Gateway Lappie issue

[Checkmate]

Hey All, been awhile. Here is the deal. Have a MOBO replace on Gateway laptop. Client wants to upgrade to Win 7 from Vista on it. So have the MOBO in, new thermal on graphic and CPU. PC runs at around 90-95F. Set the DVD up to boot, start it, and PC Freezes @ "Starting Windows". Nothing works, have to hard shutdown. So is it overheating? That's the only thing I can think of.

Oh, also this does the same with a Linux LiveCD, boots, starts the files, then nothing... freeze.

 

[ClawMVP]

u can try with a diffrent ram memory and see the results .

 

[Checkmate]

here is what I have done so far on testing the issues with this laptop.
1. Switched out RAM with good. Laptop still freezes at "starting windows" after the windows is loading files status bar. Laptop also freezes on LiveCD at start
2. Removed HDD to see if that was not spinning up correctly. LiveCD still stops at start

Have ran laptop without back panel on, still remains around 95 degrees. Any advice appreciated.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Is the fan working? How much paste was used? Are the air passages, fan, and heatsink clean? What led up to the machine needing a MOBO in the first place?

 

[snifferpro]

Is the DVD you are booting from a Win 7 Install/Upgrade DVD?

If so, it is not uncommon for the Win 7 install to take quite a few
minutes to interrogate your machine before doing the actual install.

 

[Checkmate]

Answers to Posts:

Anon: Previous repair attempt on bad DC Jack, tech damaged board. (LOL Not me, I didn't notice til I opened) Paste is not over done, at least shouldn't be. Airflow is consistent. With or without panel, still getting air.

Sniff: Full install DVD. Have let sit for 25mins, still no change

Jason: Haven't looked at bios version. didn't even think about that. Will check

 

[iisjman07]

Laptop also freezes on LiveCD at start

Hardware issue alarm bells are going off. You said you tried known good RAM, so I'd say it's most likely a faulty board. Check for bad caps and short circuits, also make sure the fans actually work properly, because they don't sound like they are.

 

[ideal-pc]

You say it's a Gateway laptop? Just a thought but have you checked the hard disk controller? I have had an install of Windows stall on me before at the same stage, turned out it was my customers controller, he was using an old SCSI controller that 7 didn't like! I know you're very unlikely to find that kind of config on a lappie but I know that 7 doesn't like some SATA controllers either. If it is the controller, it wouldn't matter of the drive was installed or not.

 

[snifferpro]

Can you supply the exact gateway model #

 

[Checkmate]

Gateway MT6451 not much of a laptop, but client would like it to at least work. Am tearing down again to check board and test fan assembly. BIOS is 84.03, gateway has 84.06

 

[lebpcmedic]

Have you looked at the optical drive? I would try booting from a usb cd/dvd drive before tearing apart the laptop again.

 

[snifferpro]

Just to eliminate Win 7 as an issue on this rig, try installing
Vista or XP to see if you get the same results.

 

[Checkmate]

Update:
Have attempted install of Vista and XP. Vista got to the point of attempting to install files, about 13%, then lost DVD Driver. Now will not install. XP, gets to Setup is installing Windows files, then freezes again.

Have replaced fan assembly, have replaced RAM, with a new HDD and old HDD. Reseated the CPU and still, all 3 OSes just freeze at install. Most likely will just nuke this out, and tell client it's not worth repair.

 

[itmike]

Sounds like a faulty motherboard. With the heat thing usually in my experience, the computer will run fine for sometime when you first start it and just start running in shorter spurts until you let it cool back down. I had a Windows Vista install lock up at the same point for me and I had to switch the sata port in bios from ahci to ide, for windows vista to load. Though it loaded knoppix fine on either setting.

 

[snifferpro]

You might also try download an Ubuntu live cd, then boot from
that and select try Unbuntu without installing to see if it runs.