Fixing old gateway...need help!

C

compchip

New Member
OK, my 10 year old gateway was acting weird, so I took it apart, changed the CMOS battery, and that fixed the "not turning on" issue.

Then the computer turned on, but would say "cannot find hard-drive" or something to that effect. Someone on here suggested that I take it apart again, blow the dust out of all the connections, then reconnect everything and put it back together. Now it won't turn on at all!

Did I do something wrong? Is my comp totally shot? Any suggestions would be a great help.

Oh, and by the way, I know that a 10 yr old computer is not worth the time to mess around with, but now it is the challenge that is motivating me.

Thanks for any help.
 
Since you changed the battery(resets the bios to default), you probably needed to go into the bios and change your boot order. As far as it not starting now , you might not have plugged something up right or forgot something. 10 years old it probably has a AT power supply, sure you got the 2 power connectors in right?
 
Also try removing the power cord, then holding in the ON button for 30 secs
Then put the power cord back in, and turn on

You might also want to Remove the Ram Card(s) and blow out any dust in there, then re-insert the Ram cards until they click in
 
I took everything apart, blew out the ram card, put all the connections back together, and still no starting! I know that there is power flowing because there is a slight green glow to my start button, which is probably due to a tiny orange light which is illuminated on the mother-board. This light stays no matter how long or how many time I push the power button.

Is there still hope, or did I wreck it somehow? Do you think I should leave it plugged in for a while, like overnight or something?

Thanks for any help.
 
compchip said:
This light stays no matter how long or how many time I push the power button.
Click to expand...
Not if you follow what I said ;)

I also had a computer once that I had to remove the PCI Cards (including the addon Video Card
Then unplug the 20/24 Pin large power connector to the Motherboard
Then do the 30second hold in ON button (as stated above)
Then return the cards, and power cord
Then turn on
 
kimsland said:
Not if you follow what I said ;)

I also had a computer once that I had to remove the PCI Cards (including the addon Video Card
Then unplug the 20/24 Pin large power connector to the Motherboard
Then do the 30second hold in ON button (as stated above)
Then return the cards, and power cord
Then turn on
Click to expand...

OK, I will try that. I am nnot sure that I have an addon video card, as I said, this comps about 10yr old (win98). What are PCI cars? When I take my comp apart, which has been done about several times now, the only removable card I see is the RAM card on the motherboard.

Also, what is the "20/24 Pin large power connector". Is it the widest cable plugging into the motherboard? On my computer, the other end of this cable attaches to the hard-drive and says "master cable".

Will try, thanks for any help.
 
kimsland said:
Not if you follow what I said ;)

I also had a computer once that I had to remove the PCI Cards (including the addon Video Card
Then unplug the 20/24 Pin large power connector to the Motherboard
Then do the 30second hold in ON button (as stated above)
Then return the cards, and power cord
Then turn on
Click to expand...

OK, I will try that. I am not sure that I have an add-on video card, as I said, this comps about 10yr old (win98). What are PCI cars? When I take my comp apart, which has been done about several times now, the only removable card I see is the RAM card on the motherboard.

Also, what is the "20/24 Pin large power connector". Is it the widest cable plugging into the motherboard? On my computer, the other end of this cable attaches to the hard-drive and says "master cable".

Oh, and I reread your firs post more clearly and unplugged the power cord before holding the power button...still did not turn on.

Will try, thanks for any help.
 
kimsland said:
Not if you follow what I said ;)

I also had a computer once that I had to remove the PCI Cards (including the addon Video Card
Then unplug the 20/24 Pin large power connector to the Motherboard
Then do the 30second hold in ON button (as stated above)
Then return the cards, and power cord
Then turn on
Click to expand...

This might sound dumb, but should I perform these actions with the computer plugged in, or un-plugged. There is no battery.

Thank you for all your helpful information.
 
kimsland said:
Unplugged ;) Thanks for signing in for a second too :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. After re-reading the thread just now, I can see that I perform the actions unplugged, then plug in afterward and turn-on.

I might not be able to work on it for awhile as it takes some time to get to the motherboard, but when I do, I will post the results.

Thanks for the help.
 
OK, back with the results. I unplugged the two largest cables going to the motherboard from what appears to be the hard-drive. These cables had 39 and 34 pins respectively. There was one other large cable going to the motherboard, which had something like 18 or 20 pins, I left this one plugged in. Looking back, maybe I should have unplugged it also. Every thing else remained connected (except for the power cord).

As for the PCI cards, I have no idea what that is. I did not see any removable card-like objects, so I am thinking maybe my comp doesn't have any, at least not the removable kind. We're talking about a roughly ten year old computer.

Anyway, I held the power button for about 1 minute. Then I plugged everything back in and tried to turn it on..........still nothing. Just that faint, orange light on the motherboard.

I am beginning to think that I could possibly have broken something in one of my repair attempts.

