Gateway Solo 2500 Won't Power Up

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Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

I recently sold my Gateway Solo 2500 on eBay. Before I shipped it, it
was in perfect working condition. However, the woman who purchased it
emailed me after she got it and says it won't power up. At least,
that's what I think she said. Her first email said, "how do I program
the laptop it seems to not work." Then, after I suggested the battery
may not be charged and she should try plugging it in, she said, "Ok
the laptop doesn’t work I plug it in and turn it on and the screen
remains black nothing comes on it and I need to know what you are
going to do about it."

I purchased insurance on the laptop from the post office, so if it was
damaged in transit I can give the woman her money back, but
1. I don't want to go through that hassle.
2. I'm not convinced the laptop is broken (In fact, I'm not even
convinced she knows which button is the power button.)

Anyway, my first instinct is to recommend using the reset button, but
I want to be able to tell her where that it on the machine, and I
can't find anything online that tells me that. Is that the right
thing to suggest? If so, does anyone know where it is offhand? If
not, what should I tell her?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

mtobey wrote:
> I recently sold my Gateway Solo 2500 on eBay. Before I shipped it, it
> was in perfect working condition. However, the woman who purchased it
> emailed me after she got it and says it won't power up. At least,
> that's what I think she said. Her first email said, "how do I program
> the laptop it seems to not work." Then, after I suggested the battery
> may not be charged and she should try plugging it in, she said, "Ok
> the laptop doesn’t work I plug it in and turn it on and the screen
> remains black nothing comes on it and I need to know what you are
> going to do about it."
>
> I purchased insurance on the laptop from the post office, so if it was
> damaged in transit I can give the woman her money back, but
> 1. I don't want to go through that hassle.
> 2. I'm not convinced the laptop is broken (In fact, I'm not even
> convinced she knows which button is the power button.)
>
> Anyway, my first instinct is to recommend using the reset button, but
> I want to be able to tell her where that it on the machine, and I
> can't find anything online that tells me that. Is that the right
> thing to suggest? If so, does anyone know where it is offhand? If
> not, what should I tell her?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>

Since it sounds like you want to do the right thing, you could ask for
her phone number and see if you can get additional information.

Mellow
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Chances are the CPU daughterboard has come out of the sockets that connect
it to the motherboard due to being banged around in shipping. The Solo 2500
was notorious for this board to become dislodged over time with normal use.
Rarely will you find a Solo 2500 that hasn't needed this done at least once
over the years. This results in a totally dead laptop, but the power light
will still come on and the fan will still run. You need to start by removing
the 4 screws located above the external ports on the back of the laptop.
Remove the hinge cover that the screws secure by pulling up on it. This will
give you access to the 4 screws that hold the keyboard in place. After
removing the keyboard, remove the 4 screws that secure the heatsink. Remove
the heatsink and press down firmly on the CPU board underneath it. You
should feel the CPU board fully seat into the 2 sockets it connects with
towards the right underside of the board, then reassemble.

If that doesn't work, it could also be a bad CMOS battery. The Solo 2500
will not boot with a bad or dead CMOS battery installed, but if it was
working in the last week or two I doubt that's the cause.

Resetting the 2500 is not an easy task. There's no external reset button.
You reset the CMOS by a jumper on the motherboard. Remove the keyboard and
the jumper is located on the motherboard around where you'd find the
keyboard space bar. Move the jumper to pins 2 and 3 and reboot. The computer
will boot and immediately power back down after a few seconds. That's
verification that the reset is complete. Move the jumper back to pins 1 and
2 and reboot.

I'd bet money it's the CPU board, but you're probably going to need to get
it back unless she knows a bit about laptop disassembly. I doubt she does
and some serious expensive damage can result if you give her full reign in
trying to repair it. It's about a 10 minute fix if you know what you're
doing. Good luck.

"mtobey" <matthewtobey@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:adb04$4247927d$455da0d2$477@allthenewsgroups.com...

>I recently sold my Gateway Solo 2500 on eBay. Before I shipped it, it
> was in perfect working condition. However, the woman who purchased it
> emailed me after she got it and says it won't power up.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

testortool

Thanks. I just had a Gateway Solo 2300 that wouldn't boot in exactly
this way, and what you described did the trick. I could even feel the
board that the processor was on kind of slide in and click.

I agree that talking someone through this procedure who doesn't know
very much about computers is a recipe for disaster. I would suggest
to her that she either mail it back to you (splitting shipping or her
pay it all) or take it to a local computer shop where they can likely
do this for her quickly.

But anyway, and again, thanks a lot. This post saved me a heap of
headache.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Thanks for the info...I was having a problem (random lock ups) that I
presumed was the PSU because it even happened in the bios. Well, I
opened it up, and did the reset thing, and it seems fine now.
Weird.

However, while I was in there I noticed the cpu fan only spins up once
when first turning it on, and then turns off, any idea why this is?
(btw, fan is set to 'performance' in the bios)

This is a Solo 2300.

Thanks.

--Lucky