Dead Gateway Essential 633C

On Thu, 5 May 2005 00:58:31 -0700, "Geoff"
wrote:

Maybe someone can tell me what the amber light represents ??

On my White Box, the green light is the power light and the Amber
light is the HD light (which is only lit when the HD is working).
However, if my system goes into sleep mode, the green power light
turns amber.

If you have a separate power and HD light on the panel, then I think
that amber light on yours is the same as on mine... the HD access
light and something has gone bonkers with your systems causing the HD
to be in continuous working mode thus the amber HD light staying
continuously light.

If the amber light is definitely your power lamp, then you are stuck
in sleep mode for some reason if your system, like mine, turns the
green power lamp to amber when going into sleep mode.

If you feel the need to replace the system instead of having it
fixed.... Support a local, reputable, white box builder and keep your
business and money in your own community. Having an English speaking
local face to face that really cares about you and their own
reputation for support can't be beat either.

Just my uneducated thoughts.......

Regards,

Well, no matter whose name brand goes on the equipment, the computer industry
has first followed the auto industry's approach to specialization in the
manufacturing of devices. In the auto industry, it's the brake shoes, mufflers,
wheels, cylinders, etc. which are farmed out to other manufacturers who
specialize in a particular type of part. With the computer industry,
motherboards, hard drives, CD-ROM drives, memory, video cards, etc. are all made
by specialty manufacturers and sold to the name brands on an OEM basis. The
computer industry has gone way beyond the auto industry, because the important
parts are far more interchangable due to standardized physical form factors.

But, yes, you're right. All the name brand manufacturers are more or less
middlemen. The better ones specify higher quality parts to go inside the boxes,
which are the remaining unique items in a computer. And how unique can a
computer chassis be? Well, it can have different colors, more or less plastic,
even transparent sides to the chassis so you can see the parts inside
(Whoopee!)... Ben Myers

On Thu, 5 May 2005 11:23:54 -0700, "Geoff" wrote:

What happened to the days that IBM made its own equipment.
It seems there really is no more OEMs they are all just middlemen.
There is badness in blackboxing everything. There might be stuff
going on in the hardware we might like to know about but will not
because we only look at the surficial facades. I think the blackboxing
is what the security people want us to do to keep us in the dark
about science and technology. To make sure we do not modify things
for our own desires. They make nuclear weapons this way so they can
not be misused inconsistant with the desires of the makers.
I see the nuclear industry mentality governing our lives today and I really do not like it.
Compartmentizing and blackboxing everything.

Yes, I know this now as a bad choice for both vender and machine.
I think I will search for a replacement machine on the open
market getting a good used machine might be better than trying
to fix this one. But I have seen replacement MBs for under $60
so i might just try that route before giving up all hope.
The only thing I sweat is changing out the CPU because i understand
the springs on the heat sinks are hard to deal with and if you
are not very careful you might damage the board just putting on
the heat sink. I have never changed out a CPU before.
I will probably experiment on the bad board several times
before trying to mount the cpu on a good board.

Yes I am fairly sure the PSU is good. I think the bad part is related to the
video chip that also provides timing and control to the CPU
It is like a clock is dead or something because there is no sign of life
I sure wish I had kept my O scope so I could look and see if
the various timing signals are present.

Thanks for your reply.

I will not be posting any further to this thread.

geoff


"Tweek" wrote in message news:ICsee.10938$Ri.4905@trnddc08...
Are you sure the PSU is good? I have replaced many of those power supplies because of the issue with the power indicator you
describe. Now, sometimes it was both the MBD and PSU that had to be replaced for that issue. You can get a replacement board at
www.skyline-eng.com for $99. I don't know if I would replace it though. Besides the capacitor issue, those boards had many other
problems, bad modems, failed video, easily broken USB ports.

"Geoff" wrote in message ...
Hello,

Just found out the power supply looks good.
the main indicator to the problem is that
both the green power light and the amber
light not described in the users manual
is on at the very same time.

Maybe someone can tell me what the amber light represents ??

Both lights on at the very same time would mean something
to me if I could get my hands on the schematics for this
motherboard. Gateway MS-6312 Ver:1.

I am surprised at the lack of responses.
Are there no technical people out there
doing component level troubleshooting ?

Is everything black boxed today which really
lets you learn nothing about anything.

geoff


"Geoff" wrote in message ...

Hello,

need some troubleshooting advice here.

Computer: Gateway Essential 633C Celeron
MB is MS-6312 VER:1
64MB SDRAM

Got a dead computer and do not know where to start
because I have no Schematics or test equipment
other than a DMM.

Symptoms:
push power switch amber light comes on.
shouldn't that light be green ???
no video...Video screen blank.
No signs of life from the floppy drive.
No BIOS or beep codes or beeps of any kind.
CPU heat sink gets warm to the touch.
stays like that forever.
Hold in power switch for 5 seconds and power goes off.

+12 volts is +11.82
+5 volts is +5.1

cant get to the other voltages easily so I have not yet checked them.

Any ideas how to know if all the clocks are running


might the celeron CPU be dead or possibly the ram ???

