motherboard or hard drive?

[Guest]

Hello experts,
I hope someone can help me determine whether my computer's malfunction is
due to hard drive or motherboard death.

My Gateway 200ARC notebook began freezing frequently, making a "click" each
time it froze. I ran a drive diagnostic and a repair (many times, in the
end), which seemed to lessen the problem at first. But then it got worse.
I'm pretty confident that I found and removed all viruses, spyware, etc.
After a couple weeks of the frequent freezing, a new problem developed: the
operating system couldn't be found. A day or two later: all I get when I
boot up is a mostly solid, horizontal white bar across the bottom of a black
screen. The bar is broken into several slices on the right side.

If none of this info is enough to suggest a diagnosis, perhaps someone could
tell me what to do? Gateway is of no help--I can't even get them on the
phone anymore.

Thank you to whomever can assist me.

Jennifer

 

[Brian]

If your sure you have a virus free drive...run the manufacturer specific HD
utility on the drive. Its probably Fujitsu. If for some reason you cant get
that download Seatools from Seagates's website. If you have important data
on the drive then take it in ASAP to your local pc shop and see if the data
can be backed up off the drive before its to late.

The freezing can also be caused by your CPU overheating. Check the fans and
make sure they are running properly. And dont underestimate the importance
of having adequate heatsink compound between the CPU and heatsink.

Brian P.
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

It sounds like your HD is deceased.
Do you get any POST details when you start up?.
Will the machine boot from a floppy disk or a bootable CD (eg XP)?

 

[Guest]

For GreenieLeBrun: I get nothing when I start up. Just that white bar
across the bottom. And, no, there is no more booting from CD either. I had
previously been able to boot from my Gateway (Apps & Drivers I think it was)
CD. Now the computer does absolutely nothing.

For Brian: The HD is a Toshiba, there is no utility for it beyond the one I
can access by typing "gwscan" at a command prompt. As I said before, it is
too late to download anything. My computer is dead. I backed up all my data
when the freezing began.

Thanks for your quick responses.
Jennifer

 

[Ron Martell]

Hello experts,
I hope someone can help me determine whether my computer's malfunction is
due to hard drive or motherboard death.

My Gateway 200ARC notebook began freezing frequently, making a "click" each
time it froze. I ran a drive diagnostic and a repair (many times, in the
end), which seemed to lessen the problem at first. But then it got worse.
I'm pretty confident that I found and removed all viruses, spyware, etc.
After a couple weeks of the frequent freezing, a new problem developed: the
operating system couldn't be found. A day or two later: all I get when I
boot up is a mostly solid, horizontal white bar across the bottom of a black
screen. The bar is broken into several slices on the right side.

If none of this info is enough to suggest a diagnosis, perhaps someone could
tell me what to do? Gateway is of no help--I can't even get them on the
phone anymore.

Thank you to whomever can assist me.

Jennifer

If your computer would normally boot from a (bootable) CD and will no
longer do so then the problem is most likely with some fundamental
component (motherboard, RAM, video,) and the laptop needs the hands-on
attention of a repair shop.

A hard drive failure would still produce readable text and graphics on
the screen when you first turn on the computer and it would still boot
from a bootable CD.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

Sunella, it sounds like you have one very sick 'puter, try and get a
quote on the cost of repairs before you commit your self, you may find
ithat it is more advantageous to purchase a new machine than to get the
old one repaired.