Computer crash and Startup Repair did not fix

Hello All. Apologies for the wordiness of this post, but I'm not exactly a computer expert and I'm not sure what might be important (and what might not be).

Computer is Gateway P-6880FX and is going on 6 1/2 years old. This is the first problem ever with this computer.

Issue began while my son was playing Minecraft with FnD mod. System froze, and Ctrl+Alt+Del did nothing. Held down power button to shut off. On restart, Startup Repair was recommended by computer, so that's what I did. When it finished, it still would not load Windows. Startup Repair was run again, but no change.

Over the ensuing 5 hours of messing around with computer, searching online for answers, etc, here's what I found (which isn't much):

The best I can seem to do is to get the "System Recovery Options" box which gives two options:
1. "Use recovery tools that can help fix problems starting windows. Select an operationg system to repair".

Unfortunately, it doesn't list any OS to choose.

"If your OS isn't listed, click load drivers and then install drivers for your hard disks".

That led me on a pretty good goose chase looking for hard drive drivers. Best I can tell, there's no such thing. The driver is actually for the drive controller, not the drive itself. I think. regardless, I tried to download the serial ATA RAID controller from Westen Digital to a portable HD and use it, but an error message comes up and says something like "These are not the drivers needed for your system", or something like that. This is my HD info: WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0-(S1).

2. "Restore your computer using a system image that you created that you created earlier".

I actually have an image on the portable HD. Its a couple of years old, but I figured its better than nothing, but I can't get that to work, either.


My main hope is to fix the startup issue somehow and save everything exactly as it was before the glitch occured. If that's not possible, then getting the previous image loaded would be nice. If all else fails, I'd like to be able to continue using the computer, even if it requires going back to factory defaults (but I have no idea how to do that, either).

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated!

Work through the steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start.

I would use System Recovery Options from the WIn7 disk (provided) for the repairs which is more stable.

If the OS again fails to show up, try skipping to the step to run the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows. As it states in tutorial, often the commands given will force the OS to appear for repair or start it themselves, especially the final step to back up the BCD and then delete and Rebuilt it.

The tutorial steps lead up to if necessary rescuiing your files to run Gateway Full Factory Recovery
or do the vastly superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which assures the very best install possible of Win7 based on what's worked best in tens of thousands of installs we've helped with here.

Whew! OK. Why is there no "Easy" button like in the commercials?

Thank you very much for the help, BTW!

I will start working through this as time allows. Unfortunately, I'm about to start an extended tour of 12-hour shifts at work. If it takes a while for me to work through these items and you don't see a reply for a while, don't give up on me.

Two other items that developed since the last post:
1. I found 4 "recovery disks" that I had completely forgotten I had made after I bought the computer. That might be awesome.

2. I heard a brief noise that sounded suspiciously like the HD was grinding. Probably less awesome.

If those details should change the course of action, let me know. Otherwise, I am proceeding with your first instructions.

The grinding noise would lead me to do the Hard Drive tests from the Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start tutorial first.

If it fails maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan followed by Disk Check, then replace the drive and run the Recovery disk set you made or do the vastly superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

OK. I will do the hard drive tests first as soon as time allows. Skimming through those directions, it lookslike it may be possible to isolate those bad areas (assuming that turns out to be the problem), and I can continue using the disk. Or is this not possible? Or if possible, is this not recommended?

If the disk is failing then the maker's diagnostics can also sometimes repair it. However all advice is then to replace it as it could fail completely at any time. If you continue to use it, be sure you have backed up a Win7 system image and your files - preferably in real time similar to the method shown in Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with Skydrive - Windows 7 Forums.

Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
Backup User and System Files

OK. Here's what the HD diagnostic site lists and it leaves me confused:


Western Digital - I've had issues with running this from a CD/DVD - try the Hitachi DFT (on older/IDE systems) or the Seagate SeaTools (on newer/SATA systems) - WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS Download the Diag504fCD.iso file on this page: WD Support / Downloads / Legacy Internal / WD Raptor
I have hosted a zipped copy of the ISO that I use (at work) here: http://www.box.net/shared/gl0fifqgj4
http://cid-5a5378e587a744c3.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/W-D%


I downloaded the ISO maker program, but which of these is he recommending to use, since he's "had trouble" running the WD programs from CD/DVD? Should I just download and use the Seagate Seatools (I confirmed mine is SATA)? Or do I need the Diag504fCD.iso file?

Your patience is very much appreciated.

I have no idea why bold type won't stay turned off.

Use the WD ISO file as it is available now. You can burn to CD using Windows Image Burner.

I downloaded ISO and burned to CD, but it would not run..."Unable to locate license agreement file DLGLICE.TXT"

So I searched Western Digital's site and was able to make a bootable USB drive with software from their site. This allowed me to run a "Quick Test" that found no problems, and an "Extended Test" that found "Too many errors. Please contact tech support. Error status code:0225".

Uh oh.

Based on that, my assumption is I'm pretty much dead in the water when it comes to salvaging this HD and retreiving anything from it and/or fixing Windows to utilize it again.

Over the next several days during the down times at work I'm going to go over the links you provided previously to see if anything jumps out that might help. Thanks for the assist. Anything else you'd recommend?

Have you tried yet to rescue files from the HD with a boot disk which may still see them?

It's Step 10 in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start:

10. If these all fail you can copy out your data using your Windows 7 DVD or System Repair Disk using this method: Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console,

or Paragon rescue disk to recover data.