Gx 740 not working - but don't know why!

[Anubisuk]

Hi everyone, this is my first post and I apologise if I've put this in the wrong forum. If so, please feel free to move it.

I have an MSI GX740 and recently it stopped working and I have no idea why and was hoping someone here could help me try and discover the source of the problem at least so that I know what I'll be looking at in terms of expense to get it fixed. I'll try to give as much as detail as I can.

I had no problems with the laptop itself (no history of crashes or anything) until one morning when I went to turn it on, and it wouldn't boot up. The lights came on and the machine whirred as usual, but no POST screen appeared. So I turned it off and tried again, but to no avail. So, after looking online (in the library) and using all the tricks of unplugging the battery and adapater etc. I decided to leave it for a while. So I tried it the next day, and it managed to boot all the way to the dekstop. When I was on the desktop I managed to play a music file, move some files and delete some other files, but when I went to play a game, the game wouldn't run. So I used CTRL-ALT-DEL to end the task, and tried a different game, and the screen went black (as it always does before this games starts) but it just stayed black so I turned it off, and couldn't boot again. This suggested a video card problem, but the first game I tried to run was Championship Manager 2000/2001 which hardly uses graphics at all! (That's not a typo, I downloaded the old game through freeware).

So, again after reading internet resources, I waited a while and turned on the laptop and got to the POST screen. I pressed DEL to enter setup and reset all the bios settings, but this had no effect. So then I restarted and tried the F3 OS recovery method. Whenever I do this though I either get a message that says "reagentc.exe FALSE" and it keeps going but nothing happens at the end or, more commonly, I get a BSOD with a message about IRQL_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL or something along those lines (I'll make a proper note of it later).

So basically, I now have no idea what's causing this, and I am going to get it fixed, but having no knowledge of the cause I have no idea how much it's going to cost, or if it's something i can even try myself (I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of computers, but I have installed some PC components myself in the past.)

I've read that the reaganetc.exe message means I need to reinstall Windows 7 completely, but I don't have the Windows 7 disc (I travel a lot and think it's been lost in transit, or I just didn't get one in the first place - I genuinely can't remember). I spoke to a guy in a computer shop today who said that msi should be able to sell me a recovery cd which might solve the problem and would cost something like 20 AUD and if it doesn't work, I've only wasted 20 bucks, rather than the 300 bucks it costs to buy Windows 7 itself, when that might not even be the problem.

But I've also been reading that the BSOD message suggests it may be a hardware problem, but I have no idea which one would be failing.

Because the laptop is clearly not working in some aspect, I don't mind opening it up and having a go myself as the warranty is more than likely void anyway, as I have a chip in my casing (bottom left of the screen) so MSI would more than likely say the problem has been caused by misuse. (I didn't drop the laptop, but the bag I have it in doesn't hold it very securely, and I do travel a lot so it was just general wear and tear that caused it. I'll be buying a proper laptop bag when I get this one fixed!!)

My current status is that if I leave it for a while I can get it to the POST screen, but because of my previous efforts to recover the OS (which meant wiping the C drive) I can no longer get into Windows. If anyone has any ideas at all I'd be so grateful to hear them. If you need any more info I'll gladly provide it. However, I am based in Australia so please accept my apologies if my replies take a long time due to the time difference.

The laptop is an MSI GX 740 as I said, so these are the specs:
http://laptops-specs.blogspot.com/2010/06/msi-gx740-specifications.html

Thanks in advance

 

[Mark]

You have a valid Windows 7 key, so you can simply borrow the installation DVD from a friend, or download Windows 7 from a torrent site and install it from that.

You can test the RAM with >>Memtest86<< to see if you have a faulty module. Also, in case the hard drive has issues, you can download the diagnostics utility from the hard drive manufacturer's website and run a test of the drive.

 

[Anubisuk]

Thanks for the reply

I didn't think to use another disc with my own key, I'll try and get hold of a copy of Windows 7 from someone.

Thanks for the other links too, I'll give them a try

 

[Anubisuk]

I don't believe this! I can only make out half of the product key on the authentication sticker as the rest is worn off (the sticker is on the bottom). Does anyone have any idea how I could recover the key? Would I contact MSI or the company that sold me the laptop (or Microsoft?) or is there no way to recover a product key? Like I said, I can't get to the windows screen anymore, so can't check the product key through right-clicking on My Computer.

Again, any help at all would be fantastic.

EDIT: Have emailled msi support and the company I bought the laptop from as well to try and get hold of a recovery disk as no-one I know owns a Windows 7 disc and I can't download it anywhere.

 

[Mark]

I don't know of a way you can find out your key without being in Windows.

A recovery disc looks to be your only option here. You could try contacting Microsoft I suppose, as perhaps they can help you find out your key.

 

[nate19]

I also had the same problem. I have the A6200 laptop.The msi recovery on the hard drive failed with "reagentc.exe false" error. Same thing with the recovery dvd i had created earlier. same thing with the recovery dvd that bought from MSI. I tried installing Win7 from a installation dvd which failed as well. Then i ran a memtest86 and found out that one of the memory sticks was bad. you could also run the memory diagnostic on the Windows Recovery DVD (WRE) as well. So i just took out the bad memory and the MSI recovery worked flawlessly. I wish i had realized that this was due to bad ram. i wasted money buying a new recovery dvd from msi and wasted days trying to fix this. So if you are getting the reagentc.exe error check your memory. I am not saying this is the only source of the problem, but it could be and i haven't come across anyone suggesting this anywhere else. Also the reason i decided to do a clean install in the first place was because windows kept crashing randomly, which should have made me realize that this was a memory related issue. I hope this helps.