Seems like I have the same problem here, with the difference that I don't have any glow on the side of the screen either.
Here's what happened and possible causes:
I got a car power adapter a Gateway solo 19v.
I took it out to the car just to test it, connected it, with the engine off. The plugs both at the GCT and the lighter were kind of lose, had to giggle them to get a contact, figured I'll fix that. I fired it up and it started booting fine. As it was booting I wanted to try turn the car on. As I expected it started rebooting since the starter dropped the voltage too low. I've read about others having the IOpener in the car and having the same problem. Didn't sound like it could damage the electronics though. In the future I was planning on adding a sevond little battery, Motorcicle style with a switching circuit that would insulate it from the rest of the car unless the alternator was charging positively.
Long story short: It never "finished" rebooting. It went off and never came back on. The light goes on, tester shows power in the few places I could think of trying (Suggestions welcome) the HD spins but I don't hear heads noise. I tried using the sandisk instead and nothing changes. The power button's light goes on and the button behaves normally (It shuts off if I hold it ~10 secs) when off the ligh is still on but much dimmer, just like before.
Possible causes I can think of:
- I was stupid enough to try starting the car as it was just booting up. Could I have hit it right during BIOS POST and could that have fried the bios? I've seen many posts from people asking for a copy of the bios but never positive answers. Is it possible to swap the bios? does badflash have the GCT bios? or would the "soldered on" bios chip the one possibly screwed?
- I had a mod inthere that could have "lost" some tiny particles of solder, I looked the best I could and didn't see any, my next step is to buy a good magnifying lens and look again.
- vibration could have caused the plugs to do some weird "fast connect disconnect" and that could mess it up??
Don't know what else to think. I really doubt that there could have been a spike high enough to fry the thing, mine came with a 24V power supply and has no problem with that or with an IOpener PS, this thing seems to be pretty flexible on input voltage.
I did try other things already suggested, different battery and I tried leaving the battery out ('bout 10 - 15 min), no success.
I'm just about to cry, I'd love to say it's not fried, but really don't know what to try next. Please help ;(
