Gateway Notebook Won't Boot, Fan Kicks On

[scottab123]

Greetings.

I was standing beside my notebook PC when the screen suddenly went blank. I thought it odd that the screen would blank when it was still on, so I attempted to reboot. No luck. The lights come on and it sounds like it accesses some internal components for a brief moment, then the fan kicks on, then nothing. The screen never flickers, no beeps, nada. Ctrl+Alt+Del won't force a restart. I'm running XP Home edition (but it seems like a hardware issue to me). How can I diagnose the problem? Is it the screen, or do I maybe have some other pesky problem like a failed power supply? Any consideration given this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

[scottab123]

***UPDATE***

I have tried to start it a couple more times, and once it did go through BIOS and begin booting Windows, so my monitor is not the problem. The internal component that I can hear it accessing is the CD-ROM drive. It did flash up a blue screen, but it then powered off too fast for me to read the error message. I'll continue trying to start it and see if I can get any more information.

[quickpcrepair]

Ironically enough, it actually sounds like maybe your fan isn't kicking on! The first symptoms, where you immediately tried to power it back on with no result, followed by attempting at a later time to power it on, meeting with some success, then having the system shutdown on you, could indicate overheating. You should have a model where you can see a fan through a plastic grill somewhere on the bottom or side. Try to see if you can spot a fan, and if it is indeed rotating. If not, try to see if you can at least sense air movement. I know that a lot of laptop models don't have system monitoring information in their BIOS's, but check anyway to see if you can get a readout on the cpu temp. Finally - maybe this is a power related issue - try removing the battery, and only running on the adapter's power. Then try with just the battery. Keep us updated!

-Matt
Quick PC Repair (Serving San Diego, CA)
www.quickpcrepair.com

[scottab123]

First off, thanks for your reply Matt. Here's the results:

The fan is indeed whirring around like a dervish. I can see it turning. Placing my hand by the vent also indicates the fan is moving the air.

I tried booting exclusively with the battery and then exlusively with the AC adapter, neither of which seemed to have an impact.

At this point, your suggestion that it may be overheating makes a lot of sense to me, as it will not start up at all if I try to immediately or successively restart after a failure. However, if I let it sit for at least half an hour, it will begin booting up and start loading Windows before the screen goes blank and it becomes nonresponsive. Any ideas on how to check to see if this is the problem? (Funny thoughts of me trying to boot up my computer inside my refrigerator suddenly sprung up... I should go to sleep.)

Again, thanks for you input.

Scott

[quickpcrepair]

If you enter BIOS (setup) while the system is booting, you may be able to see the cpu temp - but that is often missing from laptop BIOS's. To enter BIOS, press F1/F2/F11/F12/Esc/Del/whatever it states will cause you to enter setup while the system is booting. If you just see a system logo, try hitting Tab or Esc to see the post diagnostics. Once in BIOS, try to find a section (often called System or Hardware Monitoring) that will give you your cpu temp.

Also, note that many newer models of laptops have multiple fan vents. Is air flowing out of every vent?

-Matt
Quick PC Repair (Serving San Diego, CA)
www.quickpcrepair.com

[scottab123]

Matt,

A friend suggested that I reseat my hardrive and memory. I thought that seemed bogus, but was ready to give anything a try. Sure enough, the computer boots fine now that I took them out and reseated them. I don't know why that would work, as I could see no indication that they were not seated properly. Oh well, I'm just glad it's working again. Still, it seems a little like voodoo.

[scottab123]

Doah! Reseating the hardrive and memory must not have fixed the problem, and actually was probably not related to my problem at all, as the problem has resurfaced, despite re-reseating the hardrive and memory. Instead, this time I took off the cover and watched all the fans while I tried to start it up, and one of the three fans does not move. I guess I need to replace it.

[teresalynne]

Greetings.

I was standing beside my notebook PC when the screen suddenly went blank. I thought it odd that the screen would blank when it was still on, so I attempted to reboot. No luck. The lights come on and it sounds like it accesses some internal components for a brief moment, then the fan kicks on, then nothing. The screen never flickers, no beeps, nada. Ctrl+Alt+Del won't force a restart. I'm running XP Home edition (but it seems like a hardware issue to me). How can I diagnose the problem? Is it the screen, or do I maybe have some other pesky problem like a failed power supply? Any consideration given this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

i'm new to daniweb and hope i'm doing this right. my gateway m675 would go dead. it's a battery problem. i removed the battery, held the on/off button down for 30 secs which causes the system to do to default settings, then put battery back in and power up. and bought a new battery. the gateway support guy told me what i do.

[morganfalk]

i'm new to daniweb and hope i'm doing this right. my gateway m675 would go dead. it's a battery problem. i removed the battery, held the on/off button down for 30 secs which causes the system to do to default settings, then put battery back in and power up. and bought a new battery. the gateway support guy told me what i do.

First of all, I am NOT fond of Gateway. Enough said.

Your refridgerator idea is actually used in some circles!!! Put the hard drive in the freezer for 30 minutes and then reinstall. Wild, huh!

Is there another 2.5" hard drive you could install in your machine? Maybe you have a brave friend or spouse who would let you give it a shot. That would give you an idea of which component is the culprit. If their HD doesn't work it's probably not yours either. On the other hand if theirs does work ...

Can you get into safe mode and reset the computer to last good configuration? Then you'll know if you have a buggy program, or other download

If your hard drive is truly crashing, you should stop trying to boot it up, take it out of the pc, get one of those little cases that makes internal drives portable. They only cost $20.00 or so. Then plug it into another pc and see if you can access the files, back them up, and return your HD to your machine. Then put your windows disk in the drive and repair the disk - or better yet wipe it and reload for a fresh new computer

If your virus protection is not up to date, go to eset.com and download this program. Runs in the background using almost 0 resources! Also spyware - Windows Defender - Microsoft.com - freeware. You can't beat it.

I hope I wasn't too long winded and that you just need a fan to fix your problem!!! Good Luck

Morgan

[cballard]

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[brendar7639]

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[ghhorns]

gateway ms2274 will power on for about 10 seconds and turn off. I can see the fan start but turn off after about 10 seconds

[gatewaycrisis]

I am having the same issue but I am afraid to turn on the computer because I haven't backed up files in the last six months and don't want to do any more damage. What would you recommend to salvage the files or to get the compute to boot?

[mhirman]

My Gateway NV53a was working fine this afternoon. I shut it down not it will not boot up. The power button glows blue but nothing happens. Please help...is it dead?

[rproffitt]

Just checking. Is yours like the one in this 10YO discussion? Probably not. I'm sure you googled and found a lot of dead NV53a's on the web so one last hurrah.

Unplug the charger.
Remove the battery.
Press and hold the power button for 60 seconds.
Release, plug in the charger and try again (a battery is not required for this test.)

If it still fails try a new CMOS/BIOS battery and repeat the reset I noted. Past that it's on the web what the most common failure was.