[steevo301]

I've got a 3 or 4 year old Gateway laptop that has become very slow and unresponsive. I figured it would be easiest to just completely wipe it and start over. The problem is that I don't have the recovery CD's that came with the laptop. Can I still do this without them? How?

Thanks!

This post has been edited by steevo301: 04 November 2008 - 02:21 PM

[Thorian]

Yep. install your OS of choice if a Windows based os

Go to support.gateway.com and enter in your SN from the bottom of the Laptop it should be a white label that starts with a 002 or 003

[steevo301]

Here's what I found... Click

So basically, I should wipe my computer, then install a copy of windows onto it, and then go to that site and install all of those drivers?

This post has been edited by steevo301: 04 November 2008 - 04:13 PM

[no2pencil]

Correct. Windows will need the drivers installed in order to communicate with the devices. & what better place to download them from than the laptop manufacturer.

[ferrari12508]

Why not get the drivers first and put them on a flash drive, this way you don't have to worry about not being able to get to the site when you don't have a NIC or wireless adapter driver.

[no2pencil]

That's a great suggestion. Usually I'm near at least 3 computers or laptops, so I don't usually have to think ahead like that. But it is a marvelous idea.

[UG Cyber]

no2pencil, on 7 Nov, 2008 - 02:17 AM, said:

That's a great suggestion. Usually I'm near at least 3 computers or laptops, so I don't usually have to think ahead like that. But it is a marvelous idea.

Windows...Ugh
I would just get the Kubuntu cd, It's a great OS and is close to the "Windows" layout as far as the files go....eg "Documents, Pictures, Desktop,....ect"

It's free to download and it will wipe out your HDD for you.. No need for drivers, it will update them it self. the computer would probably run quicker too.

Oh, and it has GREAT graphics if you enable "compiz".

[ferrari12508]

no need for drivers, it updates them itself? So your saying I do not even need an internet connection? Wow, and all this time I thought that was necessary. I must be living in the past!
</douchebagi-ness>
You will still need a driver for your NIC or Wifi Adapter, no matter what anyone tells you, if you want internet. And no OS can magically get them unless a)the OS has a driver pre-installed or b)you get it and put it in.

[UG Cyber]

ferrari12508, on 9 Nov, 2008 - 06:57 PM, said:

no need for drivers, it updates them itself? So your saying I do not even need an internet connection? Wow, and all this time I thought that was necessary. I must be living in the past!
</douchebagi-ness>
You will still need a driver for your NIC or Wifi Adapter, no matter what anyone tells you, if you want internet. And no OS can magically get them unless a)the OS has a driver pre-installed or b)you get it and put it in.

Not unless you have a special adapter. All of my linux distros that i have tried, internet/network has worked.....This includes Ubuntu, Kubuntu, BackTrack 3, Puppy, Damn Small Linux, and NimbleX. (I've had to try them ALL out....i like CD-RW's ) All also worked with the old microsoft network adapter....

[ferrari12508]

I've used ubuntu and DSL and neither had support for either of my network adapters.

[GWatt]

when did you use them? In the last few years the standard linux distros have made huge improvements in hardware support.

edit:
you can't expect DSL to support all of your hardware needs. The entire distro is ~50MB.

This post has been edited by GWatt: 16 November 2008 - 10:11 PM

[no2pencil]

I've always had better luck with older network cards, especially the PCMCIA cards. However, to say that everything works out of the box is just asking for trouble. I have heard that the latest Ubuntu 8.10 release will fix the common Broadcom driver issue, however I would never say that every device will work out of the box.

[DaneAU]

If you are using Atheros chipset - beware with some nix distro's. However i do believe the problem should mainly be for later versions as i assume the drivers have been developed already for your HW