[Hazeleyes]

Greetings, my Auntie is having problems with her Gateway laptop model:PA-1650, Window Vista home edition, Intel Pentium Dual-core. The problem started with the AC adapter cable. Everyday she removed the adapter cable from the laptop, folding it and putting it away when she finished using the laptop. It looked like a wire broke inside the cable. The only way she was able to power the notebook was by wiggling the power cord and keeping the cord in a position just right. If the cord was moved accidentally the laptop would shut off. Yesterday it shut off again while in use, due to the faulty cord. Now She’s getting a black screen when she starts her laptop. The screen shows the Gateway logo on boot up but when it goes to windows, it goes black, can’t view anything.
I purchased a new ac adapter for the laptop, still getting the black screen. When I press FN key and F10, Im able to go to the boot menu and enter setup, not sure what to test. I’m not able to use safe mode. Please help, times are extremely,my Auntie can’t afford to purchase a new PC. Thank you in advance!!!!

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Hi Hazeleyes
Try tapping the F11 key on boot up, unless it has been deleted there should be a recovery partition there.
Let us know how it goes or if you require further assistance.

[phillpower2]

Hi Hazeleyes
Try tapping the F11 key on boot up, unless it has been deleted there should be a recovery partition there.
Let us know how it goes or if you require further assistance.

[Hazeleyes]

Greetings, Philpower2

Thank you for the quick reply, I tried the F11 key on boot up, i'm not getting anything, just the black screen. Please help!!

Hazeleyes

[phillpower2]

Sadly this may mean that the HDD is bad or Vista has become corrupt, do you have the Vista disk or system restore disk/s that may have been provided when the laptop was supplied.
Can I ask why you cannot get into safe mode and what you have tried in order to get into safe mode.

[Hazeleyes]

A friend ask me if I was able to get to safe mode by pressing f8,I tried,with no luck. The second problem is that my DVD drive is not working properly. when I insert a disc it just spins around,not being able to read disc.

[phillpower2]

Not all BIOS settings are the same so try tapping the 0, F2, F11, F12 or Del keys when powering up.
Also worth checking are pressing the Fn and F5 keys together in case the screen has been switched to external display (it may be Fn + another one of the F1 to F12 keys) you should also try connecting the laptop to an external screen via the VGA port to see if you get a display.
If the issue is with the HDD or Vista itself then using an external USB DVD/CD drive is an option if you can borrow one, that said you will also need a legitimate Vista disk or system restore disk/s.

[Hazeleyes]

Thank you for the quick responses, I tried using an external monitor as an external display for the laptop, to no avail. This always worked in the past,still getting a black screen. I cleaned the DVD/cd lense of the DVD drive, the discs now spin normally without making noises like before,but can't view due to the black screen. I'm able to tab F2 and get into BIOS setup utility. I'm able to stay in it for a time.Is there anything that I can do at this screen? Thank you so much for all your help!

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update.

I'm able to tab F2 and get into BIOS setup utility. I'm able to stay in it for a time.Is there anything that I can do at this screen?

This depends on whether you have the Vista or system restore disk/s! If you do then you need to change the boot sequence in the BIOS to the DVD/CD drive first and the HDD second, save the settings and exit then Y to accept the new settings, place the Vista or system restore disk in the drive and then reboot, let us know if you are able to do this.

[Hazeleyes]

I followed your instructions,the problem is the DVD/CD drive can't start the Vista/system restore disk in the drive to reboot.

[phillpower2]

From post #7

I'm able to tab F2 and get into BIOS setup utility. I'm able to stay in it for a time.

What do you mean by this? Does the screen go black or does the laptop power down for example!

the problem is the DVD/CD drive can't start the Vista/system restore disk in the drive to reboot

Meaning that either the disk is corrupt or that the drive has failed and so cannot read the disk.
Couple of suggestions, 1: check that there is information on the disk on another computer as in open the folders on the disk, do not attempt to boot with it, 2: if you can borrow an external USB disk drive and see if the laptop can read the disk that way and 3: try booting with a Puppy Linux disk, details http://www.geekstogo...over-your-data/