Ok... first off, my "Out of Place" photo isn't really doing good enough to finish in the top 5 or 10 to ensue a request of validity; however, my computer is broke. So the photo validity is the least of my worries.
I'd like to hear from anyone that may help and have an idea of what is wrong or how to fix my computer. If it matters, it's a laptop running windows XP. The symptoms started a couple days ago... the computer would be on and all of a sudden the screen would go black. I would have to restart my computer to restore it. Last night the screen went black and after a restart, it wouldn't do anything... the screen stays black and it doesn't boot up. So far I have taken the memory out and put it back in, I have taken the hard drive and battery out and put them back in. None of which have done anything for the better.
If anyone has any suggestions or any information on what may be wrong, it will be greatly appreciated.... Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah... the battery is fully charged and I have the same results while it's plugged into the charger so unfortunately that is not the problem.
My laptop at work would do something similar. I removed the battery, waited a bit, replaced it and it booted fine. It's a Compaq, and is quite the quirky beast.
No luck with removing the battery... I've tried that. The virus is possible but not likely. I have virus software that I update regularly and I have a firewall that keeps out any traffic. Even on the off chance it is a virus... I'm not sure how to side step it, when the computer is turned on, the only thing that happens is the fan starts running. I'm not able to go into safe mode or even BIOS.
Wish I could help! The ones at my school do that once in awhile, and it bugs the heck out of me. But ours is related to our messed-up network and the fact that they mangaged to push out the two men who actually knew what they were doing with the computers and network. I'm not bitter...really.
Anyway, if you do take it in, I would be careful. I'm afraid to trust my hard drive to anyone after my boyfriend and my friend's experience, at two different places.
My boyfriend's CD writer didn't work so they took it in to get it replaced. It was apparently a problem with the hard drive so they had to replace it. What they failed to do was clarify to his father of what they had done, so it came home and he didn't have any of his files. -_- It had to go back and have the old one put in again with the new so that he could still use the files off of it.
My friend's family took their computer in to have her sister's new Ipod installed on it. They're very computer illterate. -_- Guess what? The whole hard drive was wiped. What the heck?? I told her to just have me come over and install it next time, it's not worth them spending money to be ripped off.
Sorry for the rant...and granted I know that this doesn't happen everywhere, it just freaked me out and made me even less trusting of letting strangers mess with my computer.
Try plugging a monitor into it and see if you get the same result (if your able to). This might at least tell you if it may be something wrong w/ your screen.
did you check manual for this pc a thay have jumper on CIMOS if yes remove jumper for at liest 1hour.
I couldnt find anything in the manual. Its a laptop and I'm not sure how to find the CMOS? I even tried to take the laptop apart but after I removed all the screws it still wouldn't come apart.
Try plugging a monitor into it and see if you get the same result (if your able to). This might at least tell you if it may be something wrong w/ your screen.
I'll give that a try, I didnt think of that. Thanks.
Are you absoulutly sure the battery is fully charged??
Sorry if it seems like a dumb question, but I had a similar problem and it tured out there was a short in the DC adaptor that I was using to charge the battery.
Are you absoulutly sure the battery is fully charged??
Sorry if it seems like a dumb question, but I had a similar problem and it tured out there was a short in the DC adaptor that I was using to charge the battery.
Yep... there is a light on the front that is amber when the battery is charging (not fully charged) and the light is green when the battery is completely charged... its green. Thanks.
Guys, I believe that it could be because of the lack of memory. XP does eat up alot of RAM and if you don't have a good amount of it, chances are that the laptop will either have a black screen...but you can hear it running or it will work quite slow than normal.
have to you tried a system disk??? If you said that the machine has xp on it, did it come that way??? if you have a friend with xp or the original disk try putting that into the cd-rom and seeing if that starts it up. sounds to me like the cpu isn't connected securly and I don't recommend you opening it unless you really know what your doing or looking for. a system disk will allow you to boot if everything else is working but it could be something as stupid as a broken connection in the wire from the battery to the laptop.
It may be an internal connection issue... thats why I was attempting to disassemble the laptop... unfortunately I didnt have any luck.
XP does use alot of memory but I sincerely doubt that is the issue... if that was the case, it should still boot up.
I've tried using the system disks with no luck... the laptop won't boot up at all, aside from the fan and power light, it doesnt even recognize the cd.
You don't need the battery in the computer to boot. I would take the battery out, then see if the computer turns on. You have a gateway, the BIOS screen is either F2, ESC, or F10 or DELETE. If you can't even get into the BIOS or see it. I would suggest calling Gateway tech support in the morning. It would seem to me that you would need a service technician to look at it. I have a Dell and they are pretty good about coming out but that is Dell. If you have a Gateway store around you try taking it there first. It's kind of late and my mind is barely running so if any of this makes sense then great!
