofan wrote:

Ben Myers wrote:

On 7/22/2010 2:19 PM, Ben Myers wrote:

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.

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

"chicagofan" wrote in message
...
Ben Myers wrote:
On 7/24/2010 7:42 PM, chicagofan wrote:

Ben Myers wrote:

On 7/22/2010 2:19 PM, Ben Myers wrote:

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.

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

On 7/25/2010 1:15 PM, chicagofan wrote:
Ben Myers wrote:
On 7/24/2010 7:42 PM, chicagofan wrote:
Ben Myers wrote:
On 7/22/2010 2:19 PM, Ben Myers wrote:
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.
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





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

Ben Myers wrote:
On 7/25/2010 1:15 PM, chicagofan wrote:

Ben Myers wrote:
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

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


That's good to hear the takeover company is still making generally good
products. I probably won't buy another desktop when the current one
dies, and just use laptops from now on. I still have 3 expired and one
working desktop. The first one I bought is the tall case... I could
start a museum of pc hardware.
bj

SC Tom wrote:
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

"chicagofan" wrote in message
...
SC Tom wrote:
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


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