Question : Problem: solo 1450 boot problems

After shutting down my laptop, the next day it would not boot. All it would do is the cooling fan would come on and stay on and the two led lights indicating battery and power would also be on. And the hard drive would get recognized for a split second but then nothing would happen. I would leave it powered on but nothing would happen. I tried using only the battery, then just the power cord but still nothing. Then it stopped even powering on, the only thing that happens now is the led light for the battery charger is on and the D drive gets recognized for a split second. I did a little research and found out that is was most likely the motherboard and replaced it but it still only recognizes the D drive and doesn't power anything up. I have also tried booting w/o the ram and nothing has happend. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer : Problem: solo 1450 boot problems

I haven't worked on a 1450 but as far as Gateway Solo I've worked on 2300, 9100, 9150, 5300, 9300, 9500, 9550.
In fact I have one or more of each (except the 9550) here right now.

Gonna back up a couple of steps because I can't -see- what's going on and some assumptions have been made that may not be true.

If you are getting nothing at all on the screen there is a possibility what you have is a dead screen. It 'looks' pretty close to the same as what you are describing is going on. You can make sure it's not the screen by attaching a monitor to the VGA out port. If there's nothing on that either then the screen probably isn't the problem. I don't think it is but I wanna cover all the bases.

If you are -sure- this is trying to start then going dead the likely problems (after bad or loose memory) are the mainboard, CPU, AC power adapter.
Less likely but possible would be a bad drive. (Failed such that it's overloading the power circuit.)
Watch the light on the AC adapter as you try to start it up.
- If the light stays green and doesn't go dim or flicker then that's not it.
- If the light goes very dim or out within a few seconds the the AC adapter is suspect.
- If the light flashes very fast rather than on steady it's likely a power problem on the mainboard (maybe one of the drives).

Next try and boot it with ALL drive removed.
If the system gets to a screen then you had a bad drive in it.
If not then the drives aren't suspect but at least there is no risk of causing them damage due to a power problem on the board.

Back to where we were:
It's very hard to tell between a bad CPU and a bad motherboard.
No -for sure- way to tell short of trying another CPU or trying your CPU in another laptop.

I suggest before you buy anything that you try this.
Remove and replace the CPU a few times then retest the system.
Reason: Occationally CPU's will lose good contact with 'pins' in the socket. What happens is small (tiny) anounts of corrosion build up on the pins (all metals oxidize in air) and with the small voltages involved it's enough to cause problems. (Add to that laptops get lots of little bumps during their lifetime, things can get loose.). Removing and replacing the CPU is usually enough to rub off any oxidation layer and restore good contact.

If that doesn't work I would look for a chassis with a known good CPU and mainboard on eBay.
(You don't need a screen or drives or keyboard but if you get some, fine.)
This will allow you to trouble shoot by parts swapping, you'll have a working laptop (sooner) when you are done, and it will probably cost less in the long run considering you can resell your left-overs (or save them as spares.)

PCBONEZ
.