I have an old Gateway that has way too much crap on it & I want to wipe it clean & start over,do I just go to my computer,C drive,format?
I have all install disks & drivers.

I don't think you can just format a drive you're on while you're in Windows - if Windows is running, then you're using files that are on the drive, which means you can't format them :)

You'll need a Windows 98 bootdisk or some other bootdisk (download a 98 SE boot disk from www.bootdisk.com ), boot to the A: prompt and type format C:\ and it should take care of it for ya.

You may also have all you files saved on a "D" drive on your computer. Not sure what year gateway started doing that. It will normally come up on boot with a command line that say something like "F10" to restore". I forget which F-key it is though. If you have the original restore CD, you should be able to stick that in and go. yes you will probably need to download some drivers to get it fully operation. Just go to Gateways site before hand and download all the latest drivers for your machine and store them on a CD or som external media.

Shifty, I come to with my head bowed in shame. I went & downloaded the win 98 boot disk.It put it on my desktop. I clicked on it to unzip (to a floppy I thought) but it opened it & now when I try to boot up it says"drive not ready
insert BOOT diskette in A: press any key when ready"
I do that then it says "remove disks or other media. press any key to restart"
I do that then it says the same message about insert boot diskette.
What the H**l did I do? & can it be fixed by a computer literate like me?

lol

anything can be fixed by anyone, it just takes patience.

so, let me get this straight - you downloaded that boot disk *.exe file, you ran it, it asked you to pop a floppy in the A: drive, it created a boot disk for you, then you rebooted with the boot disk fully inserted into the floppy drive? Then you got this error? And when you completely remove the floppy and restart the computer, you STILL get the error?

I just want to make sure I've got this right here before I give a suggestion.

The important thing here is that you don't panic :)

It never created a boot disk for me. I downloaded the file,it saved it to my desktop.Then I moved the file to a floppy. I went into my computer & clicked on A: then clicked on the file. It started to unzip it then gave me an error (I do not recall what it said)
I just figgured it did not unzip. I next went to the BIOS & set it to boot from the cd drive thinking I could boot from the xp install disk. It was at that point I got the above message. Does this make any sense? Mike

Ah, OK. There's where you messed up. Save the file to your hard drive. Put a blank floppy into the floppy drive. Run the file and it will format the floppy and put the files onto it.

If your system came with a recovery CD, you should be able to just boot from that like Bill said.

It will not get past the drive not ready screen. I went into the BIOS & set the cd to boot first. I have tried to boot with 3 CDs(the dell install disk-the win98 disk that came with the gateway & the 98 to xp upgrade that i bought several years ago to upgrade the gateway) it will not boot with any of those.

This may sound dumb (mainly because I have done it), but when booting from a CD you normally have to watch it and hit a key on the keyboard, otherwise it will boot from the hard drive. The XP upgrade should be bootable, just have your 98 CD handy as it will ask for it during the install since it is an upgrade.

It will not get past the drive not ready screen. I went into the BIOS & set the cd to boot first. I have tried to boot with 3 CDs(the dell install disk-the win98 disk that came with the gateway & the 98 to xp upgrade that i bought several years ago to upgrade the gateway) it will not boot with any of those.


If you hit F12 at bootup you should get the 1 time boot sequence. Choose, Boot from CD. You need to have the W98 cd in the drive. It has been a long time since I installed W98 but you may need the boot disk since the CD may not be bootable. If so, then at the F12 menu choose boot from floppy with the disk in the floopy drive and the cd in the rom drive. Then it should boot the CD automatically. Then just follow the onscreen directions. You will want to format the HDD then reinstall the OS. Once that is done then you can install the upgrade. Another option would be to find someone with the full version of XP and use that cd to just reinstall XP and use the Certificate of Authenticity from your upgrade so that you stay legal. Hope this helps you.

:agree:

F12 works on Dell machines, not sure about Gateways....

If the F12 doesn't work then you will have to go into the BIOS and change your boot sequence, thanks Shifty, to boot from CD before it boots from the HDD. I think the DEL key will get you in on a Gateway.

You may also have all you files saved on a "D" drive on your computer. Not sure what year gateway started doing that. It will normally come up on boot with a command line that say something like "F10" to restore". I forget which F-key it is though.

On my week old Gateway machine it is f11. No idea if it is the same on older machines.

I have tried all the above but it will not boot to a cd.

If only you was closer....I could help ya in person. Sorry dude, I am at a loss.

Ok, so...

You can't boot to a CD?
You can't boot to a floppy?
What version of Windows did this computer previously have?
Also, what version are you trying to install OR are you trying to use a "restore" disc that came with the computer?

XP home. Upgraded from Win.98 several years ago. Here's the disks I have tried to boot with so far.
1) The reinstallation CD that came with my Dell
2)The Win. 98 that came with the Gateway
3) The XP upgrade disk
4) The Gateway System Restoration CD
I was trying to format & reinstall XP

The CD from the Dell most likely will never work on the Gateway. The XP upgrade will never work until you have an OS already installed. This may seem crazy to you but if you wanted to pay for shiping both ways, the HDD (not the tower/case), then I can get it fixed for you. Just a thought.

That is quite untrue. The Dell XP CD's will install on any system, I use them all the time to install on systems in the office which are non-Dell. They're just an OEM version of windows.

As for the boot disks, here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994/

Please have 4 floppy disks handy and use those instructions to create a boot disk set. This will let you boot from the floppy and start the install from the CDROM using the floppy disks.

Let me know if any of it is unclear or you want more help.

Thanks for the info on the Dell CD's. Everyone I have ever had to use would only work on a Dell. I hardly ever use them though.

The older Win2000 install CD's are Dell only. All of the blue/white, pink/white, green/white and grey/white Dell XP Reinstall CD's work on whatever - I have yet to see one that it wouldn't work on.

I recently build a computer from scraps using an old e-machines Cognac+ motherboards and I couldn't get the Dell Win2k SP2 reinstall CD to work with it - it's possible that it detected it was an HP system?

To be honest the only one I have ever tried that would not work was the W2K ones too. My mind is really getting old