I need help or advise please.

I'm an older guy that is at a loss with all the new advancements. I need quite a bit of help on my computer. I let my caregiver's (I'm disabled.) son try to fix it and he really buggered it up, went into bios and everything. Will someone please take me under their wing and walk me thru getting it back into shape over the next few weeks? I'm typing this from my other computer so I have internet access and plenty of time. Thanks in advance. It is a Gateway Dx 4831-01E I'm trying to get back into shape. It used to run great and fast and I downloaded and installed windows 8 upgrade on it and it has been screwed ever since. I've had the tech microsoft guys from the Philippines re-install and help and it just made everything worse. I have been fighting it tooth and nail for 2 months now and would have tossed the machine but it was a gift from my son and it (the computer.) is kinda special to me cuz it's about the only thing he ever gave me that worked and here I went and fugged it up. I know it needs help when it takes over 20 hours to install win xp on a clean formatted install. I ran UBCD a couple of programs and get a bad sector error and then I full formatted and still is so slow it takes 15 minutes to even get a prompt. I am so frustrated I'm ready to cry.:cry

 

Everything I've read says you should have the windows 7 out of the box.

I'm willing to take the time, but I need accurate info to go forward.

A mechanic is only as good as his library, after all...

 

Thanks, it's a mess, my son gave it to me not new but in good, fast running order, I used it a while and then put win 8 on and then it got ugly. I had to put vista 32 bit on a clean install just to get it to boot again. I am on it right now and put win 8 back on but still something is set wrong. I have fought this for 2 months and have bought win 8 both 32 and 64 bit, win xp and the original 5 disks re-install Gateway re-install disks from the gateway 3rd party people restore.com disk people. For the amount of time and trouble and sleepless nights I have lost I should have just bought a new machine, but to be quite honest, this hunk of metal and circuits has got me pissed-off and I am very stubborn. Here is an old report, I will run a new one now and post. Thanks again the Mechanik. I've taken this personally with this computer and I. Only one shall win and I don't need a 50 pound paper-weight.
Computer Profile Summary
Computer Name: leroy (in WORKGROUP)
Profile Date: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 7:41:02 AM
Advisor Version: 8.3
Windows Logon: kevin

 

May we have a Speccy report?

Please remember to delete your Windows license key from the report. You can edit, and then attach a text file to your post of the report.

Then we can see your hardware configuration, and see if it matches the model number provided.

You can download Speccy here:

http://www.piriform.com/speccy/download

 

It seems that your computer had a recovery partition on it when it came from the factory. Is it still there? You said you performed an upgrade to Windows 8 on the PC, but that shouldn't have overwritten the recovery partition ("shouldn't have" being the operative phrase - I did an upgrade on an HP laptop from Vista to Win 7, and that didn't kill the partition, which was hidden, sooooo . . . ). Now, if you did a format to the hard drive to install XP, the partition could indeed be gone, and who knows what the "tech microsoft guys from the Philippines" did to it . . . but it's worth trying.

According to what I have read, reboot your PC, and while it is starting up press the Alt and F10 keys. With luck, the Gateway Recovery Management program will open. Bear in mind if you do a Factory Default restore, any files you have on the computer will be gone - the computer will be restored to the exact state it was when brand new. Also bear in mind that there is no guarentee that the restore partition is healthy, owing to the amount of formatting and software installation the hard drive has gone through . . . so even if the Recovery Managment program does start, there is no guarantee the recovery will be successful. I'm also worried about what 5 disks you bought from a 3rd party vendor . . . ? It's a crap shoot. You could end up in worse shape then you already are.