Gateway MA7 laptop won't charge or run off of A/C

[Spitz]

Originally Posted by bazthespazz

Well I picked up a new battery from the "auction site" for $22.00 and I'm up and running. It seems to be charging just fine and it works great on just the battery and boots right up with the battery installed. One last question, How often should the cooling fan kick on? It comes on when you first boot it up but I've been on it now for over a half an hour and it hasn't come on once. Is that normal? Again, I'd like to thank everybody for all their help.

As long as the fan does turn on, then it is probably working. Two things I have learned about the gateway ma3 and ma7 notebooks. They do not have a heat problem and the batteries seem to last a long time for this vintage of notebook.

[bazthespazz]

That's good to know. This was given to me so I'm kind of figuring it out as I go along. Something else I noticed is that when you close the lid it doesn't put itself to sleep. I've gotten in to the power setting and set it so it should do that but you can close the lid and walk away and come back later and it's still on, right where you left it. Don't ALL laptops have a switch on the lid to shut them down when you close them?

[Spitz]

Originally Posted by bazthespazz

That's good to know. This was given to me so I'm kind of figuring it out as I go along. Something else I noticed is that when you close the lid it doesn't put itself to sleep. I've gotten in to the power setting and set it so it should do that but you can close the lid and walk away and come back later and it's still on, right where you left it. Don't ALL laptops have a switch on the lid to shut them down when you close them?

There is a magnet in the top near the right hinge. I think that is how it knows when its closed, but I am not sure of that. The unit should go into standby when you close the lid.

[bazthespazz]

Well I got in to the settings and it was set to go to "sleep" when you closed the lid but for some reason it wouldn't. I changed it to "hibernate" and now it's working fine.

[zippydclown]

picture of which leg to solder the jumper to??
zippy(I have 5 with the same problems)

[wadehavens]

Ok, I know this thread is old but I acquired one of these god forsaken laptops.
Here's the deal. I get all the right voltages at all the right places according to the problems that have been listed here. So this isn't the typical bad trace problem. So I was wondering if someone might have the reference voltages and points to test so I know whether or not I can repair the power circuit or just throw the damned thing away.
Btw I have the ma7 board, and my problem is no power but 19.5 volts at many test points all over the board, including the caps on the top and all the other places mentioned on the bottom.

Thanks,
Wade

[getto]

I've done this fix, (post #31) worked well for about 7 months, now its dead again, have power from plug to where wire connects. Need help at this point and where to obtain parts or other mods to bring it back to life.

[Technogeek]

I have an MA7 here and it will not start up at all now. It would for a while before the battery went. I tried soldering a jumper from the center pin on the power jack to the little diode on the board. It's getting 19 volts at the diode but it still will not charge the battery. The battery led will flash purple and no charge. Is there something I am missing? We are going to have to buy a new laptop anyway because he has to have one and I cannot get this one working.

[getto]

Think we need a schematic for this Ma7 board, hope someone can post it here.
Did that mod and it fixed my board for a few months, does it work with your battery out?

My problem I have a mosfet I think is bad but can't seem to find it anywhere.
PQ17 on the bottom side of board. Location, under the wire from the hard drive that leads to a small white plug near the modem jack # D2ZD stamped on the chip with a 22 sideways has 6 legs. You have to move the wire to find it.
A Lager 1/4" hole is very close to it. Hope someone can post something that can be helpful to us both. Your the first post since mine and that was a month ago.

[pc_ste]

thank you so much for the instructions and pics, and thanks to everyone on this forum sharing their knowledge.

i have been trying to find a solution to this problem for a few months now.
i have 2 ma7's on my desk atm, i have resoldered the power jacks on both to no avail.

1 ma7 has scorch marks around the jack so i thought it was fried, however it still works with battery so i kept it (hate throwing stuff away) now i see their is a possible solution.

thanks again, i am going to attempt the repair you outlined and i will post back :-)

[pc_ste]

Originally Posted by filesponge

Hello everybody, I was browsing the net to see about this MA7 problem, and found this forum. After seeing the original message left by BTMMIKE, it confirmed what i'd been wondering about - the silly design of POS pin on these sockets, added to a bad design where it goes thru the board, means it does indeed wear a bigger nasty hole in the contact.

The very small photo showed me just what i needed to see, and believe me this is a simple repair

I've attached 2 photos as clear as I could get, so hopefully this will help others with the same problem. As mentioned previously, many ebay-type suppliers don't seem to know what they are selling.

There are 2 main types of this socket - one is used usually by IBM and has a flat rear pin. The Gateway MA7 uses a round pin - the 2 sockets are NOT compatible, cos the pins are just the wrong size for a quick swap-over.
The other point is, most of the suppliers are selling ones with only 2 ground/side contacts, so the socket is less sturdy. The MA7 uses 4 ground/side contacts, a ground/centre contact, and a rear/Positive round pin.

