BleepingComputer.com: Gateway MX8738 will not boot

Operating System - Windows Vista Home Premium

My first problem with this computer was the fan turn on for about 2 seconds and the computer would then shut off. The screen would not even turn on. I replaced the power adapter and the problem now is the computer will actually seem as though it is turned on. "Blue light on the front of the computer" I can hear the fan running and it sounds as though it is turning on but I get nothing from the screen at all. No sound, nothing. But it does not shut itself off. At first it appeared as a power problem, now I fear it is a video problem. What could be the causes of this? Is there any other troubleshooting I could possibly do?

This post has been edited by hamluis: 18 December 2010 - 12:17 PM
Reason for edit: Moved from Vista to Internal Hardware ~ Hamluis.

Just wondering if anyone had any ideas yet. I took it to a guy that does a little pc repair on the side and he gave it back to me with a note that "to time consuming" So I am sool.

Hi, do you have video out on the laptop? That way you could connect to another display with a cable and see if it is a display problem or not. FYI it is always better to edit an unansered post with the edit button rather than to reply to your own post. People are more likely to respond to a thread with 0 posts for many days than one with 1 post and as many days. (It stays very busy here).

Thanks for the advice. I have tried a video out to my tv. No such luck. I have swapped and pulled ram around and no luck.

Get your hands on a livecd. It is an operating system that runs from cd and you don't need a working hard drive to turn on the computer. If you can boot, and you see stuff on the screen and can use it, then we know it's probably a drive thing. If that is the case:

You will need:

small screw driver
drive enclosure for whatever kind of drive you have or drive to usb cable
another computer that works

take the drive out of your laptop, enclosure it or put the cable on, and plug it into a working computer.
If you can't see anything on the drive or you don't hear it running or it makes a weird noise, there's your problem.

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If that's not it I would say your onboard video chips or lcd may have a problem. Best bet there is get another computer or if you have a warranty let them deal with it.

Sorry, not what you wanted to hear probably but it could be a lot of stuff. If the lcd panel itself is broken that costs a lot to replace, and if the onboard graphics chips are fried the whole thing is basically toast.

Good luck, I hope it works.