I would think if the ram was totally bad the CPU would
still run the POST from the BIOS and deliver a beep code.
If it was the video adapter I would also expect to hear a
beep code.

I suspect either there is no timing and control
getting to the CPU or the CPU is dead Any ideas are welcome
especially from someone who has troubleshot this kind
of problem before.

One other thing of interest.
Before the machine died there was herringbone patterns on the
video display. You would have to start the computer two or three
times in a row before it would come on. Next day the machine just would not start up.

I know the monitor, keyboard, mouse, hard drive are all good.

In case you are wondering I do not put this in the shop
because I figure an all or nothing kind of trouble might be fun
to figure out.


lol the power supply is only 90 Watts.
There is black/white wire pair coming out of the power supply
and attaching to the motherboard. Have not yet figured out
what that is for.


geoff

Ben Myers you sound like you been around awhile,

You know those plastic sides on those cases
provide no decent shielding for things like
EMP and RFI. You need 100% encapsulation in
a conductive shield of somekind. In this
nuclear world I would think more people would
be sensitive to such things.

I just found out looking at the Motherboard there are several
high power FET switches and various voltage regulator chips.
Most of the components are now surface mount which require
expensive surgeon like equipment to deal with on a component level.
The board flexes when you plug anything in or out meaning the very
design might cause troubles if you say like plug in a dimm card
and flex the board or plug or unplug a connector flexing the board

I am not so sure these motherboards with surface mounted parts
can really take a lot of flexing before something breaks.

What the industry really needs to do is mount everything on an
inflexible surface like it is some kind of giant hybrid circuit
so things do not move around so much.

Do you know of a company that makes such a motherboard ??

The trouble I see here is mounting inflexible parts upon a flexible board.

geoff




ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message ...
Well, no matter whose name brand goes on the equipment, the computer industry
has first followed the auto industry's approach to specialization in the
manufacturing of devices. In the auto industry, it's the brake shoes, mufflers,
wheels, cylinders, etc. which are farmed out to other manufacturers who
specialize in a particular type of part. With the computer industry,
motherboards, hard drives, CD-ROM drives, memory, video cards, etc. are all made
by specialty manufacturers and sold to the name brands on an OEM basis. The
computer industry has gone way beyond the auto industry, because the important
parts are far more interchangable due to standardized physical form factors.

But, yes, you're right. All the name brand manufacturers are more or less
middlemen. The better ones specify higher quality parts to go inside the boxes,
which are the remaining unique items in a computer. And how unique can a
computer chassis be? Well, it can have different colors, more or less plastic,
even transparent sides to the chassis so you can see the parts inside
(Whoopee!)... Ben Myers

On Thu, 5 May 2005 11:23:54 -0700, "Geoff" wrote:

What happened to the days that IBM made its own equipment.
It seems there really is no more OEMs they are all just middlemen.
There is badness in blackboxing everything. There might be stuff
going on in the hardware we might like to know about but will not
because we only look at the surficial facades. I think the blackboxing
is what the security people want us to do to keep us in the dark
about science and technology. To make sure we do not modify things
for our own desires. They make nuclear weapons this way so they can
not be misused inconsistant with the desires of the makers.
I see the nuclear industry mentality governing our lives today and I really do not like it.
Compartmentizing and blackboxing everything.

Around a while? Yes, sort of an understatement.

I am not aware of any motherboards made with some reinforcement to prevent undue
flexing. The normal 8- or 9-point mounting of a motherboard inside a chassis
does not result in zero flex, but the flex is small enough to prevent breakage
of circuits and chips on the board.

I still stick with Intel-designed motherboards as a first choice, Asus as
second. Intel no longer manufactures the motherboards sold under its own brand
name, but the design is Intel's and the manufacturing quality standards are
Intel's. Intel boards are put down by the gamers and speed freaks because they
do not permit overclocking. But they are stable and reliable. Overclocking
means running a CPU (sometimes chips and memory, too) beyond the limits for
which it is designed. Not a good idea if reliability is a goal... Ben Myers

On Sat, 7 May 2005 11:57:48 -0700, "Geoff" wrote:

Ben Myers you sound like you been around awhile,

You know those plastic sides on those cases
provide no decent shielding for things like
EMP and RFI. You need 100% encapsulation in
a conductive shield of somekind. In this
nuclear world I would think more people would
be sensitive to such things.

I just found out looking at the Motherboard there are several
high power FET switches and various voltage regulator chips.
Most of the components are now surface mount which require
expensive surgeon like equipment to deal with on a component level.
The board flexes when you plug anything in or out meaning the very
design might cause troubles if you say like plug in a dimm card
and flex the board or plug or unplug a connector flexing the board

I am not so sure these motherboards with surface mounted parts
can really take a lot of flexing before something breaks.

What the industry really needs to do is mount everything on an
inflexible surface like it is some kind of giant hybrid circuit
so things do not move around so much.

Do you know of a company that makes such a motherboard ??

The trouble I see here is mounting inflexible parts upon a flexible board.

geoff