No Boot

[copiman]

I have a Gateway GT5628 desktop with Vista that will not boot. It gets to the scrolling bar and stays there. When trying to boot in safe mode I get a constant tone. I let it go through "start up repair" and saw where it said "system volume on disk is corrupt" with repair action: File system repair (chkdsk). I am assuming this is a hard drive issue or OS issue.

This is what I think, not what I know. I think I would need to use the recovery CD to repair this issue. What are your thoughts? If so, how and where would I get a recovery CD? Do not have one. Nor have I ever dealt with using a recovery CD. Need some of your great wisdom. Thanks.

 

[setishock]

Office Max sells recovery discs. For what make and model you'll have to check with them. If no joy there contact Gateway support and order the set.
Cheap way out is to just buy the Vista or win7 OEM disc, which ever is your preference. Just wipe the drive clean and install the OS. After that you load the drivers you need and you're done.

 

[copiman]

Thanks setishock. Forgive my ignorance,I'm just a student learning about computers and netwroks right now, but how would I wipe the hard drive clean to do the install. One side say to go with windows 7, which is cheaper and easier. The other says do the technical way, so I would gain the experiance of actually fixing the issue. I will have to decide. But again, how would I wipe the hard drive to do the install? Thanks again for your guidence, which has proven to be very helpful in my learning process. Hands on is without a dought a complimment to my class and book study.

 

[setishock]

If the error message says the volume is corrupt you can go another route. Get the drive diag disc from the drive makers website. You can get it in iso and mount it on a thumb drive. Run the diag and see what it comes up with. If it says physical damage or it's closing corrupted sectors like it's going out of style then replace the drive and do a clean install.

 

[copiman]

Thanks setishock. So, I download the program to a usb stick. I assume then I insert it into the pc that will not boot, and boot from the usb stick? Then run the program? I read the instructions on WD's site, but it does not say to boot from the usb, so I thought I would ask.



I finally found my answer. Just didn't look hard enough. I do load it on the usb and boot from it. Will give it a try. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[copiman]

Sorry for the delay. Been very busy with work and school. Summer semester sucks. Anyway, it turns out the OS was corrupt. I removed the hard drive and used another computer to wipe it. Then tried to load Windows 7. Kept getting a message after selecting install now that said a driver is missing and to insert the cd or usb if I had it. Turns out the optical drive was bad. Replaced the optical drive and loaded Windows 7. This thing racked my brain, which is not hard to do, for I am new to this stuff. Learned a lot on this one. It made me do research.

Thank you all for your support. Ya'll ROCK!!!