[basketballer2590]

Okay this is a problem that nobody seems to no what's going on. Let me just explain a little bit:

The first thing is that I'll turn on the computer and I hear the fan, but nothing will show up on the monitor. It's like when a car starts and you hear the engine but the spark doesn't actually spark... Okay so I tried to switch the power supply and I've eliminated that problem. Sometimes, though, it will "spark" and a picture will come up on the screen. As it shows the XP loading page, about half way through, the screen goes bizzare. It's like all the pixels scatter everywhere and you can see about nothing. I eliminated the monitor problem also, by switching my monitor and it works on another computer. My brother told me it could be a driver problem with my graphics card, but one time I was able to reboot the entire hard-drive and I updated the drivers when I got on one time. The thing that happened though, was when I had to restart the computer for the drivers to go into affect, the screen shaking happened again and everything that happened before, kept happening again. I just don't know what it could be. One thing I can say is that I sent the computer into Gateway for them to check out another problem (not related to this issue) and they installed a new motherboard (same type and everything, but just new). This problem that I'm explaining now, started happening right after they sent it back to me (funny thing is that my warranty ran out while it was being fixed, so whatever condition they sent it back to me in, I had to live with it or pay extra). My brother thinks it could be the motherboard, but I don't want to have to go and buy a new one and find out that isn't the problem.

If anybody has encountered this problem before I would greatly appreciate any advice or help/test I could run on it. Thanks a lot for the time.

This might help; it is a video of me SHOWING you the problem with my computer... http://youtube.com/watch?v=aGLJK3F5vso

[crjdriver]

It could be many things. To test the system open the case and pull the power connectors from ALL drives; both optical and hard disk. Now pull any add-in cards except the video card. Do make sure the video card is fully seated. Disconnect any usb device, disconnect any printer, scanner, card reader, etc.

In short you want only the keyboard, power supply, and video connected. Now power on the system and see if you can enter the bios. If you can, then shutdown and connect devices one at a time until you find with is stopping the bootup.

If the system will not post, then you have a hardware problem such as a failed power supply, failed motherboard, ram, etc.

[basketballer2590]

Thanks a lot for your post, I am going to do what you said now and I will post back shortly....

Thanks again.

[basketballer2590]

Well my brother and I tried it and he still thinks it's the motherboard. Is there anyway to know if that is guaranteed? I mean it's wierd because about every OTHER time, the computer will start up and the other times it will show nothing on the screen. Here's the video of what happens:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aGLJK3F5vso

[crjdriver]

The only way to tell for sure is to swap in known good parts ie motherboard, ram, power supply, etc.

[imweasel]

I would say it's your video card. If you have a spare, swap it out. If it's onboard, disable it and install one.

[crjdriver]

What happens to your display when you try and get a post with ALL drives disconnected. Can you enter the bios and how does the screen look at that point?

[basketballer2590]

With all the drives disconnected, when I get lucky and it does actually turn on, I can enter bios, but when I tried to save changes made in bios, the computer froze at that point; so it didn't save any changes. Then I'll turn the computer off and back on. Once I get it to turn back on and let the Windows XP load, the screen does the same scatter-thing. By the way, I haven't been using my nVidia GeForce 7200 GT, I've been using the integrated 6100... Even when I use the better graphics card, it doesn't work.

[crjdriver]

OK if both the onboard AND a real video card do not work [and you have ALL drives depowered / disconnected] You have a hardware problem. It is pretty much down to the motherboard or the power supply.

The only way you can tell is swap in known good parts ie ps and or motherboard.

[basketballer2590]

Alright then thanks a lot. My brother said that it was most likely the motherboard because of how before I sent it into Emachines it worked fine, and they replaced with a "new" motherboard then the problem started happening. Do you know how much a motherboard would cost? I don't know like the name of anything really, but I know my computer has a AMD Athlon 3400+ Processor if that helps.

[crjdriver]

You can usually use a standard atx board in a gateway however do check. Since gateways often have small cases, I would really look at a new case/power supply along with the board. You need to know if you have a socket 754 or socket 939 chip. I tend to think it would be 754 however you do need to know before buying parts.

With socket 939 chips so cheap now, you might want to consider a new build; case, power supply, cpu, ram. You can use your old drives, keyboard, etc.

[imweasel]

Originally Posted by basketballer2590

Alright then thanks a lot. My brother said that it was most likely the motherboard because of how before I sent it into Emachines it worked fine, and they replaced with a "new" motherboard then the problem started happening. Do you know how much a motherboard would cost? I don't know like the name of anything really, but I know my computer has a AMD Athlon 3400+ Processor if that helps.

Hmm....

I wonder if flashing the bios might fix your problem?

[basketballer2590]

Could you explain how I would do that, please?

[imweasel]

Check on the manufacturer's website of your motherboard. It should have the latest version and instructions to do the flash.

If you're not comfortable, I wouldn't suggest doing it.

[Azelino]

I had this problem not so long ago my power cable to my graphics card was lose I just plugged it in and it worked fine