To make a very long story short, my "computer forgot its name," and I
"system restore" in "accessories" was removed. All Gateway
applications were removed. I even went into DOS. I also lost all
internet capabilities. When I called my provider, and told the tech
the error I was getting, he said that he had heard of that error
before, but had never encountered it. He sent my problem "up one
level," and they told me to reformat and restore my operating system.
The error, which I can't remember right now, stated that the computer
couldn't find a specific file it needed. So, you see, my avenues to
do a restore from Windows or Gateway were eliminated.
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You keep saying "restore". You apparently never got "recovery" discs
from Gateway, but DID get an actual XP install disc. And when you
used that, it formatted your disc, removing everything.
You're screwed, to put it bluntly, if you have no RECOVERY discs.