Member Avatar for James'

Hey, I tried to swap a hard drive form another computer with Windows Vista Home Premium onto a Gateway dx4200-09. After hooking the hard drive up to the dx4200 it powered up and the power light flashed slowly blue. The screen/monitor didn't respond, I tried another monitor and it didn't do anything.

I figured it just wouldn't work, so I hooked the original hard drive up and it still is doing the same thing. Power light is blue and flashing slowly on and off, and the monitor won't respond. Nothing else has been changed, I tried unplugging the power cord and pressing the power button for 30 seconds to reset the hardware, didn't do anything. There was no beep sound or anything.

Anyone know what to do here?

-James'

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Member Avatar for caperjack

my first question is why you are trying to change hdd, were you having other problems

Member Avatar for James'

my first question is why you are trying to change hdd, were you having other problems

No, basically we had the same OS and similar hardware but theirs was a more powerful machine. But I do recording and they just do basic browsing etc. They needed a smaller case that was more convenient, and the processor and sound card in theirs was better than mine so we were making a deal basically. We were trying to see if we could swap hard drives so they could keep all their files.

Both computers had a 64 bit processor, theirs was quad core and mine is only dual core. Both had 4 gigs of RAM, both were running Windows Vista Home Premium but they had the 64 bit edition of it and I had the 32 bit edition.

The problem is that the computer that was effected negatively here is theirs and not mine. I did a little looking around and it seems it might need the hardware reset? That's the only thing I could gather.

I'm not a compuer expert and I probably shouldn't have been trying to do this.

-James'

Member Avatar for caperjack

hi,you'll likely have to reinstall windows to get them to work ,even if they are close to the same

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Did the other machine work after reinstalling the original HD?
You may have disturbed the RAM chip/s. I am guessing you have two m2 Gb sticks, remove both, clean the contacts with a pencil eraser and replace only one stick (Do not touch the contacts with your fingers). If no good put the other stick in the/another slot.
Note:- Ensure that the power is unplugged and you earth yourself to the case (hold bare metal) before you start.
I think caperjack is going through menopause (new avatar, again), I am sure he meant, try a repair/install of windows first, but you may need to reinstall.

Member Avatar for James'

Did the other machine work after reinstalling the original HD?
You may have disturbed the RAM chip/s. I am guessing you have two m2 Gb sticks, remove both, clean the contacts with a pencil eraser and replace only one stick (Do not touch the contacts with your fingers). If no good put the other stick in the/another slot.
Note:- Ensure that the power is unplugged and you earth yourself to the case (hold bare metal) before you start.
I think caperjack is going through menopause (new avatar, again), I am sure he meant, try a repair/install of windows first, but you may need to reinstall.

Yeah, my computer(the other machine) worked fine after reinstalling the hard drive. And in fact, I failed to mention this the first time but I took the hard drive from the Gateway machine and put it in mine after it and my hard drive would not work in the Gateway machine. Both their hard drive and mine work in my computer, but none in the Gateway computer. No matter what I do with the Gateway, when I turn it on the monitor doesn't respond and the power light is slowly flashing blue.

I haven't tried the thing you suggested with the RAM, I'll have to give that a try. I would try a repair install, but I can't get it to boot from CD drive because it won't display anything on any monitor I hook it up to. Also, reinstalling would be difficult because it's and OEM liscence.

-James'

-James'

Member Avatar for James'

Hey guys, the RAM thing worked great! It was just one of the sticks was bad, so thanks for the help!

-James'

Member Avatar for jtingres

I have the same problem where by the power light blinks and no video. I have a dx4200, I took it into Microcenter and they said it was a bad board so I replaced the board but same problem. I tried the RAM chips putting in one, then the other, but that didn't work. Do you guys think it's the CPU chip that is bad?

Member Avatar for VIJAYPUTRA

when u reinstalled the os did u had the 2 hd's attached to the same system having os on each. if that was the case then u need to keep both the hd's for the system to run normally. also check for master and slave setting on hd. even try removing the bios battery and adjusting the ram. for better operation use single hd at a time. hope it is useful

Member Avatar for Rik_

jtingres, you should start a new thread rather than hijack an old one.

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