Potted Meat

My notebook is a Gateway NX570X. I've looked through all the documentation I can find but there is no mention of a recovery procedure. However, after spending weeks researching and trying other options I may have made a breakthrough yesterday.

I decided to start trying various power-up key combinations and ran across one that definitely starts a separate boot sequence. With any other combo I've tried I get to just past POST (Post-POST? ;) ), when the OS should start up, then nothing. The PC isn't locked up per say as the FN keys still work along with num lock, scroll lock, etc.

Anyway, when I hold the Windows key + R then power up I get a black screen (no light at all), no BIOS activity at all, nothing but a quick power-up of the fan which quickly fades and LED lights as though the unit was on normally! This seems more likely a feature than some coincidental glitch. Does is seem like a recovery sequence based on your experience?

I've tried every which way to use a USB stick and CD to somehow initiate some kind of flash but failed at that. So today I purchased a USB floppy drive and some disks.

The first thing I noticed was that the floppy drive behaves differently within each boot scenario. The standard failed boot seems to initiate a simple drive check like I've heard a million times in my life. Using Win+R the drive groans immediately then does a sound similar to a quick read but not the same and then goes dark.

I'm stabbing in the dark, but I'm trying to create a bootable floppy that might actually flash this thing. I'm pretty certain that I'm on to something and am only a few informed steps from success.

Do you have any suggestions about the format of the disk or what DOS to try, files required by a Phoenix BIOS system, etc?

Thanks so much

PM