Ok, try unplugging from the computer all CD drives, floppy drives, extra hard drives (that do not have the operating system on it), and extra cards not necessary to the function of the computer (such...

Or an adapter? If you are so determined to use the keyboard you have.

Have you tried leaving it alone for a while when it reaches the black screen? It could just be booting very slowly (for whatever reason).

The only thing I can think of is the CPU may be over heating. It freezes trying to boot the OS as well?

If you're not 101% sure get the wiring diagram for your motherboard.

laptop motherboards are tricky things 'cause everything that the laptop uses is on the board. Have you taken it out yet? Look for cracks/weakness in the board, check for fried capacitors and...

That most likely is the issue. Do what dogbreath077 said, and if that is not the problem, you may discover what is wrong when you take the panel off.

Thats the first thing you do is check all the cables. And check for dust in cable connections.

The clicking sound is your hdd trying to find the boot record. It usually means that your hdd bombed and is unrecoverable. sorry

This is a laptop or desktop?
And what model/make is it?

I agree with josmcc, your cpu may not be able to take that high of an overclocking level, or your gpu may be the problem. Do you get the BSoD? and if so, what is the error message and how long does...

You might try putting the hdd and cd drive on the same cable (assuming that they are both IDE) putting the hdd as master and cd drive as slave or vice-versa. Usually when a hdd is dead you can hear a...

Your computer sounds well balanced, but maybe your fan is not powerful enough for your processor? You may have damaged the cpu from so much overheating.

Right, but we weren't talking about that. We were discussing how much draw is placed on the psu.

I would imagine that the motherboards on all of your guys laptops have just worn out.

Just for clarification, your sons games are there on the hard drive, and then they are erased?

And also, your specialist did or did not replace the drive.

I have a couple, but first, does it crash or actually go through the shut down process?

There should also be a setting where you can mark a program so it is allowed to bring the system out of sleep. most dvd players do this automatically.

Thats what I had figured.

I had this problem a few years ago when I had a GeForce 7600. It turned out to be a bad capacitor. Check the video card, then the IDE cable to your hard drive, and then your cpu if you still haven't...

First of all, where was the laptop hot? Was there and sort of ozoney smell?

Xlphos: An odd thing with gateways laptops, they will not boot the bios without the hard drive or internal monitor in place.

Try taking out he HDD and making sure the adapter is really well connected to both mobo and HDD. I'm starting to wonder if this is a flaw in gateway architecture.

I recently had the same problem with a gateway laptop, it would turn on but not boot but then crash and would boot up. What turned out to be the problem was the pins on the HDD adapter were bent...

If the wiring labels on the case are different than the motherboard you will have to pull the wires out of their connectors and reset them so they are right. Sometimes the computer will turn on if...

Could it even be something as simple as the power button board being broken?

That kind of thing usually has nothing to do with your video drivers. What is happening is the back light is not receiving power all the time.
Just replace the inverter board (inside the monitor)...

I noticed when you listed your components off you did not mention a cd drive or floppy. Does this mean you don't have one? One of your drives could possibly be causing the problem.

Was this computer connected to the internet when the surge hit? (i.e. through a phone line) If so, you should replace the internet card as well.

I would suspect the CPU before the motherboard. Especially since it powers up. Have you tested it?

laptop cd drives? I was under the impression that this was a micro tower. Am I wrong?

You're probably right with the fixed disk thing.
Usually laptops have a reset button at the bottom.
Can you enter the bios, or does it just do the continuous beep every time?

Its a good thing is was something so simple.

You said in the video that the POST says 'fixed disk 0' That makes it sound like you might have a bad sector on your hdd. Have you tried booting it with a different drive?

Wait... I forgot to ask, its a slim drive so its external? If so thats your problem.

Oh! Its probably SATA. hmm... SATA doesn't need the analog...
Do you have the cable plugged into the SATA0 port on the motherboard? If its in 1 or so on it might not work.

Do you have any other psu's you can try? 380 watts is very low; the motherboard may not be receiving adequate power after the cpu is powered.

I agree whole-heartedly with suspishio. Even more so if you smelled any ozoney smell after the pop.

If you have one floating around see if it helps.

Something might be faulty on the motherboard or psu or misaligned (such as the cpu or ram). BTW, what is the power rating of the psu?