HD and MOBO question, Gateway M 6827

Hey all, try to stick with me on this one, I hope I don't tick anyone off with some questions, but I need some help, and I'm short on time with work and college, and I'm helping a good friend out with her laptop.

My first question is what is the best way to access her harddrive without it being in the laptop. I know that they basically get "signed" to the other hardware components, and I figure I can't put it in another laptop, though my sis has a similar model, only AMD processor. I also have an external HD that uses a 120gb Sata drive, much like hers, would that work? Or will I need some sort of adapter to put it into a Desktop? I have two working desktops, one with a very large tower and 6 HD slots internal.

Secondly, her laptop can't charge, and it seems as though somehow the plug is broken/cracked on the mother board. There are 5 solder joints there, and I can't see any detectable breaks, but any pointers on this? I could use some suggestions. My first thought is to de-solder that piece from the board and take a look at it, but suggestions would be great.

Lastly, If all else fails and I find its the mobo keeping the lappy from working, can I swap a board in from another identical laptop and expect it to boot? I assume I'll run into issues, meaning I need to back-up her data, but it sure would be nice If I can swap the mobo and cpu and all is peachy. I've got a line on a junked one pretty cheap, so this would be the best option.

Thanks so much for the help guys, and I'm sorry if these are easy questions, but I just can't know everything between engineering/cars/comptuers, its tough!

 

1) I don't think this "signing" business happens anymore, or if it even did in the past. These days, you should be able to use any SATA 2.5" HDD with any laptop or desktop (provided that it supports such a thing), regardless of from where it came.

2) Don't know. Could be a problem with power circuitry. These are kind of hard to diagnose.

3) Yes, this will work.

 

Thanks a ton, that helps.

As far as the first answer, more so what i meant is can I use the Hard drive in another laptop without formating and expect it to boot up? My answer already seems to be no. I can't get her harddrive to work in my sisters laptop, but thats going from an AMD machine to an Intel machine. Not sure if the bios' are different either. Might have a ruined HD as well on my hands, which is peachy.

 

THAT you can't do. Or rather, you CAN do it; it just won't work most of the time. It'll work if both machines are identical, though. The HDD itself will work fine in two different machines that take the same type of HDD, but you'll generally need to reinstall the OS and load the proper drivers, etc.

 

Yea, that's the pain of it. Basically, I want to be able to "read" the drive somehow so I can back up the info. I have a linux desktop and a windows desktop, and I know with linux In the past I've been able to read files off of a windows HD where the windows system was corrupt, but I was wondering how you can get a lappy drive to read in a deskotp. Is there a way to do that? Easily?

 

If all you want to do is read the drive, then yes, certainly. You just won't be able to boot off of it. The problem at that point will be exactly where her files are, due to possible permissions issues, unless you just clone the entire thing. As for putting it in your desktop, there are 2.5" to 3.5" HDD caddies available, but I've heard someone just use a long SATA cable to connect the HDD to the HDD port and had it work just fine.

 

So, I got the HDD hooked up to my Linux computer no Problem, and that helped immensely. I now have everything backed up.

I have a new problem, and I'm pretty ticked with myself.

Took apart the M-6827 and we can't get it to boot. I turn the power on, I get the power light at the button, the wireless signal, the power signal at the front by the mouse pad, and then she shuts down after about 5 seconds exactly. Doesn't restart or go into a loop of doom, just powers down.

I had the screen working, but now no screen. I'm going to take that apart and check the hard connections, so that at least I cansee what error codes I get. The disc tray works, I put a cd in and checked it, spins, and I get my drive light.

Not sure whats wrong here. I either have something hooked up wrong which is doubtfull, or I screwed the pooch and messed over the HDD or mobo.

Does anyone know how to run a check on that HDD from a Ubuntu, or from the GRUB loader? It does register in GRUB, so maybe I can run a check there?

 

My brother-in-law has the exact same laptop. His died a couple of months ago. He sent for warranty repair and it kept coming back with new problems. From what i recall he had to send around 4-5 times.

Once it came back with what you initially described. The battery wouldn't changed. the laptop would work on AC adapter. I belive they replaced the motherboard.

Another time it would fail during POST gving a message like "incorrect processor".

Don't remember what problems it came back with the other times.

 

How far did you take it apart? It sounds like maybe your processor isn't locked in, or else there's some other part that isn't properly connected.

 

Can anyone direct me to a service manual for the Gateway M6827?

I have on that does not light up with a known good PS and suspect the DC power connector and would like to take a look at it where it connects to the MB.

Tried no battery, no RAM, no HDD, holding down power button for 30 seconds (as Gateway recommend), FN+F1, leaving everything undone overnight...

I would rather have a manual than just start taking things apart and learn as I go...

 

I know this is probably too late to help with the OP's problem. But, I decided to give a suggestion, while I was searching for help on a completely different topic:

When a buddy's laptop died, I wanted to see if his hard drive was ok. So I plugged it into my desktop and ran it in safe mode. I'm assuming that cutting out all the secondary services is what made it so I could boot up. But, I did what I needed to do, and everything worked fine. He had a Toshiba Satellite and my desktop is self-built (not sure if either of those factors are of any significance).