I bought a new Gateway Select 1100 athlon in May. Last night while on the Internet, it died. Not crashed or locked up, but died, just like you'd pulled the plug. No warning, no electrical anomolies (lightening etc.). I don't know tooooo much about pc's, but I do know a fair amount about electronics, so after checking the plug etc., I pulled the power supply & discovered the line fuse was open. Replaced the fuse, and the power supply fires up, fans turn, pilot light comes on, cdrw will open etc., but NOTHING else. Dead as a freeking door nail. Monitor stays in "sleep", absolutely black. Naturally, the machine is still under warranty, & I will call Gateway but I thought I'd get some ideas on possible causes/damage/etc first. I'm guessing they will stand behind the machine (will re-insert the dead fuse & won't tell them I opened the PS) but my main concern is keeping the data on the HD. If anyone has had Gateway service a pc, please let me know how it went. Am I going to have to pack the damned thing up & send it back, or is there such a thing as local warranty service (didn't buy any extra service levels, who expected THIS??????) There is a Gateway store here, do they do service (bought the pc there, frankly they don't seem to do MUCH)? Any helpful comments appreciated.

B.A.

[This message has been edited by BonedAgain (edited 08-25-2001).]

--> WARNING <----> WARNING <----> WARNING <----> WARNING <----> WARNING <--

When you send a computer back to the vendor or even if the vendor comes out to you, if the hard drive is bad, they take it with them.

You don't give enought information to tell if it is the hard drive or some other component that is bad.

Please post exactly what happens when you boot.

Do you see the bios?
Does it recognize the hard drive?
Does it ask for a boot disk?

Is there someone who has a computer where you can try to put the hard drive into their computer and get the data off??? If not, and Gateway replaces the drive, you are probably SOL.

As to your question, if the power supply is bad and sends out spikes of power throughout the system you can toast boards, drives, etc...
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There is something I learned when I first got into computers.
--> Backup <--
There are only two kinds of computer users; those that have experienced hard disk failure and those that are going to.
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Good Luck

look I had a lot of problem w/ gate way call there support # tellthem what happened and they will give you an EVENT number for the store you purchased it at and you will not have to send it back they'll fixer right there. and also get the badge number of any one you talk to. do this respectivly and you'll be surprised at the compliance that you receive?

Originally posted by classicsoftware:
--> WARNING <----> WARNING <----> WARNING <----> WARNING <----> WARNING <--

Please post exactly what happens when you boot.

Do you see the bios?
Does it recognize the hard drive?
Does it ask for a boot disk?

As to your question, if the power supply is bad and sends out spikes of power throughout the system you can toast boards, drives, etc...

Thanks for the reply. No, as I said *NOTHING* happens when the pc is turned on. I wouldn't even call it booting, other than the fans turning on etc it's totally dead. Monitor is not only black, it won't even come out of sleep mode. I know it's not the monitor since I'm using it now, I suppose it could be the video card, but the hd doesn't appear to be active either.

Most likely scenario just based on general electronics is probably that the power supply failed, perhaps producing an overvoltage situation & took out some major system part like the cpu or hd. Again since it's under warranty I haven't tried measurng voltages etc, my main concern is retaining the data on the hd. I know, should have backed up!

B.A.

Originally posted by YODA74:
look I had a lot of problem w/ gate way call there support # tellthem what happened and they will give you an EVENT number for the store you purchased it at and you will not have to send it back they'll fixer right there. and also get the badge number of any one you talk to. do this respectivly and you'll be surprised at the compliance that you receive?

Thanks Yoda. I will call them of course, but I wanted to hear some related experiences first. Always best to have as much info as possible going in. Anyway, I'd feel a whole lot better taking it to the store & talking to someone face to face than sending it back to some anonymous tech in South Dakota (not to mention the expense).

B.A.

Well, under my HP warranty, they paid shipping...but don't know the details of what Gateway's warranty says.

Most power supplies thes days have some form over over voltage protection, meaning that it will not take out a systems component, but it won't work either (kind of like a fuseable link in a car)...so yes, the power supply sounds like a likely suspect, and since it is still under warranty the BEST route to follow is warranty repair.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Gun Control...hitting what you aim at!

Well, my face is red but at least it has a smile on it. I decided to take another look inside the pc before calling gateway, (thinking there may be a microfuse on the mother board I had overlooked) & discovered that the connector from the power supply to the mother board (which I had disconnected when I pulled the PS) was not seated fully, despite the fact that the cpu fan (which has its power takeoff on the mb itself) was spinning. After reseating the connector, pc is alive & well, though I still don't know what caused the original blown fuse. I'd like to claim this is some essoteric pc situation I was unaware of, but we're talking a simple multiconductor connector of the kind found in most all things electronic, after 25+ years working on such devices I shouldn't have missed it. In my defense I will say I'm always a bit leary of overflexing these thin conductor double sided pc boards for fear of breaking a trace, so I was apparently overly gentle when pressing the connector home initially. Oh well, as they say, all's well that ends well. And the first thing I did (even before sending this note) was to burn a cdrw of all my vital files. "Once bit and twice shy", as they say.

Thanks all for your interest,

B.A.

Glad you found the problem on your own, Gateway can be a pain at times with fixing some thing. But happy for ya enjoy your new Gateway.

Glad your up and running. I guess I violated my own rule of troubleshooting. Start with the simple stuff first and check all the cables and connectors...