Hello the I had the exact same issue with my computer and the hard drive
had to be replaced. I did get the exetended warranty from Best Buy my
computer was sent back to Gateway to get the new hard drive installed.
When I bought my this computer the guys at Geek Squad took out my hard
drive from my Dell and installed in on the Gateway, so I have two hard
drives on this computer. It took the tech about three minutes to do this
installaion.

So to answer your questions, yes the hard drive does need to be
replaced I think in order to fix the issue, and if you are hands on as I
am I think you install the hard drive yourself if you are walked
through the steps on the phone.

FYI I only got my computer back today, so I cannot comments on if
replacing the hard driver is a permanent solution to our
problems.


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csgannes
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