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Gateway Laptop took a dump... strange.

Drunken GhostDrunken Ghost Registered User regular
edited November 2008 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
So my my gateway notebook froze up tonight. I am sad, hopefully someone can help.

Screen froze up, but power was not lost... attempted to reboot; black screen... but still receiving power and fan noise. Not sure whats going on here but it is important that I get this thing fixed... can anyone help?

Drunken Ghost on

Posts

  • Recoil42Recoil42 Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Black Screen at boot, not even at OS load, right?


    Sounds like either your screen or your videocard is busted. Pick one.


    At the very least, you can go grab a screwdriver, open it up, and make sure all the internal connections between the motherboard and the monitor are tight, but don't have a huge amount of hope for a $0 fix on that one.

    Do you have a spare monitor lying around, or any desktop pc? try hooking the monitor up to the laptop's vga port. remember to fn+f8.

    Recoil42 on
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  • Drunken GhostDrunken Ghost Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Ugh. So I cracked open my laptop... removed harddrive and powered up still no results. I assume this means my HD isn't effed up. I am getting no noise, and the fan seems to stop after the first 10 seconds of being powered up. I am just trying to decipher what this means. Is Windows loading? and I am not getting sound due to monitor failure? Does a sound card control that?

    Next on the agenda is finding a spare monitor.

    Drunken Ghost on
  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Drunken Ghost wrote: »
    Ugh. So I cracked open my laptop... removed harddrive and powered up still no results. I assume this means my HD isn't effed up. I am getting no noise, and the fan seems to stop after the first 10 seconds of being powered up. I am just trying to decipher what this means. Is Windows loading? and I am not getting sound due to monitor failure? Does a sound card control that?

    Next on the agenda is finding a spare monitor.

    This really should have been your first step.

    Alternatively, call Gateway's support line. They're reasonably competent, and at least understandable.

    What model of notebook do you have?

    PeregrineFalcon on
    Looking for a DX:HR OnLive code for my kid brother.
    Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
  • Drunken GhostDrunken Ghost Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    PeregrineFalcon wrote: »
    Drunken Ghost wrote: »
    Ugh. So I cracked open my laptop... removed harddrive and powered up still no results. I assume this means my HD isn't effed up. I am getting no noise, and the fan seems to stop after the first 10 seconds of being powered up. I am just trying to decipher what this means. Is Windows loading? and I am not getting sound due to monitor failure? Does a sound card control that?

    Next on the agenda is finding a spare monitor.

    This really should have been your first step.

    Alternatively, call Gateway's support line. They're reasonably competent, and at least understandable.

    What model of notebook do you have?

    Sorry took me a lil while to dig up a monitor...

    Problem is the VGA port on the monitor is Female, and so is the one on my laptop... Am I fucked here or what? The VGA cable I have has 1 male and 1 female...

    Gateway model MX6448

    Drunken Ghost on
  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Drunken Ghost wrote: »
    PeregrineFalcon wrote: »
    Drunken Ghost wrote: »
    Ugh. So I cracked open my laptop... removed harddrive and powered up still no results. I assume this means my HD isn't effed up. I am getting no noise, and the fan seems to stop after the first 10 seconds of being powered up. I am just trying to decipher what this means. Is Windows loading? and I am not getting sound due to monitor failure? Does a sound card control that?

    Next on the agenda is finding a spare monitor.

    This really should have been your first step.

    Alternatively, call Gateway's support line. They're reasonably competent, and at least understandable.

    What model of notebook do you have?

    Sorry took me a lil while to dig up a monitor...

    Problem is the VGA port on the monitor is Female, and so is the one on my laptop... Am I fucked here or what? The VGA cable I have has 1 male and 1 female...

    Gateway model MX6448

    Monoprice has what you seek for cables

    That one has an ATI chip in it, so that rules out the rash of Epic Failures that plagued the mobile NVIDIA GPUs. Is it possible to power it up while it's connected, and try pinging it from another machine? If it eventually starts responding (in about a minute or so) then it's working and your monitor or the connection thereto is just screwed.

    If it doesn't, then your GPU and by association your motherboard is toast. :(

    PeregrineFalcon on
    Looking for a DX:HR OnLive code for my kid brother.
    Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
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