Is my motherboard going down or is it something else?

[mstique14]

I have a gateway laptop. My computer works perfectly fine when I am on it. I don't have any problems, but my problem is sometimes when I turn my computer off it takes multiple tries to get it back on. The easiest way I found for me to be able to get it to come back on automatically is when its starting back up I press F2 to take me into the setup and I just press F10 to save and exit. That normally will get my computer to come on automatically. If I don't do that my computer gets to the part where it says Gateway but doesn't go to the part where is says windows. It just goes straight to a black screen. I have had times I had to turn it off and on at least 6 different times. Also I have noticed that when I leave my laptop on which I always do just to bypass all the issues of getting it on, that when I come back to my laptop sometimes I will have a black screen that pops up saying it can't find my hard drive. I talked to someone from GeekSquad and he said that it sounds like my motherboard is going out and I might as well buy a new laptop. But he could also be saying that to just make money. So what is your input on it? Thank you!

 

[ErikTheAndroid]

Once you do manage to get your computer up and running make sure to check that you have all the latest drivers and you might also want to do a Virus Scan. Also try running CCleaner. No guarantee that those methods will work but it's something. Like the Geek Squad guy said it may be your Mobo but i don't know.

 

[house70]

Sounds like a HDD problem, as well.
Try to restore the BIOS to default settings, then try to reboot. If still issues, remove the HDD from the laptop and reboot. It should say HDD not found, but should also give the option to boot from CD-ROM. You could replace temporarily the HDD and see what happens. It might come down to a bad disk.
IF the mobo is failing, you are better off getting another laptop than replacing the mobo.

 

[mstique14]

How do you restore the BIOS?

 

[house70]

How do you restore the BIOS?

When the system starts to boot, hit the "enter the BIOS" key when prompted (could be DEL, F2, F12 or whatever key that system has assigned for it). Once in the BIOS, navigate through it until you find the "restore to defaults"option, select it, save and reboot.