OS Not Loading

My brother has a Gateway laptop running Win2000 Pro. He was having problems with his computer, so he took it to someone who said he had a few viruses, got rid of them, and since then everything was working fine. He had his computer off for a couple of days, and today when he turned it on he said the OS would not load and all he got was a black rectangle in the middle of the screen which looked out of focus. Around the rectangle were black and white lines. Then he said the computer screen turned white, then went back to the same black rectangle with the with the black and white lines.

That's really all the info I have, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to what the problem could be or where he should start looking.

Thanks,
Jeane

 

He's got a problem there!

Is the monitor OK?

Did the BIOS screen post?

If he got no BIOS screen at all, this would indicate a motherboard/power supply fault. I'm wondering if the CMOS battery could be dead?
May be worth reseating things like the CPU, Graphics card and RAM stick(s) as well as reseating cables, internally and externally. I guess the power supply looks happy. I.E. the fan is spinning happily?

These are just a few of the basics to check.

 

If they found several viruses on his PC, chances are your brother is not using any AV software or updating them like he should. Also does is use a firewall when surfing on line?

It could be virus related or it could be some work that was done by the previous tech was not done properly. W/out knowing what he/she did to fix it, it's tough to say for certain.

If your brother still has the W2K CD, boot up with it and go through the installation process. At some point during the instllation process, it will ask you if you want to install a new copy or repair the current installation. You want to choose the latter. Let it go through the process of repairing and reboot.

If this doesn't solve the problem, your brother will have to take it back to the tech.