Barebones Gateway Solo 2500 Screen Problems
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From: Charles Densem on 7 Nov 2006 20:04 I recently assigned myself to the task of refurbishing a barebones Gateway Solo 2500. It has RAM, a DVD drive, a video card, and not much else. When I start it up (with the power cord, there is no battery), the power led comes on, and it begins to access the bootable cd that I have in the drive. Near as I can tell, it finishes. The problem is, the screen is completely black, as if it did not turn on. This makes it rather hard to see if the boot process is working, as one might imagine. I would contact Gateway tech support, but I would rather not pay for a service that probably won't help anyway. So i post here, and wait for anyone who knows what the problem is to post. Please help.
From: BillW50 on 8 Nov 2006 17:23 "Charles Densem" <charles.densem(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:1162947854.577898.271930(a)h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com > I recently assigned myself to the task of refurbishing a barebones > Gateway Solo 2500. It has RAM, a DVD drive, a video card, and not much > else. When I start it up (with the power cord, there is no battery), > the power led comes on, and it begins to access the bootable cd that I > have in the drive. Near as I can tell, it finishes. The problem is, > the screen is completely black, as if it did not turn on. This makes > it rather hard to see if the boot process is working, as one might > imagine. I would contact Gateway tech support, but I would rather not > pay for a service that probably won't help anyway. So i post here, and > wait for anyone who knows what the problem is to post. Please help. Could be a bad inverter or back lamp. Does it work with an external monitor? -- Bill
From: Pop` on 8 Nov 2006 18:15 Charles Densem wrote: > I recently assigned myself to the task of refurbishing a barebones > Gateway Solo 2500. It has RAM, a DVD drive, a video card, and not much > else. When I start it up (with the power cord, there is no battery), > the power led comes on, and it begins to access the bootable cd that I > have in the drive. Near as I can tell, it finishes. The problem is, > the screen is completely black, as if it did not turn on. This makes > it rather hard to see if the boot process is working, as one might > imagine. I would contact Gateway tech support, but I would rather not > pay for a service that probably won't help anyway. So i post here, and > wait for anyone who knows what the problem is to post. Please help. Depending on what you mean by "barebones", it may simply mean that the screen connector isn't completely seated or is otherwise messed up. Usually it's a panel across the front that just snaps out to expose the cabling. Can you try hooking up an external monitor? That would tell whether the video stuff is working maybe. If you aren't getting any POST beeps, then it's probably booting. AFAIK there will either be NO or one single beep when the POST completes. I looked thru the user manual but didn't see anything useful to your problem. HTH Pop`
From: Charles Densem on 8 Nov 2006 21:28 Hi all, thanks for posting. I did plug in an external monitor, and it got a "no signal" light (amber). However, it could be possible that it (the Gateway) is stuck in LCD mode, as opposed to CRT. There is a keyboard combination that would switch it, but I have my doubts about the keyboard as well.
From: BillW50 on 8 Nov 2006 21:44
"Charles Densem" <charles.densem(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:1163039290.057375.27090(a)h54g2000cwb.googlegroups.com > Hi all, thanks for posting. I did plug in an external monitor, and it > got a "no signal" light (amber). However, it could be possible that it > (the Gateway) is stuck in LCD mode, as opposed to CRT. There is a > keyboard combination that would switch it, but I have my doubts about > the keyboard as well. Yes the keyboard combo works for most models. Also some also has a setting in the BIOS settings what to use when just starting. I wouldn't discount that the CMOS battery might be shot, or might need recharging. Some just plug in under AC and it charges the CMOS battery. Some only charges the battery when the power is on. -- Bill |