Gateway LT41p wont boot off any media or install Win8 or 7

aj01701

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Im helping a friend with Gateway LT41p05u netbook (32bit) which was dropped while running and ruined the HDD. Every attempt to image the original HDD has failed so the original OS seams to be lost thus far. So i figured i could install a copy of windows 8 no problem, as ive done so many times before. Well its turned out to be not so simple.

I can not boot off of external USB CD drive, or USB flash drive(made a bootable flash with an iso of win7 & 8 with RUFUS) no matter what i do. Ive disabled the the secure boot in the bios (InsydeH20 Rev. 5.0). Ive also enabled F12 boot menu, disabled and re enabled D2D Recovery and network boot, tried changing the SATA mode from ACH to IDE and back again, and changed the boot priority so it sees all USB options before anything else. If i let the machine boot by itself it brings up a message saying "Default boot device missing or boot failed. Insert recovery media and hit any key. Then select boot manager to choose a new boot device or to boot recovery media." Once i go to the boot manager my boot options are limited to one option, "1.yes". I can try to page up and down and no new options appear. Same is true if i f12 into boot manager. if i select yes it doesnt do anything other then refresh the screen.

After doing more research i came across an artical saying that some data on a HDD could cause boot/load failure during a windows install on a UEFI enabled machine so ive even wiped the new HDD with acronis. Seams to have had little affect. Only thing its changed is now the boot manager has no options to boot off of.

I was able to trick the computer a couple of time into seeing my external DVD drive by doing a hard boot and holding f12, but even after getting the "hit any key to boot from cd/dvd..." message ive been unable to load an OS on this machine. After the "hit any key to boot..." i get a black and white screen with an error message telling me to insert the recovery media and a error code.

For testing purposes ive tried to boot off of MSDART and hirens, both of which ive had no luck.

I just dont get what could be causing my issue . Secure boot is disabled, USB is set as top boot priority, there is no legacy boot option but even in uefi mode ive never had issues with booting anything, especially with MSDART for windows 8.

Any input into this issue is greatly appreciated!! Im out of ideas on what to try next to load an OS on this machine.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    FX9370
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    16GB GSkill
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX560ti
    Hard Drives
    SSD 120GB
    HDD 4T
    PSU
    Corsair 850w
    Case
    Scout II
    Cooling
    H80i
Sounds like more than the hard drive may have been damaged in the fall. Have you tried resetting the BIOS to fail safe defaults?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
i thought the same until we tried the HDD out of an Acer netbook of simular specs. I know this is not a good idea to use the Acer's HDD because of the difference in hardware and drivers etc, however for testing purposes it boots to windows 8 without issue. Otherwise i would just image the Acer's HDD and call it good instead of trying to do a fresh load on the Gateway.

Only other odd thing ive noticed in the bios of the gateway is sometimes under HDD Password it will say Frozen. If i do a cold/hard boot, as in pull the battery and power cord from the computer for a minute, i can get it to say Clear, otherwise im unable to modify this field in the bios. I know some windows 8 machines have bios settings that can only be modified if you access them from windows 8. Im unsure if this is one of those settings on this particular model.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    FX9370
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    16GB GSkill
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX560ti
    Hard Drives
    SSD 120GB
    HDD 4T
    PSU
    Corsair 850w
    Case
    Scout II
    Cooling
    H80i
Ah, your not accessing the BIOS from Windows? What OS is installed should have no bearing on what BIOS options are presented. The BIOS loads before the OS and can be accessed with no OS being installed on the device. That's the first I've heard about certain settings only being modified if you access them from Windows 8.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
I literally just signed up to post this reply. I have the very same issue, same model.

Yet, when I phoned customer service, they told me otherwise. In fact, they told me (and I quote):

"They have done no such thing with this model and there is no reason for it to refuse to boot to external drive/usb. The option is there."

I have even posted a topic with more detail on superuser.com: https://superuser.com/questions/777440/mini-book-refuses-to-boot-from-usb-lt41p


Have you found a solution to this? Apparently it can be done but this damn laptop just wants to stands it's ground. Right now, VBox is my only working solution.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 (x32)
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