I'm having a similar problem with my gateway. I press the start button(from a cold start). Lights flicker once but from then on only the fan spins. To get it to boot I would have to strike the bottom several times in several places. So I figured that somthing was loos or the HD war going.

Why might the above mentioned repair work. When I try to start the machine it is cold. What do you thing about this.

TIA, D.