Gateway desktop unable to be reformatted

[mtncbcar]

I have a Gateway 2000 Desktop that was having some problems. It would shut off spontaneously and had become very slow. I decided to reformat it. I used the cds provided to me by Gateway in order to do so. I had two: a drivers cd and an operating system cd. The first time I did it, it seemed as though it was working because it completed a good amount but at some point I spontaneously got a blue screen error. I assumed it was a one time thing and so attempted again multiple times. It didn't seem to work. I also tried to use another Win XP cd to try and install an operating system but that was unsuccessful as well. The only other OS cd I had was an old Win 98 one. I used this and was able to actually get a working system on to the computer. But naturally, I did that in hopes of eventually being able to get the computer back to the way it was the day I got it. I do not know what to do at this point. I don't understand what the problem could be, whether it has to do with the software or hardware is beyond me. Maybe someone has some advice. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[ken07734]

I have had success in the past by booting the pc with the Win 98 sec edition cd and then choosing the boot to dos with cd support option. once there I fdsik the drive and create a new partition. then I boot back up with the operating system I'm trying to load. usually works for me. not sure if that helps....

 

[franklin97355]

I would check the hardware first (PSU, memory, HD) There is software out there to do most of this (memtest86 and diagnostics from the HD manufacturer) If you have the CD's I would fdisk the drive (make sure there isn't a small partition as this may have device info needed by the system. Don't create a new partition but boot from the CD and let XP create the partition for you.

The answer is "42"

 

[jjjthird]

Sometimes with those CD's that come with the PC, you have to install the progy on cd first .

 

[BadFrog]

I agree with the above posts to fdisk the drive. Since it's a Gateway I'll even venture to guess your hard drive is bad or is going bad.

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