Gateway Performance 550 mhz boot issue

[711782]

This Rig was sold by me, to a friend of mine in good working order it has WinXP Pro sp2 (clean install) on a new 40 gb WD hdd, I also updated the mem to 512 mb etc etc!
The 200W PSU is good (I tested it)it's Gateway original equipment.
The next day he goes on and install a 300GB Hdd,he "say" that he set it to slave correctly,
but now this Rig won't boot with or without his 300GB drive period!
I took a look at it and here is what's happening upon powering up this infernal Rig with only my original 40 gb WD drive with WXP pro in it:
The Gateway logo start,
the BIOS (POST) count the mem and see the floppy,
the WD 40 gb drive, the CD rom, keyboard and mouse then one short all is OK beep, then! Nothing just nothing but a black dead screen sit there.
No Windows logo or scroll bar no windows the hard drive is in park I can barely feel it's vibe.
What you guys\girls think of this mystery (to me at least)
Thx

 

[G0AOZ]

Will the machine boot up on a floppy? What about safe mode - does that produce anything? Does rebooting bring you back to the same place again? Might be worth checking the heatsink/fan assembly hasn't been dislodged and that the CPU isn't overheating.

The 200W PSU sounds like Gateway's attempt at being thrifty with power (and money!). Could be that adding the bigger drive has overstretched the PSU and maybe brought down one or more of the internal circuits. Try a replacement PSU with a bigger output, say 350W or more.

As someone else has been messing about inside, check the wiring carefully, and maybe try substituting the IDE ribbon cables.

Try running manufacturers diags on the 40Gb drive, and also you could test it by connecting it up as a slave to another machine.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[711782]

ROGER no it wont boot to floppy or bootable CD like w98 boot disk
rebooting is of no help
the PSU is a specially designed for this Rig I pulled a exactly working PSU from a spare GateWay Rig and it does the same thing,
the CPU is the cartridge type that fits perpendicularly on the board and the fan was cleaned and is running smooth
I've already checked all the cables and even replaced some of them.
I've set the BIOS to default,
I also booted with minimal hardware, no CD Rom or floppy sound nic and modem.
Of course the video and memory was left in place
the capacitors are healthy (not bulging etc.)
Before I sold the Rig it was totally cleaned and running smooth with a clean install of WXP Pro SP2

 

[G0AOZ]

Have you, "Try running manufacturers diags on the 40Gb drive, and also you could test it by connecting it up as a slave to another machine." ?

If the HDD is disconnected from both power and data, will machine then boot to a floppy?

You're now getting down to the point where the finger of suspicion will be pointed at the motherboard itself if you've substituted all other components...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[711782]

ROGER I've been suspecting this possible fact for some time now , I'll do one or two more tests I still would like to know if a controller card and the Hdd hooked to it would show something "new",I'll try that some time today.
No it won't do a floppy boot, so none of your suggestion are possible.
Thx ROGER

 

[wolluf]

711782

Things I'd try:-

1. Boot from win98 boot floppy, run fdisk and set partition active (just in case its lost this).

2. Boot into recovery console - if it will let you it shows there's a windows installation on the hard drivet hat the install disk can read. Then run chkdsk /p, fixmbr and fixboot. Restart and see if any action.

 

[LawnBoy]

711782,
To follow up on wolluf's thought, how much chance is there that when your friend added the new drive, he accidentally wiped out the old drive with fdisk or the new drive's partitioning tools?

 

[711782]

It has been repaired, I overlooked the hdd jumpers setting,(cause my friend told me that he didn't mess with it)I found it changed to CL so I reset it to MA and made sure that the BIOS was reset to default,Rebooted and presto! The rig finally produced windows.My Thx to ROGER,Wolluf and LawnBoy

 

[cdogg]

LOL, yeah that's what I was about to suggest. Sorry I was late to the party...

~cdogg
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