P-7811FX turns on but won't boot, please help!

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum but I'm in desperate need of some help, and ya'll seemed like the best place to try!

I've got a P-7811FX that won't boot up. When I push the power button the lights on the Media Bar light up and the fan starts spinning, but the screen is black- no BIOS, no Gateway logo, no anything.

I don't believe it's a power issue because it stays "on" using the battery and/or the power cord. And I don't believe its a dead screen because I've attempted adjusting the brightness/contrast and attempted plugging it into an external monitor and using Fn+F4, but neither has changed anything. Also, the Caps Lock/Num Lock/Wireless lights won't turn on like they should if the computer was booting.

I took it into a less-than-friendly computer repair store and they said it might be a fried motherboard, but weren't sure.

I contacted Gateway and (as the computer is out of warranty) they said I could send it in for repair for $199 plus shipping. Does anyone know of what could be the problem and whether this is an easily fixable problem? I'm just trying to avoid spending 200 bucks if I can!

P.S. Sorry for the long post, I just want to be clear in what the problem is. And if this is the wrong place to be asking, feel free to tell me to shut up or (even better) point me to another place that might be of help. Thanks.

 

When you turn it on, do you hear any beeps? How many? Do you hear the Hard Drive(s) turning? If no to all the above, probably a Mother Board. If Yes, maybe the Video card, either way your looking at sending it in for $199.00 plus shipping

 

There are no beeps, and unfortunately, no hard drive as it was fried while trying to retrieve the data off of it after the computer crashed. But, from my recollection, it was not spinning on startup before it was removed. I have done a little research and it looks like any hope of replacing the motherboard or video card on my own would probably be outside of my skill level. I've built and rebuilt desktop computers, but laptops seem to be a whole other animal. So unless anyone else has any advice, it looks like it's gonna be minus $200 bucks to my checking account here soon.

 

$200.00 for a new mother board, and having someone else do it, I think it's worth it

 

200.00 and thats if the parts have not been discontinued. My laptop did the exact same thing, sent it in for 200.00 to get it repaired and they discontinued the motherboard, the laptop is a year and a half old!!! They basically told me to bad so sad, so get ready to fight it out.

 

I just sent in my P-171X FX for a Mother Board replacement to Gateway's Extended Warrenty Service (Teleplan), we will see what happens.

 

My system went through a similar situation, where upon power on, fans/hd/leds were on, but no screen or keyboard functions (and no audible beeps).
The following is the Gateway incident log with steps to take (the basics...):
========
1.Turn off computer and unplug power cord.
2.Disconnect everything.
3.Remove the battery.
4.Press power button and hold for 30 second.
5.Plug power cord back into computer and press power button.
6.If LEDs are on or power supply fan starts spinning, watch for boot screen on the screen.
7.If computer begins to start, turn it off.
8.Reconnect any external device.
9.Press the power button and make sure the computer start.
========

Unfortunetly, this did not solve the problem, but more or less pointed to a system board issue.

try out the above steps if you haven't already, but i'm thinking you may have a hardware problem, and i'd check with Gateway (or wherever you're sending it) to see if they have parts on hand (if possible) prior to sending it out.

Good luck, hope it works out for you!

@AaronIROCZ - Do you still have to pay the $200.00, even though they did not repair it?

 

Find a place that does gpu reballing. There are a few p-7908's on ebay for a good price. http://cgi.ebay.com/GATEWAY-P-7908U-...item1c15742820