Laptop POSTs then... nothing!

dave1310

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Aug 4, 2010
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Older Gateway laptop, MX6930, presents the post screen when turned on and then goes black with no further activity. (By post screen I mean the initial screen where you have the option of going to the boot menu or entering BIOS or just doing nothing and it continues to booting.)

My thought on this was that there should be a "no operating system found" message if the HD had tanked but what happens is... nothing. The screen goes black and there is no sound from the machine. If the Power lamp weren't lit one would think the computer had been turned off. To actually turn it off, the power switch has to be held for 5 seconds, as expected.

Both the boot menu and BIOS can be entered during post.

Any thoughts on a diagnosis?
 

jimmysmitty

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Oct 5, 2007
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If you can get into the BIOS, can you check to see if the HDD is showing as a bootable option? I would bet more than likely the HDD is dead and a lot of laptops these days will just go to a blank screen when it can't boot a OS.
 

dave1310

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Aug 4, 2010
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i7Baby & jimmysmitty
Thanks to both of you for your answer. I set it aside for the moment but with some idea of what to do, I'll pull it out this evening. I have a functional drive I can install.
I didn't know about the screen going black with no OS. I suppose its an expense thing; God knows it would break the bank if they added that "no OS" screen.
jimmy, the hdd was on the boot list, but there was something odd about the listing. I don't remember now what it was but I remember noting "That's weird" when I saw it.
Thanks again!