Zombie Laptop?

[Fiery Winds]

So my computer froze and I had to force shutdown.  When I boot up, I just get a black screen with vertical colored lines.



I shut it down and try it again a few times.  Same thing, and I notice that it's the same pattern of lines each time, so I figure it's a dead screen. 

Well, I test that theory by hooking up the laptop with HDMI and then VGA. No signal.

So that means my video card is dead.

Well, since I left it on longer to test the connections, I noticed that it still booted up to the Windows welcome screen because it played its little jingle.

Wait a second, if the video card is dead shouldn't the computer fail to pass POST?

Zombie Laptop!!












GAAAAAAMMMEEEESSSS....

[TioJorge]

Ahhh, i see your probem:
Its a Gateway.
 

[Fiery Winds]

Actually, this has been a damn good laptop for nearly 4 years.  Got it in Feb. of '08 for  $1200 with the following specs:

Gateway P6831FX
17 inch screen 1440x900
Core 2 Duo 1.66 GHz (later upgraded to a 2.4 GHz)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS with 512 MB of GDDR3 memory with DX10
HDMI output 
DVD burner with labelflash 
2 hard drive bays 
250 GB hard drive 
Webcam
3GB RAM
Bluetooth 
Memory Card Reader 
eSATA port 
3 USB ports

It could run Crysis at medium/high settings at screen resolution and get about 20fps. It was the best price/performance ratio for a gaming laptop at the time.

[TioJorge]

Oh, shiet. No kidding, sexy specs, especially for an '08. I stand humbly corrected.

[Bacong]

the steps of computer ownership

BUYING A LAPTOP

- this is ok, desktops are bulky and I can bring this anywhere! *hands over 450 dollars*
- this does everything I need. lol @ all those faggy desktop users with their bulky non portable crap
- I wish this didn't overheat so much. But I guess I deserve it for using it on the carpet or on my blanket!
- wtf, my enter key stopped working. weird.
- this thing is slow. and overheats all the time.
- *accidentally unplug laptop* *watch battery drain from 100 to 0 in 10 minutes, leaving it non portable*
- this thing is a piece of shit! I hate windows PCs! I want a mac!

BUILDING A DESKTOP

- Whoa, I can build a baller gaming PC for less than some of my idiot friends paid for their laptops!
- *puts it together, installs windows* man this is sweet. No bloatware, it doesn't overheat, and I can play a bunch of games!
- There's nothing wrong with this thing. Works like a charm. lol @ laptops and lol @ people who buy something portable just to have it plugged in anyway!
- since I built this, I know what's inside of it, and if something breaks I don't have to replace it all! Plus I can add more hard drives, fans, video cards, and ram! I can have 4 or 5 hard drives in here without having to have a bunch of pricey externals that run of shitty and slow USB!

This is the face of a laptop user:

The face of a desktop owner:

The face of a desktop owner looking at a person with a laptop:


edit: sorry for your gpu dying OP 

[Fiery Winds]

Haha, I did both and currently have a badass desktop.  I didn't really "need" this one, but we've been through a lot together and I'm gonna miss it.   

[Sigz]

Yep, there's absolutely no reason ever to have a laptop.

[Nekov]

I have a laptop. What's your problem?

[ZBomber]

Yep, there's absolutely no reason ever to have a laptop.

School.

[El Barto]

If it's a "Dead" VGA,  then no it won't post.  If it's a "broken" VGA,  then it'll do the sort of thing you're seeing.  It could still be the monitor, though.  My experience is that secondary monitors still need to be enabled through windows.  Unless you customarily use an external,  then just plugging one in won't make it fire up. 

Do you see the post screen when you turn it on,  or do the lines show up as soon as you turn it on?

[Sigz]

Yep, there's absolutely no reason ever to have a laptop.

School.

I have a laptop. What's your problem?

Sorry, that should have been in green, but I was pretty drunk and not thinking.

[Nekov]

It's all cool dude 

[Fiery Winds]

If it's a "Dead" VGA,  then no it won't post.  If it's a "broken" VGA,  then it'll do the sort of thing you're seeing.  It could still be the monitor, though.  My experience is that secondary monitors still need to be enabled through windows.  Unless you customarily use an external,  then just plugging one in won't make it fire up. 

Do you see the post screen when you turn it on,  or do the lines show up as soon as you turn it on?

Nothing but a black screen and the lines slowly fading in.

The display has always come right up when plugging in, and I still tried using the function key to cycle through display modes with no response at all.  I was even able to log in with my password by estimating where the mouse was and got to the desktop. 

I've read that it could possibly be fixed by baking the motherboard in the oven to fix a possible bad solder connection on the board.

[AcidLameLTE]

I owned a laptop once but then I realised that I didn't hate myself and gave it away for free.

Edit: Also, holy shit...this is crazy!

I've read that it could possibly be fixed by baking the motherboard in the oven to fix a possible bad solder connection on the board.

[El Barto]

I've read that it could possibly be fixed by baking the motherboard in the oven to fix a possible bad solder connection on the board.

That's actually a knock-off of the xbox 360 towel fix.  People would wrap the units up in a towel to block any ventilation,  and then leave it on for a while to cook it.  Neither the oven nor the smothered CPU will generate enough heat to remelt the solder, though.  In the case of the xbox,  the heat caused the board to warp, contract, expand, etc., which would temporarily set things right.  Truth is,  if it's a faulty solder joint,  there's not much you're going to do about it.