A couple of years ago, my parents had this Gateway desktop computer. One day, it crashed and it hasn't been working since. A couple of days ago, they gave me this broken computer and told me that I could have it if I fix it (I'm fourteen, but I'm better at computers than people double or triple my age). I've fixed computers before, with boot CDs and command prompt and chkdsk and all that stuff, so I took this challenge.
So I spent a day on it, and I managed to "fix" it. Basically I tried starting the computer and it crashed with the blue screen of death with various errors, such as kernels are corrupted, drivers were corrupted, the computer was reading the files incorrectly, etc. I used Darik's Boot and Nuke to completely remove everything with the computer, and it went pretty well. I restarted the computer and I couldn't do anything because I removed the operating system, so I reinstalled Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 onto the computer. It was missing some drivers, so I went to the Gateway website to download the RAID Controllers (it took hours of searching on the internet to come up with that), saved it onto a flash drive, and loaded it into the installer. The installation went fine, and I had a working Vista.
Then I read Darik's Boot and Nuke and how the drivers are removed along with the operating system. Logically, I went back to the Gateway drivers download support page, selected my computer model, and downloaded the drivers all the drivers that I thought would be necessary for my new, working computer: the Realtek Audio Driver, 15-in-1 Card Reader, Keyboard Driver, and the VGA driver. I installed all of these, and I know that the Realtek Audio Driver and 15-in-1 Card Reader were necessary, and I got the VGA driver for video, obviously. I'm not sure what the Keyboard Driver was for, as my keyboard was already working perfectly fine, but I thought "better safe than sorry". I restarted because of the VGA driver, and it restarted fine. The resolution was better, and I was planning to get the internet driver, as that was erased too, but by this time, it was 2 AM. As I stated before, I'm fourteen years old, and I had school the next day. I decided to sleep, and I left the computer on (I leave my laptop on overnight all the time) - no more customizing or installing stuff or opening programs or anything other than what I've described here.
The next day, after school, I come home to the monitor obviously on standby. I'm sure my parents didn't come in while I was sleeping or at school and messed with it - they don't even know that I fixed it. Nothing happened when I restarted the monitor, moved/clicked the mouse, or pressed keys on the keyboard, so I did a hard reset (also known as holding the power button until the computer turns off).
When the computer restarted, I was greeted with a message:
"A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"
I restarted with Ctrl+Alt+Del and the message just repeated. F8 doesn't work. I tried using the Windows Vista Recovery Disk from that NeoSmart website (this same disk actually saved my laptop a few times). The blue screen of death shows up after the Windows files are loaded, saying something about acpi.sys and some more technical information. At the top, under "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer" was this: "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL". I retry this disk a few times, with the blue screen having different errors sometimes. Eventually I decide to burn a new Vista Recovery Disk, so I re-download that .ISO and burn it to a CD. I try this new disk, hoping that the first one was just corrupted, but this one has the same blue screen, except without the acpi.sys at the bottom. This leads me to believe that there was more than just one problem on this computer.
I try putting in the Vista Installation Disk, hoping that I can reinstall it or repair it. A Windows Boot Manager prompt shows up and states that
"Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer." and etc. Then, it says:
"File: \windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
Status: 0xc0000221
Info: Windows failed to load because the kernel is missing, or corrupt."
What. The. Crap. The installation disk can't load because of a corrupted kernel, and it tells me that, to fix it, I should put in the installation disk.
Obviously, I thought there was a mistake. I restarted the computer with the installation disk and the same error comes up. I try a few more times, and different errors come up, most of them .exe or .sys files either in the system32 folder or the drivers folder. I could press enter, where it tells me to select either Windows Setup [EMS Enabled] to start or Windows Memory Diagnostic. I could also use F8 here when starting the Windows Setup. Basically, the Windows Memory Diagnostic was messed up too, and the Windows Setup, whether I start it normally, on safe mode, or on "last known good configuration" mode, it just loops back to the error. This happens every time.
At this point, I decide to retry what I did before and use DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) to basically destroy everything again. I put in the DBAN boot CD...and it doesn't work. At all. The first time, I used Hiren's Boot CD (I know there's warez on it. I read the list of programs on the website and I specifically avoid the programs that aren't freeware), but there was a decompression error with starting DBAN. Now I'm using a DBAN boot disk, but it basically just either restarts the computer without doing anything or it says that it's "starting" and it just sits there, not doing anything.
Without DBAN, I couldn't destroy everything and restart from scratch. I need help either starting the installation disk, fixing the disk read error, or starting DBAN. Also, if I manage to fix this, I also want to know if I should install that Keyboard Driver or not - those drivers were made specifically for this computer that I'm fixing. The keyboard one seems unnecessary for me, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with this corrupted driver issue. I know I need the 15-in-1 card reader (it can barely identify flash drives without it) and the audio and VGA video driver.
