The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    gateway mx7118 problem

    Discussion in 'Gateway and eMachines' started by nrj0122, Sep 15, 2008.

  1. nrj0122

    nrj0122 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Bought this laptop in 2006. No problems with it until now.

    I turn on computer and will only display screen information (booting up) for a few seconds and then it goes blank (black screen) or will get black screen with several white vertical lines. At this point I can't do anything, booting up process completely stops and none of the keyboard functions work. I can't even get into BIOS because again screen display only last a few seconds after first turning it on. Only thing I can do is hold the power button down for a few seconds in order to shut it down.

    Anyone have any ideas on what this could be before I bring it in?

    Thanks for any help
     
    nrj0122, Sep 15, 2008
    #1
  2. Syngensmyth

    Syngensmyth In All Seriousness

    Reputations:
    159
    Messages:
    1,125
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Plug it into an external monitor to see what is going on.
     
    Syngensmyth, Sep 15, 2008
    #2
  3. nrj0122

    nrj0122 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I plugged into external monitor with same result as above. So I started looking at things and turned over laptop, opened up section where the memory module should be and nothing is there!? Here is what it should look like according to gateway

    http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Gateway/NewM520/5382faq4.shtml

    Could my laptop of been working this whole time without that memory stick in place? Doesn't make sense.

    Could this be my problem, or is there another area within laptop that has another memory stick?

    thanks for any info.
     
    nrj0122, Sep 16, 2008
    #3
  4. Syngensmyth

    Syngensmyth In All Seriousness

    Reputations:
    159
    Messages:
    1,125
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    There is a memory module somewhere.

    Since the black (faintly visible) screen is on both monitors, you probably have a hardware problem. But ...

    You may have a virus. I have seen viruses do this. You don't appear to have the experience to do much about hardware (sorry if I underestimate).

    Do you have a Windows install disk? Try running it and see if the screen shows. Does your bios screen show? Do you have any Linux live CD? You need some way to see if something in Windows is causing the problem.
     
    Syngensmyth, Sep 16, 2008
    #4
  5. nrj0122

    nrj0122 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Computer screen doesn't stay on long enough to change anything in BIOS or to boot from a windows CD, so I really can't do anything. I took it to best buy geek squad and he did a quick check on it for free since I bought it there and since nothing shows up on screen after a few seconds he said most likely is a motherboard problem and I might of as well get a new laptop since replacing that is expensive, but I did find one on ebay for $150, which I might do, not sure yet

    Thanks for the help
     
    nrj0122, Sep 17, 2008
    #5