Author Topic: Stupid question (Read 622 times)

StarOfAfrica2 · « **on:** October 06, 2005, 11:55:54 AM »

My old laptop's hard drive blew chunks last weekend. I got another used one and made sure it was formatted before installing it, but now when the computer turns on I see the hard drive light come on but there is nothing there. The screen is dead. I dont even get a BIOS logo screen. Problem is this laptop has the interchangeable 3.5" / CD-ROM drive setup, and the 3.5 floppy drive was lost long long ago. Can I take my Win 98 boot disk and copy it onto a CD and have it be bootable? My foggy memory tells me no. Regardless, its not working. Is the CD just not bootable, or do I need to use the laptop as a hotplate?

Eagler · « **Reply #1 on:** October 06, 2005, 12:35:06 PM »

what kind of floppy do you need?
I have an external for a toshiba I'd be glad to lend you if you think it would help

Panzzer · « **Reply #2 on:** October 06, 2005, 01:03:35 PM »

At least Nero Burning Rom (or whatever it's called now, what I have is Nero 6 Ultra Edition) had the option to read a floppy and burn the image as a bootable cd.

eagl · « **Reply #3 on:** October 06, 2005, 01:51:28 PM »

I had to boot from the winXP cd to format the drive when I upgraded my wife's laptop hard drive because the bios only recognized drives up to 20 gig and I put a 7200 rpm 60 gig drive in as a replacement.

If it won't boot from the CD, you're probably stuck although you may be able to use an adaptor plug, plug the lappy HD into a desktop, and format it that way.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 06, 2005, 04:04:40 PM »

Hmmm, something more than a HD problem here. I'm not getting a POST. At least its not showing up on the monitor. HD light comes on, CD-ROM appears to work, but nothing is being read. After a few minutes both shut off. Maybe when I had it apart I messed something up? If the CMOS battery is dead, will it still POST when you turn it on?

Roscoroo · « **Reply #5 on:** October 06, 2005, 04:35:29 PM »

u should always get at least a post beep , and with that should be able to enter bios .

if you cant then theres something wrong /ram, cpu , vga, power supply ect.

eagl · « **Reply #6 on:** October 06, 2005, 07:55:18 PM »

Did you plug the hd in backwards?

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 06, 2005, 09:28:18 PM »

Nope. Double checked HD connections. Spools up fine, and the HD light comes on when I power up. CD-ROM light comes on. There's the "click" from the speakers when I power on, then one beep and the HD light comes on, just like normal. But then the light stays on steady for about 30 seconds and goes out, and I never get anything on the screen. Tried using the CRT output, nada there as well. Gateway didnt do something goofy like put the BIOS on the HD did they?

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #8 on:** October 07, 2005, 01:10:43 AM »

Unplug the hd and try to boot without it. If it works then you just have a faulty or incompatable hd.

I'd try to reseat the memory sticks while opening the hatch too, if you have more than one try to boot with only one stick installed. You might have zapped ESD on the ram while installing the HD.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 07, 2005, 01:53:36 AM »

Good thought, but to replace the HD on this model, you just take 3 screws out and it slides out the side of the case. I dont have to open it up. The HD sits in a cradle with the plug in at the front. The circuit board only goes in the cradle one way. 3 screws on the outside of the case pulls the HD out in its cradle. 2 more screws unhooks the circuit board from the cradle and lets me slide the HD out of it. Slide the new one in, put the controller circuit board back in, slide back into the case.

I've heard that the backlight goes out on these Solo models, but if thats the case it should still work with an external CRT hooked up. I'm getting nothing.

BBQ_Bob · « **Reply #10 on:** October 11, 2005, 05:53:16 PM »

This is what I would check, first make sure everything is connected properly on the HDD and the board itself, then I would take a look at the jumper settings on the HDD. Next as soon as it starts to boot I would hit the F2 or Del key depending on what machine you have, this will enter the bios where you can check the boot order, if the HDD is first on the list then that may be the problem. In a lot of cases this problem is caused by the jumper on the HDD (at least on the desktops) I do think that on some models of notebook HDD's there are jumpers, not sure if all do, who is the drive made by and what is the model number maybe we can check and see if it does.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #11 on:** October 12, 2005, 12:43:14 PM »

I did try booting without the drive, no joy. The video does not work, period. The HD is an IBM 4 GB model, and it does have jumpers, but changing the jumper settings has no effect. Or at least none that I can tell since I cant see whats going on. Gateway has some specs on their website but I cant find a diagram of the motherboard, so I guess I'm going to have to take it apart and see if the video is a separate thing that can be changed out, or if it's part of the motherboard. I'm not putting any money into it, its just a 133mhz that I was using for paperwork. If I can find one with a working video on it I might swap some parts around.

BBQ_Bob · « **Reply #12 on:** October 13, 2005, 12:03:26 AM »

Have you tried this, when the machine starts to boot press the FN key and either the F5 or F7 to enable the monitor? Depending on which machine you have the function key may be different. Meaning FN key and one of the F keys. I could be that it is just not enabled.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 13, 2005, 02:00:34 PM »

Yep. There is one function key to turn it off and on, another to switch back and forth from the external CRT to the onboard monitor, and then there are two other function keys that turn the brightness up and down. Nothing works. I emailed Gateway to see what my options are, if I can replace the video separate from the motherboard, and if there are any other model motherboards that will fit in the case I have as an upgrade.

eagl · « **Reply #14 on:** October 13, 2005, 04:47:17 PM »

Did you already try hooking up an external monitor while it boots?

Some motherboards reset when you hold down the insert key during the bootup process. You might also open the case to see if the mobo has a bios reset jumper.