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Question

Need help getting Gateway m1631 laptop drivers.

by Jan 22, 2013 2:46AM PST

My son (who is mildly handicapped) had the hard drive fail in his Gateway M1631u laptop that did have Win 7.
I bought and installed a new drive which was very easy to do.
The problem is the system restore and our back-up discs are missing.
On another computer I downloaded to disk Ubuntu and installed it on the laptop.
Everything seems to work except the wireless. Using the lan I went online but could only find win Vista or win 7 drivers for our laptop. None would download or install as no Win system is detected.
So I put my Win 7 ultimate disc in. It will not boot to this disc for some reason.
So I booted to my Win XP disc with no service pacs and deleted Ubuntu. Now I can't get get online at all. No drivers for the lan or wireless. So I can't download anything.
My son misses his laptop very much. He used it to keep in touch with his few friends and for a few favorite games.

Can some one direct me to where I can get a restore disc for this model laptop. Gateway has no more support for this model, so they are out. I am at wits end.
I even got suckered into paying $$$$$ for what what was supposed to be a driver restore download (to a usb key) for this Gateway, but it was just a program to make a back-up of your system. It contained no drivers at all.

Thanks so much.

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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Answer
Since you have XP installed, you can run the Win7 DVD
by Jan 22, 2013 3:05AM PST

You can boot XP on that computer, then insert your Windows 7 DVD and run its Setup program. It should start automatically, but if it doesn't, you can double-click Setup.exe on the disc and start it. That will copy the files you need then reboot and finish the Windows 7 install. Once you get it installed, you can download the drivers from the Gateway web site. If you want to stay with XP, you could buy a USB NIC and use that for getting on the net, however with XP about to lose support, I'd think you'd be much better off with Windows 7. One other thing to consider would be to download the Windows 7 ISO from Digital River, burn it to a disc, and use the COA key from the bottom of that laptop. The link is <span id="INSERTION_MARKER">http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/ .<span>
<span> Good luck.

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Installing Win 7 on laptop, No success.
by m coste Jan 24, 2013 1:43AM PST

Thanks wpgwpg.

I downloaded and burned a disc from Digital River using my desktop.

The download from digital river almost solved the problem but didn't. It reached the same point of installing as my original win 7 disc. The install stops and messages that the necessary drivers are missing please install the missing drivers and then install. Well duh that is why I need to install win 7 to start with, so I can download the drivers I need. Without any device drivers the laptop can't get online at all. Not wireless, not by lan.
One more point. The Win XP I did get installed on the laptop contains no service pacs. So my "version" of windows is not able to be upgraded. Funny thing. WinXP installed with no disc drive drivers. How come Win 7 can't?

So as it stands my son just has an expensive paper weight! I'll keep trying though. There has to be a solution somewhere somehow.
MIke

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After all this.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 24, 2013 1:46AM PST

Why not order the restore media for this laptop? Around here it's about 35 bucks and it sounds as if you put more than that into some driver POC.

If the restore media fails, that means the hardware has some issue.

OR ... you left some USB thing plugged in ... OR ... something's not stock ... OR ... there is a real hardware fault.

Last idea? Your new HDD is not plugged in to SATA PORT 0 (zero.)
Bob

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Restore media disc for laptop.
by m coste Jan 25, 2013 12:59AM PST

Thanks Bob
This is a laptop so there is only one port for the hard drive.
My headache about this project is finding the restore media. The restore discs we had are missing. BOO HOO!
If I can find a supplier with the restore disc for the drivers I would purchase it. However finding one is the problem. Even Gateway has dropped support for this model, so no help there.

I can use Ubuntu and get online using the lan, but not wireless. I may just go this route.
Regards,
Mike

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I own a few devices for WiFi access. Links follow.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 25, 2013 1:06AM PST
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