M-6862 - Strange Issue: Video Completely Negated

I recently purchased this laptop (Gateway M-6862) during the big buzz with how cheap it was versus the specifications you got at the cost, hoping to have something that would last me most of the way through college at the least. It arrived yesterday, and, due to prior engagements, I didn't have much time to test it out beyond opening it and turning it on before going to bed.

Now comes today, I finally got to work on it as I'd wanted to. I looked at just how much junkware had been installed to start with and decided to reformat. I did so using the recovery disc provided as well as the driver disc that I made through the recovery software initially installed.

I seperated the drive into two partitions as normal (~40GB and ~200GB) and installed Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium onto the smaller partition. Everything seemed to be going well and I began to install drivers from the disc I had burned just earlier and that went well as well. I restarted a few times, changing the Synaptics driver a couple times since the newest one doesn't allow for middle-clicking by pressing down both mouse buttons simultaneously.

After uninstalling it, I decided to install Direct X and Warhammer Online. I started that process and let it run in the background while I downloaded a few programs I would be needing for general productivity, (Opera, Firefox, 7Zip, etc.).

All of the sudden, the Warhammer installation appeared to freeze. I just glanced at it, so I'm not sure how long I left it frozen, I was under the assumption that it was just taking a little while. All processes halted and the only thing I could do was cut the power.

After I did this I attempted to turn in back on. All activity lights showed, the fans revved up and all the normal noises that occured upon startup happened. However, the screen stayed entirely blank. No BIOS messages, the backlight didn't even turn on. I thought that perhaps the monitor connector might have come loose or some such so I attached an external to see if the normal processes were still going.

When I did this nothing appeared on the external as well.

I've tried turning it off and on several times now, checked the connections, assured that the gpu was properly inserted, etc.

I was hoping the good people of NBR might be able to help me on this issue as such problems put a damper on the experience of a new laptop; especially since tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday.

Thank you for reading,
Vaughn

 

Hi Reize,

Well 1st of all Happy 18th!

Reize ... you are still under the 2 weeks Return Policy ... right!?!?

I am sure you have tried all of this ... but here it goes agsain ...

OK ... when you plug into the AC power do you see the Blue Light!?!? Does your Battery ligth come on?

Reize, on this laptop F2 = BIOS Settings / F10 = Boot Menu

OR do this ...

1) as soon as your pc boots start pressing F12 then reboot from last known good configuration. If does not work try ...

2) Power up and start Pressing F8 to get into the DOS Mode and walk thru Auto Restart ...

G!

 

Um. Wow. I'll definitely have to look into this. I've never seen software mess with the screen to where the Post doesn't even show.

 

Thank you very much.

I actually ordered it off of ebay from a reputable seller. It was brand new, totally sealed, every single security label was immaculate, so I don't suspect the seller had anything to do with it. However, the receipt was provided with the order so I might be able to go and get a replacement from Best Buy.

Yes, the battery light does come on. When I turn it on the hard drive activity light also comes on along with the WiFi indicator. I've tried any number of things while it's starting up, after it has, etc. Right now I'm hoping that it might solve itself over night, false hope yes, but it'd be a nice birthday present.

The post doesn't display at all, so even if it were working to the extent that it's not showing anything but still functioning, it would be a bit awkward getting that done properly, though I could probably reformat it blindly. I tried that as well, booting from the disc again, no go. Still totally and completely blank.

I appreciate all your help and consolances,
Vaughn

Yes

 

Just a little update:

I suppose I should have gone with my initial gut instinct. When it wouldn't power on, the first thing that crossed my mind was test the ram. I did just that today and it turns out that was the problem, but it goes deeper than that.

Okay, assuming that MB1 is Memory bay 1, MB2 is memory bay 2, RS1 is ram stick 1 and RS2 is ram stick 2, as well as BR is bonus ram, it came out to be something like this. Both RS1 and RS2 worked when placed in MB1 (keep in mind this memory bay is the one deeper in). However, if both were placed, it would not work properly. Each would work individually though.

Moving on, if I placed the BR in, just one I had from an old laptop, still PC5300, but in a 512MB flavor rather than 2048MB. If I put it in MB2 (keeping in mind this is the one closer to the surface) it still worked even if MB1 was occupied with one of the 2GB ram sticks.

Overall I'm pretty confused as to the reason for this, if anyone could enlighten me I'd be much appreciated. I'm certainly glad it's up and running now, though.

 

Hi Reize,

I lost track of your scenario ... so do the following ... I think you have a Bad RAM and hopefully nothing else ... but it could be more ... so

1) If the laptop starts fine with RS1 and RS2 in both slots, but will not start with the RS2 in both slots, then your RS2 stick is BAD.Replace the module.

2) If the laptop starts fine with both RS1 and RS2 are installed in the slot MB1, but will not start with both RS1 and RS2 installed in the slot MB2, then slot MB2 is faulty and you’ll have to replace the motherboard OR use only one memory slot.

G!

 

easiest solution, replace it

 

Hmm... It doesn't seem to like 4 gigs of ram. Do you have another machine to test the ram sticks in? or any extra ram sticks?

 

Hi folks,

Well ... I am suspecting the fact that Reize was Multi-tasking and installing online stuff ... now I am not sure if he was protected (Anti-Virus) ...

The Laptop was working just fine with 4GB RAM before Reize reformatted the drive for a clean install ...

So something got clubbered or not put back in ...

I always follow the Cardinal Rule of installing New Program on a computer ... install one application and restart and go to the next and so forth ... it takes a little longer but stuff works and no crashes ... also NO Multi-tasking ... eventhough laptop is built for it.

However, a laptop should NOT be this finicky ... now that is weird!

G!

 

I doubt its a virus. Unless he was purposely installing old hardware viruses.

The best thing to do is find some equivalent ram and try to boot with that. I'm tempted to say the mobo somehow got tweaked. A total freeze without a BSOD normally means the hardware is severally conflicting somewhere.

Btw, why were you installing directx? Shouldn't vista have provided the updates for it? Was it part of the Warhammer install?

 

I've never felt the need for anti-virus protection as I learned long ago what can give you viruses and what can't, so I just browse without it and haven't had a single issue with viruses for the past 7 years.

Sorry if that description was a little awkward, I was doing Calculus homework and the writing style of the word problems got into my head a bit. Basically, I have two sticks of 2GB RAM, and one stick of 512MB RAM that I was using to test it. If I only had one of the two 2GB RAM sticks in I was golden, same for if I had one 2GB and the 512MB which is what I'm using now; however, if I put in both of the 2GB sticks it wouldn't work. Singularly, both sticks of RAM worked fine, provided they were the only one inserted.

I don't have another machine to test the RAM in at the moment, no, that wold simplify things, though. And I was installing DirectX as part of the Warhammer installation, yes. I usually install multiple things at once when I reformat, I usually reformat my computers, just out of boredom mostly, once every month or two. It's never presented an issue before so I didn't consider it while I was doing so.

However, now it's working very well and it's quite the upgrade even with only 2.5GB of RAM right now. I'll probably be able to test out the RAM again in another computer and see at some point, though I might just purchase some higher quality sticks and try that out. We shall see.

I truly appreciate your time and effort, though I usually don't have to ask questions I'm glad this time I did.