Gateway 600YGR Laptop

**Saveman** · 15-Sep-06, 12:57

Anyone know anything about these laptop? Mines packed up....again....

It tends to do this periodically and then suddenly start working again for no apparent reason....

Won't boot, the fan whirls and the lights flash and nothing

**blueivy** · 15-Sep-06, 16:26

Originally Posted by Saveman

Anyone know anything about these laptop? Mines packed up....again....

It tends to do this periodically and then suddenly start working again for no apparent reason....

Won't boot, the fan whirls and the lights flash and nothing

Hi Saveman,

Have you tried hard resetting it. That will wipe any of the CMOS settings but as it's not powering on anyway, that might do it.

However I have exactly the same problem with an old desktop of mine. I did diagnose it down to either the motherboard or the CPU with my bets on the motherboard. It still does it but as I use it once in a blue moon it doesn't cause me too many problems ...

**Saveman** · 15-Sep-06, 17:01

Originally Posted by blueivy

Hi Saveman,

Have you tried hard resetting it. That will wipe any of the CMOS settings but as it's not powering on anyway, that might do it.

However I have exactly the same problem with an old desktop of mine. I did diagnose it down to either the motherboard or the CPU with my bets on the motherboard. It still does it but as I use it once in a blue moon it doesn't cause me too many problems ...

Hi Blueivy,

Thanks for your reply, I have tried that with no change.
I've removed the cd drive and the floppy drive, reset the RAM....tried with battery in and battery out....I've come to the conclusion that it only works when it wants too....

**blueivy** · 15-Sep-06, 17:13

Originally Posted by Saveman

Hi Blueivy,

Thanks for your reply, I have tried that with no change.
I've removed the cd drive and the floppy drive, reset the RAM....tried with battery in and battery out....I've come to the conclusion that it only works when it wants too....

Sounds very much like my old PC. One thing that is guaranteed to work with it though is if I switch it off and on, off and on, off and on .... it will eventually spring into life. What is not guaranteed is the number of times you need to switch it off and on ....

I had a look on eBay to see if there were any second hand you could have bought and used as spares but nothing but a few docking stations and drives.

I'm out of suggestions I'm afraid. Maybe it's just not happy? I find a hug solves most problems with my 5 year old, you could try that?

Time for a new laptop? Give me a call

**Saveman** · 15-Sep-06, 17:28

Well thanks for trying anyway.

Guess I'll have to stick with me old pc for now....

**blueivy** · 15-Sep-06, 17:30

No problem.

Somebody else may have a suggestion to make, however I'm still sticking to giving it a hug. You never know

**pultneytooner** · 15-Sep-06, 19:45

It actually sounds like maybe your fan isn't kicking on causing overheating. You should have a model where you can see a fan through a plastic grill somewhere on the bottom or side. Try to see if you can spot a fan, and if it is indeed rotating. If not, try to see if you can at least sense air movement. Alot of laptop models don't have system monitoring information in their BIOS's, but check anyway to see if you can get a readout on the cpu temp. Finally - maybe this is a power related issue - try removing the battery, and only running on the adapter's power. Then try with just the battery. Got this from another website.

**Saveman** · 15-Sep-06, 20:13

Yeah the fan is spinning and there is air movement. I also opened it up and put new coolent compound on the processor and fan.
I've tried battery in and battery out with power adaptor.....it's still in a huff....

**kira24kun** · 13-Jul-10, 21:35

i received this model from a customer to fix. the customer wanted a fresh reload of the

windows XP or windows 7 OS. turned the laptop on in front of the customer and loaded

an unbelievably bogged down xp home install. i informed the customer of the procedure

and the customer agreed. i set the laptop aside to finish 3 other PC repairs. the next

morning i get to work on the gateway. i plug in the power adapter (no "play" on the

powerjack) and press the power button. (the laptop battery is completely dead- does not

hold a charge) i get no bios post. i get no bios error beep codes. the power light and

the HDD light come on, the cpu fan spins. my first diagnosis would be: power is

getting to the processor because i can hard power the device off, no bios posting

would be 1 of 2 items. bad ram, or unstable bios.

i test the ram and swap it out for 3 other sticks with the same results. second

diagnosis says A: power isnt getting to the ram or B: cmos isnt reading correctly,

unstable or stuck in stupid mode.

for all those wondering about the little reset button underneath, it isnt for resetting the

cmos. it is a handy little reset button for customers who dont know how to hard power

off their laptop. when windows freezes like it usually does, the quickest fix is using the

reset button, like the desktops throughout time have on the front panel next to the

power button. this reset hole is a power kill switch. BUT. like a desktop PC this laptop

has a cmos battery on the back of the motherboard. this model i have completely

disassembled the motherboard is now barebones. there is no access hatch for the

modem. next to the modem is the cmos battery. in my diagnosis's on this device i

have narrowed down the problem to 2 suspects. a burned CPU or an unstable bios

(the bios chip is a removable reflash chip type, no cmos clear pins) of course i also

noticed the stupidity of the designer of this device, instead of using thermal tape or

thermal compound to strip heat, the designers used a combination of reeeally hard to

remove super sticky tape, a graphite rectangle or square, and what appeared to be

yellow foam that was so dry it turned to dust when touched. so, while i remove and

replace the redundant tape, graphite and stupid foam with thermal tape and thermal

compound, the cmos battery will be removed. when i partly reassemble the laptop later

tonight and power it on i will give my findings. one of two items. or both. 1) unstable

bios (a bios update should fix that as well) 2) burned CPU (i have plenty of these on

standby) if its neither, then the only item left is the motherboard itself.

**kira24kun** · 13-Jul-10, 23:27

captains log. stardate 07132010. kirk presiding.

as i was disassembling the laptop i took the time to examine the motherboard for

corrosion of anykind.

"FLUX

Soldering requires flux -- a chemical agent containing borax -- to prevent oxidation of the solder and the metals being joined. If flux is not used, an oxide will form and prevent the solder from adhering to the surface of the metal. Flux containing borax becomes fluid at temperatures above 1100°F and are suited for use with solder that melts above 1100°F."

-http://mrooker.com/JMUmetals/technical/Soldering.html

this motherboard has large areas of solder used as grounding contact places. around

these large areas and small solder squares is a light brown, thin sticky substance. i

am sure that flux was used here, but would it not be a solid sheen ( hard like an

enamel) instead of sticky?

the reference to flux was a general reference and not meant for an electronics flux or

electronics solder query. such a high temperature would damage the mobo. but the

reference was for information gain. i also wonder if an electrical discharge would cause

solder or flux to become sticky or produce a sticky substance....... maybe a powerjack

overvoltage? the internal airflow of this device is pretty good for a laptop.... also the

thermal compound on the processor seems very watery, i think this may have been

opened previously. the copper plate for the CPU heat sink already has a black metal

thermal tape on it, i know the compound had to have been added later. it is an

excessive amount. blackish grey in color and watery. also noting that the GPU is very

wierd, as i have never seen this type before. rectangular ATI mobility radeon 7500

GPU with 2 black stamp press samsung 211 chips, all on the same GPU chipboard.

north bridge and south bridge look ok, no discoloration or burn marks. the only

noticeable feature is this brown sticky substance that appears around these solder

spots. kirk out.