Attempting to return friend's laptop to factory settings...failing miserably.

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Kabob

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A friend of mine said that her laptop was running ridiculously slow (had been for a while) and wondered if I could "fix it." I said that most laptops have a built in factory restore partition and it shouldn't be terribly hard...apparently I was wrong. I don't know if this laptop didn't have a partition or she deleted it or what but I cannot find it.

The laptop in question is a Gateway "T-Series" W350i running Windows Vista. I've got everything backed up but holding both F8 or F10 (and those w/ALT) gives me nothing, there is no repair factory restore option in the boot up process.

What's the best move here? I don't have any Vista OS discs, is there another option?

Thanks.
 
If the eRecovery/Gateway Recovery application is still installed, try that. It can restore the system with various options, including from the recovery partition.

If the laptop has been previously "fixed" by a tech "guru" who removed those things, you'll need to back up or look up the OEM Windows key and acquire an OEM Vista DVD.
 
Gateway can have 2 disks for vista machines OS disk and application disk. Insert OS disk and boot from it. Some older Gateway do not use a recovery option in BIOS.
 
You might want to consider also upgrading the OS to Windows 7 or 8, both of which will run much faster than Vista. I'm not sure what the cheapest option is, I think a Win 8 upgrade is still $40, but look around.
 
pxc said:
If the eRecovery/Gateway Recovery application is still installed, try that. It can restore the system with various options, including from the recovery partition.

If the laptop has been previously "fixed" by a tech "guru" who removed those things, you'll need to back up or look up the OEM Windows key and acquire an OEM Vista DVD.
Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking, although I don't think it's ever been fixed they might have accidentally removed said partition or, as said below, maybe it's a discs-only restore (which would suck as she can't find any discs).

timta2 said:
If you have the Windows COA can't you download the disc image from Microsoft?

Maybe this will help:

http://en.community.dell.com/suppor...fficial-iso-download-links-digital-river.aspx
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check it out!

YeuEmMaiMai said:
Gateway can have 2 disks for vista machines OS disk and application disk. Insert OS disk and boot from it. Some older Gateway do not use a recovery option in BIOS.
Click to expand...

This is possible, unfortunately she can't find any discs.

MrCrispy said:
You might want to consider also upgrading the OS to Windows 7 or 8, both of which will run much faster than Vista. I'm not sure what the cheapest option is, I think a Win 8 upgrade is still $40, but look around.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of getting an upgrade to 7 or 8, where is the Win8 Upgrade $40 though? I thought it was up to at least $80 pretty much everywhere.

Thanks for all the info guys!
 
$40 upgrade.

Vista was around the transition time where many manufacturers were transitioning to recovery partitions instead of recovery disks. Unfortunately, many people do tend to throw out packaging, which includes recovery disks and manuals.
 
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