Thanks to everyone for their help. I am open to any more suggestions (except for go to a repair-shop, that is:D).
 
Its sounding like power supply at this point :(
The power supply has power cables plugging into all your devices, like the Hard Drive and the CD Drive etc
But it also has one (possibly two) cables plugging into the motherboard

One of these power cables is a 20 pin large block power connector
It has a clip on the side that you squeeze in, you then wriggle out this connector from the Motherboard
Some are quite tight. But it will come out, as long as you squeeze in the clip on the side of the plug itself

You may also have another power connector going to the Motherboard
It is a 4 Pin square plug, again it also has a clip on the side that you squeeze in, whilst pulling out the plug

Whilst the computer is off ;) (actually power cable out too) Try removing these power plugs from the Motherboard
Then put them back in, they basically push back in and then "click" into place

Talking about "clicking" Make sure that your Ram cards were also reseated, but have also been "clicked" into place (sometimes you need to push down with a bit of force (oh and I hope they are the right way around, they can only go in one way anyway - so the slot channel lines up)


If reseating these cables do not fix the fault
Then it sounds like faulty: Power Supply Unit (PSU)
I also wonder if whilst testing (earlier on) that you left the computer on, when reseating the cables. If so, then you may have blown the Power Supply Unit

Please let me know again :)
 
kimsland said:
Its sounding like power supply at this point :(
The power supply has power cables plugging into all your devices, like the Hard Drive and the CD Drive etc
But it also has one (possibly two) cables plugging into the motherboard

One of these power cables is a 20 pin large block power connector
It has a clip on the side that you squeeze in, you then wriggle out this connector from the Motherboard
Some are quite tight. But it will come out, as long as you squeeze in the clip on the side of the plug itself

You may also have another power connector going to the Motherboard
It is a 4 Pin square plug, again it also has a clip on the side that you squeeze in, whilst pulling out the plug

Whilst the computer is off ;) (actually power cable out too) Try removing these power plugs from the Motherboard
Then put them back in, they basically push back in and then "click" into place

Talking about "clicking" Make sure that your Ram cards were also reseated, but have also been "clicked" into place (sometimes you need to push down with a bit of force (oh and I hope they are the right way around, they can only go in one way anyway - so the slot channel lines up)


If reseating these cables do not fix the fault
Then it sounds like faulty: Power Supply Unit (PSU)
I also wonder if whilst testing (earlier on) that you left the computer on, when reseating the cables. If so, then you may have blown the Power Supply Unit

Please let me know again :)
Click to expand...

I am going to un-plug and re-plug everything just to make sure.

Oh, and to give a little history, after I replaced the cmos, it did the "cannot find hard-drive" thing. I did not work on it for a few months after that, and when I did start working on it, I did not check to see if it started right before I began working on it. Nothing happened to it in the time in-between work sessions.

To answer your last question, I have always un-plugged my computer before working on it.

Thanks for your help. I will do the un-plug/re-plug in the next few days and get back to you.
 
Last edited:
compchip said:
Oh, and to give a little history, after I replaced the cmos, it did the "cannot find hard-drive" thing. I did not work on it for a few months after that
Click to expand...
We are not up to that yet ;)
If we get that far, then at least the computer is working
 
OK, I know it has been a long time, but I haven't forgotten about my commitment.

Today I finally got around to working on the gateway. I took EVERYTHING apart. Anything that I could unplug and re-plug with relative ease, I did. I even un-plugged all the cables from the hard-drive. Before re-plugging, I blew-out all the connections.

The one thing I can think of that I did this time that I did not do the last few times was that I removed the CMOS battery then put it back in.

The result.....It works!!!!:D:D:D::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Big thank-you to everyone who has helped with their advice and encouragement. :good::good::good:. I wold have given up on it long ago.

I now have a new problem I need assistance with. The computer turns on and off just fine, but the screen stays black. Do I need to turn it on and leave it on for a while?

Thank you Again for all your help.
 
Check for loose video cable connection. If thats fine try a different monitor, if the different monitor works, then you have a bad monitor. If not, then you have a bad video card or port on the motherboard. Do you have onboard video and a separate video card? If so, plug in using onboard and change video to separate card.
 
I do not have a separate monitor, unfortunately. I will, however, take everything down and re-check my connections.

If not, then you have a bad video card or port on the motherboard. Do you have onboard video and a separate video card? If so, plug in using onboard and change video to separate card.
Click to expand...

Please excuse my ignorance, but I don't have a good understanding of what you are talking about. I do know that the only card-like object on my motherboard is (what I believe to be) the ram card.

Thanks for your reply.
 
It works 100%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I took everything down and put everything back and now it all works perfectly! It doesen't even have the "can't find harddrive" error!

I was ready to give up and junk it so many times, but you guys kept comming back with more suggestions. That's what kept me going. Persistence really does pay off.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, to all the members who contriuted their knowledge to this thread and helped me fix this computer!

I even made this post from it!

Once again, thanks.
 
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