By the way, the Gateway is Windows Vista Home Premium x64 SP1. I installed the Vista x64 drivers.
So I spent a day on it, and I managed to "fix" it. Basically I tried starting the computer and it crashed with the blue screen of death with various errors, such as kernels are corrupted, drivers were corrupted, the computer was reading the files incorrectly, etc. I used Darik's Boot and Nuke to completely remove everything with the computer, and it went pretty well. I restarted the computer and I couldn't do anything because I removed the operating system, so I reinstalled Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 onto the computer. It was missing some drivers, so I went to the Gateway website to download the RAID Controllers (it took hours of searching on the internet to come up with that), saved it onto a flash drive, and loaded it into the installer. The installation went fine, and I had a working Vista.
Then I read Darik's Boot and Nuke and how the drivers are removed along with the operating system. Logically, I went back to the Gateway drivers download support page, selected my computer model, and downloaded the drivers all the drivers that I thought would be necessary for my new, working computer: the Realtek Audio Driver, 15-in-1 Card Reader, Keyboard Driver, and the VGA driver. I installed all of these, and I know that the Realtek Audio Driver and 15-in-1 Card Reader were necessary, and I got the VGA driver for video, obviously. I'm not sure what the Keyboard Driver was for, as my keyboard was already working perfectly fine, but I thought "better safe than sorry". I restarted because of the VGA driver, and it restarted fine. The resolution was better, and I was planning to get the internet driver, as that was erased too, but by this time, it was 2 AM. As I stated before, I'm fourteen years old, and I had school the next day. I decided to sleep, and I left the computer on (I leave my laptop on overnight all the time) - no more customizing or installing stuff or opening programs or anything other than what I've described here.
The next day, after school, I come home to the monitor obviously on standby. I'm sure my parents didn't come in while I was sleeping or at school and messed with it - they don't even know that I fixed it. Nothing happened when I restarted the monitor, moved/clicked the mouse, or pressed keys on the keyboard, so I did a hard reset (also known as holding the power button until the computer turns off).
When the computer restarted, I was greeted with a message:
"A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"
I restarted with Ctrl+Alt+Del and the message just repeated. F8 doesn't work. I tried using the Windows Vista Recovery Disk from that NeoSmart website (this same disk actually saved my laptop a few times). The blue screen of death shows up after the Windows files are loaded, saying something about acpi.sys and some more technical information. At the top, under "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer" was this: "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL". I retry this disk a few times, with the blue screen having different errors sometimes. Eventually I decide to burn a new Vista Recovery Disk, so I re-download that .ISO and burn it to a CD. I try this new disk, hoping that the first one was just corrupted, but this one has the same blue screen, except without the acpi.sys at the bottom. This leads me to believe that there was more than just one problem on this computer.
I try putting in the Vista Installation Disk, hoping that I can reinstall it or repair it. A Windows Boot Manager prompt shows up and states that
"Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer." and etc. Then, it says:
"File: \windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
Status: 0xc0000221
Info: Windows failed to load because the kernel is missing, or corrupt."
What. The. Crap. The installation disk can't load because of a corrupted kernel, and it tells me that, to fix it, I should put in the installation disk.
Obviously, I thought there was a mistake. I restarted the computer with the installation disk and the same error comes up. I try a few more times, and different errors come up, most of them .exe or .sys files either in the system32 folder or the drivers folder. I could press enter, where it tells me to select either Windows Setup [EMS Enabled] to start or Windows Memory Diagnostic. I could also use F8 here when starting the Windows Setup. Basically, the Windows Memory Diagnostic was messed up too, and the Windows Setup, whether I start it normally, on safe mode, or on "last known good configuration" mode, it just loops back to the error. This happens every time.
At this point, I decide to retry what I did before and use DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) to basically destroy everything again. I put in the DBAN boot CD...and it doesn't work. At all. The first time, I used Hiren's Boot CD (I know there's warez on it. I read the list of programs on the website and I specifically avoid the programs that aren't freeware), but there was a decompression error with starting DBAN. Now I'm using a DBAN boot disk, but it basically just either restarts the computer without doing anything or it says that it's "starting" and it just sits there, not doing anything.
Without DBAN, I couldn't destroy everything and restart from scratch. I need help either starting the installation disk, fixing the disk read error, or starting DBAN. Also, if I manage to fix this, I also want to know if I should install that Keyboard Driver or not - those drivers were made specifically for this computer that I'm fixing. The keyboard one seems unnecessary for me, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with this corrupted driver issue. I know I need the 15-in-1 card reader (it can barely identify flash drives without it) and the audio and VGA video driver.
By the way, the Gateway is Windows Vista Home Premium x64 SP1. I installed the Vista x64 drivers.
My Computer
System One
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- Manufacturer/Model
- Gateway DX4640-UB101A
