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.

"Charles Densem" <charles.densem******.com> wrote in message
news:1162947854.577898.271930@h48g2000cwc.googlegr oups.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

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`

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.

"Charles Densem" <charles.densem******.com> wrote in message
news:1163039290.057375.27090@h54g2000cwb.googlegro ups.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

BillW50 wrote:
> 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.

I have tried both methods to attempt to charge the CMOS battery, yet I
do not know if it worked. What I meant about having "doubts" about the
keyboard was that I am not sure that it is functional at this time.
Also, how would I get into the BIOS setup if I cannot see what is on
the screen?

In news:1163168821.789846.325020@k70g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com,
Charles Densem <charles.densem******.com> typed:
> BillW50 wrote:
>> 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.
>
> I have tried both methods to attempt to charge the CMOS battery, yet I
> do not know if it worked. What I meant about having "doubts" about the
> keyboard was that I am not sure that it is functional at this time.
> Also, how would I get into the BIOS setup if I cannot see what is on
> the screen?

Yeah that is a real problem. An external keyboard might work. Also try
to view the LCD screen with a strong light. Sunlight, flashlight or
something. As it might be working, but very hard to see if the backlight
is just out.

Also as Pop` had mentioned, you don't hear any beeps when you turn on
the laptop, do you? As the number of beeps is a code to tell someone
what failed during a selftest. There is no standard code, so you have to
find out what they are from the manufacture or the BIOS supplier.

--
Bill

>
> Yeah that is a real problem. An external keyboard might work. Also try
> to view the LCD screen with a strong light. Sunlight, flashlight or
> something. As it might be working, but very hard to see if the backlight
> is just out.
>
> Also as Pop` had mentioned, you don't hear any beeps when you turn on
> the laptop, do you? As the number of beeps is a code to tell someone
> what failed during a selftest. There is no standard code, so you have to
> find out what they are from the manufacture or the BIOS supplier.
>
> --
> Bill

I tried the flashlight method, and no dice. I hear no beeps, and an
external keyboard would be useless, as the key combo to switch display
modes is Fn-CRT/LCD. Granted, the CRT/LCD key is on another key, but an
external keyboard would not have the Function key. Or would it? I
really don't know.

"Charles Densem" <charles.densem******.com> wrote in message
news:1163217605.396927.80080@h54g2000cwb.googlegro ups.com
>> Yeah that is a real problem. An external keyboard might work. Also
>> try to view the LCD screen with a strong light. Sunlight, flashlight
>> or something. As it might be working, but very hard to see if the
>> backlight is just out.
>>
>> Also as Pop` had mentioned, you don't hear any beeps when you turn on
>> the laptop, do you? As the number of beeps is a code to tell someone
>> what failed during a selftest. There is no standard code, so you
>> have to find out what they are from the manufacture or the BIOS
>> supplier.
>
> I tried the flashlight method, and no dice. I hear no beeps, and an
> external keyboard would be useless, as the key combo to switch display
> modes is Fn-CRT/LCD. Granted, the CRT/LCD key is on another key, but
> an external keyboard would not have the Function key. Or would it? I
> really don't know.

Wow! That doesn't sound good Charles. If nothing else, it should be
beeping just the fact alone it can't find an OS. Plus the video and
maybe the keyboard isn't working either. I would be inside of
troubleshooting the power regulators inside of the laptop. Which might
be on the motherboard. I'm thinking that it might cost more to fix it
than it is worth. Although I could be wrong. But it doesn't look good to
me. :(

--
Bill

"BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote in message
news:4555e322$0$1350$834e42db@reader.greatnowhere. com
> "Charles Densem" <charles.densem******.com> wrote in message
> news:1163217605.396927.80080@h54g2000cwb.googlegro ups.com
>>> Yeah that is a real problem. An external keyboard might work. Also
>>> try to view the LCD screen with a strong light. Sunlight, flashlight
>>> or something. As it might be working, but very hard to see if the
>>> backlight is just out.
>>>
>>> Also as Pop` had mentioned, you don't hear any beeps when you turn
>>> on the laptop, do you? As the number of beeps is a code to tell
>>> someone what failed during a selftest. There is no standard code,
>>> so you have to find out what they are from the manufacture or the
>>> BIOS supplier.
>>
>> I tried the flashlight method, and no dice. I hear no beeps, and an
>> external keyboard would be useless, as the key combo to switch
>> display modes is Fn-CRT/LCD. Granted, the CRT/LCD key is on another
>> key, but an external keyboard would not have the Function key. Or
>> would it? I really don't know.
>
> Wow! That doesn't sound good Charles. If nothing else, it should be
> beeping just the fact alone it can't find an OS. Plus the video and
> maybe the keyboard isn't working either. I would be inside of
> troubleshooting the power regulators inside of the laptop. Which might
> be on the motherboard. I'm thinking that it might cost more to fix it
> than it is worth. Although I could be wrong. But it doesn't look good
> to me. :(

Oh yeah... I forgot to mention about external keyboards with a Fn key.
Yes they do exists, but I don't know if they will work. They are also
hard to find.

--
Bill

On 10 Nov 2006 20:00:05 -0800, "Charles Densem" <charles.densem******.com>
wrote:
>I tried the flashlight method, and no dice. I hear no beeps, and an
>external keyboard would be useless, as the key combo to switch display
>modes is Fn-CRT/LCD. Granted, the CRT/LCD key is on another key, but an
>external keyboard would not have the Function key. Or would it? I
>really don't know.
On my Dell 610 at work, connected to a KVM, so with an external keyboard,
the key sequence for switching the KVM (Scroll lock twice quickly,
immediately followed by the up arrow key) sometimes seems to shift the
volume up to a notch. So if you have access to an external keyboard, you
could try Scroll Lock, Scroll Lock, and whatever the CRT/LCD key is.

Nothing to lose.

Richard
Web pages: http://www.caravanningnow.co.uk/ for caravanning,
http://www.rcole.org/ for my personal web site and
http://www.homeindorset.co.uk because I love the email address.
--
You know, I used to think I was stupid, and then I met philosophers. - 'Small
Gods' by Terry Pratchett