Laptop screen will not turn on.

[Altimeter20]

Hello, all.  New member posting.

I have a computer problem and I'm hoping that if I provide the details of my individual case, someone might be able to help.  I've already reviewed Document CH001127 and the problem persists.

My laptop screen will not turn on.  It is a Gateway MX6441, running Windows Vista Home Premium.  It has been in my closet for the past few months (climate-controlled), and it was working fine when I last used it then.  Now, when I press the power button, the fans turn on, but the screen is totally dead.  I've pulled the battery and put it back in, tried starting with the power cord in and with it out, etc.

I should also note that there are some indicator lights near the touchpad which are behaving differently from what I recall:

One of them is a dot with parentheses around it, which I think shows wireless connectivity.  This light comes on and stays illuminated.

Three lights come on briefly/intermittently: caps lock, number lock, and a symbol that looks like a bucket with a double arrow coming out of it.  I'm not sure what that indicates; please pardon my colloquial description.

The fifth light is a cylinder.  It does not illuminate at all.

Thanks in advance for your help.  I'll be checking the thread frequently so feel free to ask for additional info from me.

[patio]

The cylinder indicator light is for the hard drive...if it does not light at all then the drive may have gone South...
You could try removing and reseating it but it sounds like it's a goner.

[Altimeter20]

The cylinder indicator light is for the hard drive...if it does not light at all then the drive may have gone South...
You could try removing and reseating it but it sounds like it's a goner.

Is there a way to figure out if the issue really is the hard drive without opening up the laptop case?

Also, if it turns out that the hard drive is dead, what are my options/chances of recovering data?  (I should mention that I confirmed with Gateway that this laptop is well out of warranty).

Thanks!

[southpaw63119]

The cylinder indicator light is for the hard drive...if it does not light at all then the drive may have gone South...
You could try removing and reseating it but it sounds like it's a goner.

It sounds like there must be more going on with this laptop than just the hard drive--at the very least, something BIOS related should show up if that were the only problem.

[southpaw63119]

Is there a way to figure out if the issue really is the hard drive without opening up the laptop case?

Also, if it turns out that the hard drive is dead, what are my options/chances of recovering data?  (I should mention that I confirmed with Gateway that this laptop is well out of warranty).

Thanks!

Outside of swapping hard drives, I don't know of a way to know for *certain* whether or not the hard drive is the problem.
In another situation, I would recommend using a linux live cd to boot the laptop and then check for the hard drive, which could at least indicate that there was a problem if the hard drive cannot be accessed.
HOWEVER, as I said in my previous post, it sounds as though there is something else wrong with your computer AS WELL as some sort of hard drive issue.  Because your screen does not come on at all, I am tempted to think there is:
   A) Something wrong with the motherboard,
   B) Something wrong with the BIOS specifically,
   C) Or something wrong with the screen/video controller.

If you're lucky (data-wise), there is something wrong with the BIOS or motherboard that is preventing the screen from showing anything and either preventing the hard drive from starting or preventing the hard drive indicator light from turning on.  (You would be lucky because that would mean hard drive data was recoverable)

However, those are just my thoughts on the subject.  I'm not so good at remotely diagnosing problems, so I leave this thread in more capable hands.

I just felt as though I should put my 2 bits in.
--southpaw

[Altimeter20]

Outside of swapping hard drives, I don't know of a way to know for *certain* whether or not the hard drive is the problem.
In another situation, I would recommend using a linux live cd to boot the laptop and then check for the hard drive, which could at least indicate that there was a problem if the hard drive cannot be accessed.
HOWEVER, as I said in my previous post, it sounds as though there is something else wrong with your computer AS WELL as some sort of hard drive issue.  Because your screen does not come on at all, I am tempted to think there is:
   A) Something wrong with the motherboard,
   B) Something wrong with the BIOS specifically,
   C) Or something wrong with the screen/video controller.

If you're lucky (data-wise), there is something wrong with the BIOS or motherboard that is preventing the screen from showing anything and either preventing the hard drive from starting or preventing the hard drive indicator light from turning on.  (You would be lucky because that would mean hard drive data was recoverable)

However, those are just my thoughts on the subject.  I'm not so good at remotely diagnosing problems, so I leave this thread in more capable hands.

I just felt as though I should put my 2 bits in.
--southpaw

Thanks for your input.  An update:  Today I spoke to a friend who's more technologically savvy than I am.  He suggested that I do two things:

(1) Try connecting the laptop to an external monitor to see if the problem is really just a bad laptop screen.  I have a desktop computer, so I was able to do this relatively easily. 

Unfortunately, the external monitor remained blank when I hooked up my laptop.  In fact, it went into sleep mode, which made me think that perhaps it did not detect the laptop at all.  I don't know if this is because I did something wrong or if (as southpaw suggested) there is some problem with the motherboard or BIOS that is preventing the computer from even showing an error message on a screen.

(2)  Remove hard drive from laptop and then put it back in the laptop (I think this is called "reseating").  This did not work either.

My friend then suggested something that I think (correct me if I'm wrong) would recover my data if the issue were primarily with the motherboard.  He told me to buy an external case that I can put my hard drive in and connect to a functional computer.  Might that work?  How complicated would it be for a novice?

Thanks again for the help!