[jennefur8675]

I have had this gateway laptop since 2005, yes its old, but it has served us well. We have 4 computers in our house and up until today this laptop was the only one that was functional. I turned it on today and got a blank black screen, so I powered it off, turned it back on, same thing. Finally it booted successfully, I used it for a couple of minutes and then it froze, I powered off and it booted up black screen again. Same thing, over and over. So after I cried because now we have no working computers, and I make my living selling on eBay, I am here pleading for help. I don't know if its an infection, hardware issue, software issue, I have no idea how to troubleshoot this problem. This is the 4th of our 4 computers to break this year, as well as 3 digital cameras. I'm overwhelmed, and I'm desperate for help. I appreciate any help. Thank you.

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Are you able to boot into safemode?
http://pcsupport.abo.../safemodexp.htm
Also see below.


If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...


1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip). If you prefer to use the USB version then use this link USB KEY
2. Unzip downloaded /memtest86+-4.20.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find /memtest86+-4.20.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate [b/memtest86+-4.20.iso[/b] file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS

Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.


The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[rockmilk]

Are you able to boot into safemode?
http://pcsupport.abo.../safemodexp.htm
Also see below.


If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...


1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip). If you prefer to use the USB version then use this link USB KEY
2. Unzip downloaded /memtest86+-4.20.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find /memtest86+-4.20.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate [b/memtest86+-4.20.iso[/b] file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS

Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.


The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[jennefur8675]

Hello, and thank you. After about 5 times of powering on with a blank black screen, it finally was able to boot in safe mode, but after a few minutes it froze up, just like it had been doing in normal mode. I removed both sticks of RAM alternately, and still the same black screen when powering on. Did you want me to run this memtest mentioned above?

[jennefur8675]

The RAM is relatively new, within the last 2 or so years we upgraded to the new RAM sticks.

[rockmilk]

Do you have an xp cd if you do please see the following link.
http://www.geekstogo...air-windows-xp/
If the above doesnt work then we are definitly dealing with a hardware issue.

[jennefur8675]

Ok so now I tried to turn it on today and usually I will hear the computer making some running noises immediately, but today nothing. It powered on, lights lit up, but no noise, like nothing was running. Totally blank black screen, so I'm not able to boot into safe mode or normal mode, of course. I just found my xp disks and gateway recovery disks. Do I still try to boot with the xp discs or does it sound like hardware failure?

[rockmilk]

Try and re-seat your hard-drive and ram then try and boot with the cd in.