# Gateway Laptop won't boot



## gadjira

Hello,
I have a Gateway laptop that won't boot up. The only thing that happens when I push the power button is that the power, Hard drive & Wireless lights all flash over & over. There is no post beeps, no flashes on the screen, nothing else. The only other thing that it does is when I plug it into a wall, suddenly there is a ticking sound that is synced with the light flashes (which all flash together). Now I do get a red light on the battery when it is plugged in but it goes blue after a few minutes plugged in. Anyone got any ideas?


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## TriggerFinger

hi gadjira,

any recollection what happened before this?

i need you to try the following:
1. remove battery and AC adapter
2. press power ON button for at least 30secs or so (more is better)
3. release and leave for 1 minute
4. attach battery and AC adapter
5. power ON as normal


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## gadjira

It was working Friday when it was charged then was carried onto a plane & not started up until today. 

OK I did what you suggested but it's still doing what it was before.


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## TriggerFinger

gadjira said:


> It was working Friday when it was charged then was carried onto a plane & not started up until today. -- during this time, was it shutdown or just on standy/hibernate?
> 
> OK I did what you suggested but it's still doing what it was before.


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## gadjira

The laptop was powered off during the flight & not in hibernate/standby mode.


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## TriggerFinger

gadjira said:


> The laptop was powered off during the flight & not in hibernate/standby mode.



try powering ON with battery only (remove AC adapter) and vice versa.
if this does not work, reseat your RAM then power ON.


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## gadjira

Tried both & still just flashing lights.


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## TriggerFinger

gadjira said:


> Tried both & still just flashing lights.


 try reseating your RAM module and power ON again


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## deadgateway

how do you reseat the ram?


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## joshafool

Same thing happened to my Gateway M-6880. I tried everything.

If you are reading this know you are not alone. It happens to a lot of these lap tops.

Unfortunately I have the unfortunate duty to inform you that your motherboard may be dead.

My advice is to send it back right away is you have some sort of return option.


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## supernova777

i have the exact same problem 
my laptop is a mp6954 gateway laptop
it was working fine and has done this a good number of times
i cant seem to find out what is causing the problem
but it is definately failing the power on self test POST
process but it gives no beeps
it just halts the boot up process without ever
turning on the screen to display the gateway bios logo
screen or whatever like it does when it starts up correctly

i know that the motherboard is not fried because i was using it just yesterday 
it sat on a shelf for over a month untill i just happened to try to turn it on and it worked (which made me really happy) i had thought that taking out one of the ram chips was the rreason it begain to work and that perhaps it was a bad 
ram chip ors omethign but both of the chips work fine in another laptop 
and the machine has again begun to not boot up correctly

gateway support is total crap
and they tell me my serial number is invalid
meanwhile its totally valid they just dont want to give me any
support because i bought the machine in late 2006

its a total sham - i liked this computer alot but this experience with
little to no real support is total ******** - they should have all the records of other
people calling in theres no way in hell im the only one in the world that has experienced this one particular error. guaranteed they know what the problem is somwhere -its documented - and they refuse to tell me so i can 
repair my product - for which i paid fully for - at the time over 1200 dollars.

this is just wrong.
Gateway support, go to hell


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## joshafool

In my case, my mother board was fried. It was the same case, and it had just been working fine 2 hours prior.

I ran all the tests I could before diagnosing it with fried motherboard syndrome, and then sent it back for a refund.

I feel your pain my friend I was once in your shoes.

If you want to find out if it’s your motherboard...
-unplug hard dive
-unplug ram
-unplug CD rom
-then hit the power button

If the motherboard is working correctly you should get a beep code. This is the motherboard saying "I have no ram in me". If you hear know beep, then the problem is your motherboard. I've never replaced a motherboard in a laptop, but I imagine you could fine a tutorial with a little help from Google or YouTube.

Josh


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