So assuming you have the right one, you can just put a wire from the underside of the positive, and then poke it thru one of the tiny holes shown in the photo. Sorry about the bad soldering shown (lol) here but the local shop had no 1mm tips for me so i'm waiting for one, this was done with a monster 3mm on an Antex

There is a small black fuse (is it a fuse? looks like one to me, it's either that or just an un-needed smoother) sat just behind the rear of the socket (in the photo it links the red to the green area).
It's up to you if you attach to the 'red' side of that instead of directly thru the board as I have done. Depends on how much that part bothers you, but I couldn't get in there to solder to such a small component with my monster tip today

It works fine, done 2 without a hitch and they all start up now with all blue lights showing

Hope this all helps somebody. I'll drop back in again soon and see if anybodys read this

(I soldered a blob directly across from my wire to the nearest good sized component - but I advise just soldering your own wire onto the hole it comes thru. On these boards, no way would my iron get the solder to grip the actual board itself. Maybe bad board surface/solder tip/solder quality - I wont know till I get the proper stuff in a few days.

Good luck with this one

thank you filesponge for this solution, i have mended 1 mobo with your informative instructions and pics.
however, the 2nd board i have attempted to repair has not worked. this board is different in that it has scorch marks on the board and smelt of burning when power in but works ok on battery.

i have included a pic of scorch marks.

when i first replaced dc jack i noticed
there is also scorch marks round the hole for the dc jack back post, also the board is broken around the hole and a bit of copper is poking through from the board. im thinking, should i remove jack again and insulate the post from the board? leaving enough of the post on the underside (un insulated) to attach wire to?

[pc_ste]

Originally Posted by pc_ste

thank you filesponge for this solution, i have mended 1 mobo with your informative instructions and pics.
however, the 2nd board i have attempted to repair has not worked. this board is different in that it has scorch marks on the board and smelt of burning when power in but works ok on battery.

i have included a pic of scorch marks.

when i first replaced dc jack i noticed
there is also scorch marks round the hole for the dc jack back post, also the board is broken around the hole and a bit of copper is poking through from the board. im thinking, should i remove jack again and insulate the post from the board? leaving enough of the post on the underside (un insulated) to attach wire to?

tried avoiding any connection to post hole and connected wire from post to diode. still no joy. is there another place i can attach wire to? lights still come on with battery

[Spitz]

Originally Posted by pc_ste

tried avoiding any connection to post hole and connected wire from post to diode. still no joy. is there another place i can attach wire to? lights still come on with battery

There are two places you need to jumper. You need to jumper to either of the two resisters on the top of the board. When the plated thru hole goes bad, you lose connection on both sides of the board.

[pc_ste]

Originally Posted by Spitz

There are two places you need to jumper. You need to jumper to either of the two resisters on the top of the board. When the plated thru hole goes bad, you lose connection on both sides of the board.

hi spitz, thank you for your info. could you please clarify where i need to jumper to?

i have included top and bottom pic, could you please point out on these pics where i need to jumper to, im not sure which are resistors.

thanks again

[Spitz]

Originally Posted by pc_ste

hi spitz, thank you for your info. could you please clarify where i need to jumper to?

i have included top and bottom pic, could you please point out on these pics where i need to jumper to, im not sure which are resistors. thanks again

On the top of the board to pd16 as you have done. On the bottom of the board you need a jumper to pc1 and pc2 capacitors that are right under the jack. The side closest to the pin. Make sure you do not include pl1. You can put a blob of solder between the pin and the two capacitors.

[severach]

Just a little flux and those solders would be smooth as glass. Don't depend on the flux in the solder. It's not always there when you need it and you can't always add more solder just to get more flux.

[Tecnoduque]

Hey all!

Some good tips I am reading here!

here's my case; i've got a NV59 Gateway laptop, that suddenly (seriously, nothing weird happen to it) stopped working. When I hit the power button not a single led flashs or anything moves.

It's completly dead. I cannot find another similar to charge the battery and try something other than the charger.

I though It might be the power jack, but it's brand new.

pictures:

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/1061/img0402w.jpg
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7854/img0403yp.jpg

that little black thing :P probably a zener diode, doesnt have continuity.

Anything that may occur to you guys? Thanks!

[mcdaydavies]

Have you tried removing the laptop battery, bios battery and ac all at the same time, holding down the power button for about 30 seconds and then trying to power it up? That is worth a try.

If it is a zener diode, i believe that is used for protection, you could try bypassing it, but dont do that until someone posts back who has a little more knowledge in electrics than i do.

[Tecnoduque]

Originally Posted by mcdaydavies

Have you tried removing the laptop battery, bios battery and ac all at the same time, holding down the power button for about 30 seconds and then trying to power it up? That is worth a try.

If it is a zener diode, i believe that is used for protection, you could try bypassing it, but dont do that until someone posts back who has a little more knowledge in electrics than i do.

I've done that before assembling the laptop! didnt work tho.

Waiting for more answers then, thanks a lot in advance.

[wegothosed]

Does anyone know if you just have to solder the jumper to 1 pin on the resistor or both pins? If 1 pin, which one?