Every time I start up the laptop I get the Gateway loading screen and then after the blue bar at the bottom loads up I get a black screen. Completely black and nothing loads from there. I put in the system restore disc and it still didn't load. I tried pressing F10 when the Gateway screen came up and I selected CD/DVD and it still followed with a black screen. I pressed F2 on the start up and CHANGED the bootup list so it would boot the CD/DVD first and I still got a black screen. BTW, I can feel the disc spinning at times but absolutely nothing COMES up.

Anyone know what the problem is?

More information on the laptop

The laptop is a Gateway.

Operating System: Windows XP SP3

Model #: MX8710

http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/SonicC/2905895Rsp2.shtml

That link is basically everything on the laptop. I made no changes to it. I didn't change harddrives or anything. The only thing that has been changed was the battery.

I would appreciate any help.


Restore Disc? What exactly is it/what does it say on it? It's probably used to restore the computer to first-boot settings. (Deleting all your files and programs).

Do you have the Windows XP CD?

When did this start?

What did you do before the problem? (downloads/installs/hardware changes/ect....)

Have you tried Safe Mode?Sorry for the delay.

"Restore Disc? What exactly is it/what does it say on it? It's probably used to restore the computer to first-boot settings. (Deleting all your files and programs)."

Yeah, it's the operating system disc used to re-install the operating system.


"Do you have the Windows XP CD?"

Is that different from the operating system disc? The one that was included with the PC?

"When did this start?"

This started around the end of December.

"What did you do before the problem? (downloads/installs/hardware changes/ect....)"

No hardware or installs were made to the PC. It usually had a hard time booting up and It would leave me hanging for awhile. Now it won't even boot up to Windows XP all.

"Have you tried Safe Mode?"

For some odd REASON it won't let me access it. I tapped F8 and held it down and I didn't get a menu that allowed me to boot it into safe mode. The only thing I got was a black screen after Gateway screen loaded. Make sure you have the Windows CD (it should have MICROSOFT written in hologram all over the disc).

Follow these instructions to perform a Repair Install:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
(None of your files will be lost)I am having the exact same problem with the exact same model of Gateway laptop. Bios will boot, but after that- it's just a black screen. F8 delivers a black screen as WELL.
I've tried booting the XP CD to run repairs, but I still get the black screen, even after changing boot order in BIOS. I've also tried booting Ubuntu from a disk, but that produces the same results. (I've verified that my XP and Ubuntu CDs are working just fine in another computer.)
Does anyone have any ideas?

If it helps to diagnose, I got this laptop from a co-worker who said that she was watching a DVD one day, when all of a sudden the screen went black and the computer shut down. We haven't been able to get it to boot past BIOS since, although we were able to remove the hard drive and mount it on another machine to RETRIEVE her files.