NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Gateway Notebook Forums › Gateway Notebooks › Gateway M-6750 Strange Power Problem
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Gateway M-6750 Strange Power Problem

post #1 of 17
6/21/10 at 12:30pm
Thread Starter 
I have a friend that asked me to take a look at his notebook. He was using it one day and it just suddenly shut down.

When you press the power button, the led in the power button and the WIFI led blink once for about 1-2 seconds and that is it. I did notice that if you hit the windows hotstart button, the same thing happens.

Power Cord and Adapter - Good
Battery - Good
Charging - Yes
Ram - Good
Hard Drive - Bad but replaced and still won't power up.
CPU - Not tested

Other than the CPU, the only thing left is a bad mobo. Anyone else seen this symptom? Any Tricks of the trade?

Thanks
Spud
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 17
6/21/10 at 3:15pm
I would try to remove and re-seat everything that can be removed and re-seated (ram, drive, CMOS battery, wireless card etc ..) and see if it can be started with just the power adapter.

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 17
6/21/10 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
I've already tried all of that but no good. I did notice today though that when I plug in the power adapter, I don't get a power light on the front led. I've tested the adapter's voltage and its good and also tried another adapter just to be sure. Same thing, i'm thinking the mobo is dead (unless someone else has an idea).

I also tried some of the other tricks that I read about, like remove power adapter and battery and holding down the power button for a minute then plugging back in just the power adapter. Still no good.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 17
6/21/10 at 3:59pm
Did you check the connection from the power jack back to the motherboard? Any parts in between that can be replaced?

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 17
6/21/10 at 4:53pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, the power connector is good. Its strange, although I don't get a power led lit when I plug in the power adapter. When I press the power button/wifi led's blink once when you press the power or windows hotstart button. Its like it has power but maybe not enough.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 17
6/21/10 at 5:08pm
I am tempted to think that it is a motherboard issue. This behaviour usually come from loose soldering between the Northbridge chip and the motherboard. Take a closer look at the CPU housing area (with a magnifying glass) and see.

Maybe some other members can come up with a better diagnosis.

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 17
6/21/10 at 5:45pm
Thread Starter 
That kind of problem is becoming way too common, companies are being pushed to use leadless solder and its not as plyable when exposed to such repeated heat and cooling.

I've done a reflow on 2 playstation 3's that had the same problem on the CPU and GPU's. The reflow worked but it's really making electronics very unreliable.

I'll tear it down tonight and take a look.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 17
6/21/10 at 6:01pm
Good luck, take some pics and share would you?

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 17
6/21/10 at 6:56pm
Thread Starter 
Looks like I found the problem. I would replace it if I knew just what it was....lol I'm also not sure if there are other unseen problems.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51352709@N04/4722549254/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51352709@N04/4721897129/

It is marked "PL17", what is at? I know the capacitors and resistors, they are marked PC and PR but what is PL?
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 17
6/21/10 at 7:01pm
That looks nasty Try cleaning it with some flex liquid, check the joints and see. Good show

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 17
6/21/10 at 7:02pm
Maybe Michelle can tell you what it is when she comes around.

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 17
6/21/10 at 7:10pm
Thread Starter 
As soon as I touched it, it just crumbled to pieces. It was totally burnt up.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 17
6/21/10 at 7:16pm
oh ye ... At least there is a remote possibility that you can "fix" it - get a (same) dead board somewhere and steal the part from it, or wait for Michelle's input.

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 17
6/24/10 at 9:03am
got me, old gateway stuff has no info on the web.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 17
6/25/10 at 1:55pm
@Spudnuts .. we just have good info/source on schematics here.

Want to got there and see if you can pick up something for the part replacement?

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 17
7/8/10 at 2:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpudNuts11 View Post
Looks like I found the problem. I would replace it if I knew just what it was....lol I'm also not sure if there are other unseen problems.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51352709@N04/4722549254/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51352709@N04/4721897129/

It is marked "PL17", what is at? I know the capacitors and resistors, they are marked PC and PR but what is PL?
A lot of M series such as the m-7301 and m-7305 and yours have a huge design flaw. They have these metal clips in the bottom case assembly that are around the edge of the fan and hard drive cover. They very easily get loose and fall onto the board often shorting it out just like in that link you provided. I'm actually a laptop tech that works primarily on gateway and acer and I have dealt with this issue hundreds if not thousands of times.

Preventive maintenance would include removing those clips as they serve no purpose. I typically use a small flat head screw driver to pop them out and dig them out with needle nose pliers. Just be sure you unplug the laptop and remove the battery before you do so. Each laptop has 8 clips in total so take them out and count them to make sure you didn't leave one in the case. You can alternatively just take the laptop apart to get them out, but you'll have to remove the system board and everything.

When you have a blown component caused by this its almost always fixed by replacing the blown component. I'm not sure exactly what component that is in the picture so I'm not much help there. If you can get a hold of a scrap system board of similar model you should be able to swap it. You could try to order the system board from a vendor that sells you the system board cheaper for the return of the defective system board. I believe however that vendors that do this only work with repair centers and is largely not available to the public.

Good luck
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 17
3/7/12 at 1:49am

 

Coil.

http://lqv77.com/download/627

p. 38/48.

PL17
SMB3025500YA_2P

Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Gateway Notebooks
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Gateway Notebook Forums › Gateway Notebooks › Gateway M-6750 Strange Power Problem