oldcowboy

Hello. This is my first post, I found this site by googling a problem I'm having. I'm sure glad you folks are here and I hope someone can help.
I have a Gateway 405 ROG Laptop that is exhibiting signs that the Video card is dying(flashing green and red colors), I at first thought it might be a loose connection, since the condition was intermittent when I touched the circuit board, but after while it would'nt go away at all. Then I discovered that the cooling fan only runs for 5 or 10 seconds when the computer is first booted up (and it's a little noisy); all I was doing when I touched the circuit board was heat-sinking. Would the fan's not running cause the video flashing? Is the fan bad, or do I have a programing problem? If I cool the heat sink with ice, the problem clears up.

TheMatt

Hi,

What video card do you have? It definitely sounds like overheating. If you have an ATI card, download ATI Tray Tools for temperatures. If you have an nVidia card, download RivaTuner for temperatures.

oldcowboy

Thanks for your reply. I have been told that the video card is built into the main circuit board which would make replacement very costly.

Terrister

1st try getting a can of compressed air and give the laptop a good cleaning. I have seen them so full of gunk that the fan just could not move.

oldcowboy

Thank you. I blew out the fan circuit board, the fan still only runs for a few seconds and shuts off. Does anyone know how to tell if the fan and heat-sink are defective or if it's a heat sensor or thermocouple?

TheMatt

What are your system specs? Create a quick report using Everest from my sig. Be sure it includes the system summary.

laboye

Hi and welcome to TSF. It actually sounds like the video connector is loose, but it could also be the video card/chipset itself. If you are comfortable with opening the computer (it's not too deep), you should be able to reseat it.

-Eddie

oldcowboy

Thanks, Eddie. I agree, I don't think it's a heat problem, it's acting more and more like a loose connection. I disassemabled the computer, but I can't' indentify much. What does the video card look like?

laboye

Not so much the video card, but the LCD's connection to the motherboard or video card. It's usually the thickest, or chunkiest cable there. It's usually a group of cables or a thick cable originating in the direction of the LCD. Here's a good example:

http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Satellite-A105/big/Toshiba-Satellite-A105-14.jpg

-Eddie

oldcowboy

Thanks for all your input; it seems that I have solved the video problem, but after taking the motherboard out a couple of times, now the touchpad does'nt work or if I plug in a mouse, that won't work either. I checked all the cables and they are ok. I down-loaded the Gateway driver for the touchpad and installed it, so far I have not been able to get it to work....it takes me forever to move around without the pointer. Any ideas?

TheMatt

Do you see any pointing devices in device manager? If you plug in an optical mouse, does it light up to indicate its receiving power?

oldcowboy

Thanks again. Couldn't find any trace of a mouse in device manager, so I re-loaded the mouse driver from the utilities disk....still no touch pad, but I am able to use an external mouse, which is ok.

TheMatt

Check that you didn't accidentally turn off the touchpad by pressing the Fn+Function key combination on your laptop. Look in the manual for the specific combination. On my laptop, for example, it is Fn+F7.