My laptop isn't working!

Hey everyone,

I was bored recently, so I was looking through the "black hole" of my stuff under my bed & closet and found the remnants of my old laptop with a disk controller fail; the Disk drive and HDD. It was in pieces, but the motherboard is still intact and case is still in one piece. So, as project, I thought "Why not put it back together and try to get it to work?". I put it back together and re-assembled the puzzle of pieces into the laptop case it was once in. Plugged it into my power cord, and hey, a light! Things were looking good, so I pressed the power button, but no luck. It seemed to be completely dead. Though, I did hear a soft "ticking" sound being emitted from the motherboard. Possibly, there's still some light left in this! But, I can't get any farther apart from this.

There's currently no HDD for it, and the disk drive is disconnected.

Specs..

Intel Pentium P6100 @ 2.00 GHz
No HDD
No disk drive
8 GB of DDR3 RAM

The screen won't even turn on or light up. I really want to save this laptop as it's my first ever laptop.

Any suggestions / help is very much appreciated!

-Alixnator

Comments

  • edited December 2017

    it needs a hard disk to boot off from. if the mother board is doing that noise it mean that data can be cruped and loss, this happen to my windows xp pc and I had to recover it using recovery mode, thankfully all my stuff was still intact. It was like resetting windows xp but NOT formatting the hard disk. Thanks to the hp recover mode, it work. If you leave you computer unplug for 5 years like I did, It needs recovery hp mode if possible.

  • @Winworldpc Fan 9000 said:
    it needs a hard disk to boot off from. if the mother board is doing that noise it mean that data can be cruped and loss, this happen to my windows xp pc and I had to recover it using recovery mode, thankfully all my stuff was still intact. It was like resetting windows xp but NOT formatting the hard disk. Thanks to the hp recover mode, it work. If you leave you computer unplug for 5 years like I did, It needs recovery mode if possible.

    Ooh ok thanks, I'll try changing the HDD from another one of my laptops and hope it works.

  • let me know if it works

  • edited December 2017

    What make/model is it? You should be getting something on the screen, or at least some kind of beep code, even if it can't boot to an OS. I would try plugging it into an external monitor to see if you get anything.

  • @nick99nack said:
    What make/model is it? You should be getting something on the screen, or at least some kind of beep code, even if it can't boot to an OS. I would try plugging it into an external monitor to see if you get anything.

    My laptop is a Gateway ID49C04h from 2011. It's also worth noting that the CPU socket has a few bent pins, (not the CPU itself), but it fits perfectly. And there's no HDD in there, and when/if I put it back together from the parts, I'll try to turn it on.

  • The socket has a few bent pins?
    I'm afraid that thing is dead, unless you somehow replace the socket.

  • It's also worth noting that the CPU socket has a few bent pins, (not the CPU itself), but it fits perfectly.

    Bent how? Would you mind uploading a picture? Like Horse said, it's gone if the pins are disconnected from the board or touching each other in any way, but there's a possibility it might be ok depending on the type of socket and how the pins are bent.

    I wouldn't power it up or connect the battery again, you might make some smoke if pins are shorted

  • @HorseBatteryStaple said:
    The socket has a few bent pins?
    I'm afraid that thing is dead, unless you somehow replace the socket.

    @jrepperger said:

    It's also worth noting that the CPU socket has a few bent pins, (not the CPU itself), but it fits perfectly.

    Bent how? Would you mind uploading a picture? Like Horse said, it's gone if the pins are disconnected from the board or touching each other in any way, but there's a possibility it might be ok depending on the type of socket and how the pins are bent.

    I wouldn't power it up or connect the battery again, you might make some smoke if pins are shorted

    @Alixnator said:

    @nick99nack said:
    What make/model is it? You should be getting something on the screen, or at least some kind of beep code, even if it can't boot to an OS. I would try plugging it into an external monitor to see if you get anything.

    My laptop is a Gateway ID49C04h from 2011. It's also worth noting that the CPU socket has a few bent pins, (not the CPU itself), but it fits perfectly. And there's no HDD in there, and when/if I put it back together from the parts, I'll try to turn it on.

    I thank everyone for their help and support for my laptop, and even though I really want to save it, for now I officially declare it dead. I found 2-5 pins on the socket that are totally.. gone.. and 15+ pins that are half OK half scratched, and the rest are fine. So, for now, I have a new addition to my computer graveyard / museum until I get the ass to replace the socket. Again, thanks to everyone for helping me out, and I hope my laptop rests in peace forevermore. ❤️

    RIP Gateway
    2011-2013
    You will be missed.

Sign In or Register to comment.