Gateway MX6960 stuck on "Press F11 to start Recovery"

If you have lost the CD you can try to do a factory reset from the recovery partition. Make sure you haven't formatted or deleted any partition in the computer since your purchase.

Using the Recovery Partition to perform Recovery.



First turn off your computer
Turn on the system and keep tapping the F11 key
system will boot into recovery partition. Follow the instructions below:

1. Boot into Gateway System Recovery - Press F11 to Start Recovery.
   
2. On the System Recovery Menu screen, press the ALT+D keys.
   
3. At the command prompt, type: D: and then press ENTER.
   
4. At the D:\ prompt, type: CD Windows\i386 and then press ENTER.
   
5. At the C:\Windows\I386 prompt, type: dir filename.* and then press ENTER.
   
6. Verify if the file name has an underscore ( _ ) in the extension. Example: appwiz.cp_. If the file has an underscore, it has to be expanded. If it does not have an underscore, the file can be copied without expansion.
   
7. If file has an underscore, expand the file to the destination. At the command prompt, type: Expand filename.**_ C:\Destination. Example: Expand appwiz.cp_ C:\Windows\System32
   
8. If file does not have an underscore, copy the file to the destination. At the command prompt, type: Copy filename C:\Destination. Example: Copy atmadm C:\Windows\System32
   
9. At the command prompt, type: Exit.
   
10. Once back at the menu, click Quit. The computer restarts.

It should be reset to Factory settings.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY RECOVERY PARTITION OR HAVE DELETED THE PARTITION THEN PLEASE REVERT SO THAT I CAN HELP YOU TO GET A RECOVERY DISC.

Thank you for using Fixya..!!

You will need your XP CD to run a Repair install.

1. Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.
2. When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will need to press enter to setup Windows XP.
3. To setup Windows XP now and Repair Install, press ENTER. DO NOT choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R".
4. Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
5. Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. If Repair is not one of the options, END setup. After the reboot read the fix at the end of this post.
6. Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.


If you don't have an option to repair, try this:

1. Boot with XP CD.
2. Press R to load the Recovery Console.
3. Login to the Recovery Console using your Admin password if needed.
4. Type bootcfg
5. This should fix any boot.ini errors causing setup not to see the XP installation.
6. Try the repair install again.

If the Repair is still not an option, try the following:

1. Boot with XP CD.
2. Press R to load the Recovery Console.
3. Login to the Recovery Console using your Admin password if needed.
4. If the CD letter is K: give these commands

* copy K:\i386\ntldr C:\
* copy K:\i386\ntdetect.com C:\

While still in the Recovery Console, try this as well:

1. Type: attrib -h -r -s C:\boot.ini del C:\boot.ini
2. Type: BootCfg /Rebuild
3. Now Restart and try the Repair Install again.

I’m happy to help further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/jeremy_69f3cc28d95bf514

1. Boot to your XP CD, enter Recovery Console and run the command CHKDSK /R and see if that resolves
2. Run diagnostics on the HDD, it may be failing, replace HDD if diags fail
3. In-Place (Repair) reinstall of WIndows http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/install-reinstall-uninstall

At boot up press F2 and enter BIOS. Here check if your HDD is recognized. If yes Ten your Windows is corrupted and needs to be reinstalled. How to install and save your data follow the link below:
Crashed Windows : No Problem
If the HDD is not being recognized then run Auto Detect to recognize the HDD. If it works fine, if not then the HDD may need a change.

do you have a recovery cd or a copy of windows xp, try pressing f12 to get to a boot menu or f8, to get to a safe boot option or a last previes known good option, or some thing like this. press these options on off on off just before it goes to load the windows. try that hope it helps

The system recovery process for your computer is stored on your hard drive. As long as you are trying to reload your hard drive, not replacing it then you can access and run the recovery application without going into windows.

The access the system recovery without going in to window:
Power your computer off.
Disconnect all external devices including printers and pc-cards (external mouse and keyboard can be attached)
Power you system on and watch very carefully for a message that says 'Press F11 to start system recovery'
Press F11 as soon as you see this message.
From her you can go through the recovery process.

press F8 for get the option to boot with last good known options it will boot your notebook with last setting which was working fine.... or select safe mode..... if its not working you can Windows xp boot able cd for run the recovery console..... for details in recovery console goes through below link.....

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

A noisy hard drive is never a good sign. It sounds as if the drive is failing or has failed. You didn't say what operating system you have, but let's try....

You can try the following but it may not yield much. If, after these steps, the PC does start up, try to copy as much critical information as you can to either CDs, DVDs, flash drives or whatever you have.

Start the PC
During the boot, you should see a message to press the F2 key to enter setup - press the key when you see this. You key might be different, but press the one it says to press.

When you get into setup, find and change the boot sequence so that your CD-Rom looks first for an operating system

Insert your backup operating system disk - I hope you have that.

If you are not comfortable working with your PC at this level, it's usually best to take it to a repair shop. The advantage here is that even if they can't get the PC to run, many shops can still recover at least part of your data unless the drive is really destroyed.

The disadvantage is the cost - which can vary widely.

Now see the directions below:

Running Recovery Console without installing it If you cannot start your computer, you can run the Recovery Console from the Microsoft Windows XP/2000 startup disks or the Windows XP/2000 CD-ROM.
To run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM, use the following steps:

1. Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
   
2. Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
   
3. When you're prompted to press F6 for mass storage devices - press F10 instead. This will automatically start the Recovery Console.
   
4. Alternatively, when the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
   
5. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, choose the installation that you need to access from the Recovery Console.
   
6. When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
   
7. At the command prompt, type the appropriate commands to diagnose and repair your Windows XP installation.
   

I woud contact Gateway and ask. It can be many problems. Did you have this laptop every working before or did you just buy it used. The HD may be locked.

Do not press restart and see what happens and also Sata drivers are available from Most drivers I get are on the web site driverguide.com but you need to register and it is free