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

[theoj]

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

A footnote to my above posting. I'm looking at the board through a microscope, looks like two of the tiny black s/m resistors have gone open circuit, the other two read 15ohm in circuit - anyone know the values of these and that of the capacitor (C937) or should I just take a guess!

[mrdownlow]

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

I also did 'Dobbers' method with success! Thanks for the tip!!

[bazthespazz]

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

I used filesponge's method and it brought my MX6955/MA7 back to life......kind of. Now it won't boot and it tells me no hard drive is found even though when you get in to the CMOS settings it shows the hard drive exists. Thinking maybe the hard drive was corrupt I tried to reinstall XP but got the same message, no hard drive found. Also the charging light has stayed red even though I've had it plugged in for over 3 hours. Could it be a bad battery and could a bad battery keep it from booting?

[Spitz]

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

I used filesponge's method and it brought my MX6955/MA7 back to life......kind of. Now it won't boot and it tells me no hard drive is found even though when you get in to the CMOS settings it shows the hard drive exists. Thinking maybe the hard drive was corrupt I tried to reinstall XP but got the same message, no hard drive found. Also the charging light has stayed red even though I've had it plugged in for over 3 hours. Could it be a bad battery and could a bad battery keep it from booting?

If you are trying to load xp with a sata drive, the problem is there is no sata driver in xp. That is why the operating system does not see the hard drive, but the hardware does. This won't happen if you load vista or win7. You can download the sata driver from gateways site.

[b700029]

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

The BIOS should also have an option to switch to IDE mode.

No messing around with drivers then.

[bazthespazz]

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

Well I found a copy of XP with SATA drivers and it found my HD and formatted it and installed fine but when it did it's last reboot I got a BSOD that said it experienced an error and it rebooted so fast I couldn't read what the error was. Also, to get it to boot at all I have to remove the battery. I'm going to try to install Win 7 and I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for the help.

[bazthespazz]

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

Well I tried to install Win 7 and it won't even boot off the Win 7 DVD. It has no problem booting off the XP CD. Any ideas? Also, it's been plugged in for hours and the charging light is still red and it won't boot at all if the battery is left in it. ??? After checking filesponges pictures again, I just soldered the wire from the center pin of the AC jack to the one leg on the chip closest to the usb ports on the MB. Should I have soldered it to both?

[Spitz]

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

Well I tried to install Win 7 and it won't even boot off the Win 7 DVD. It has no problem booting off the XP CD. Any ideas? Also, it's been plugged in for hours and the charging light is still red and it won't boot at all if the battery is left in it. ??? After checking filesponges pictures again, I just soldered the wire from the center pin of the AC jack to the one leg on the chip closest to the usb ports on the MB. Should I have soldered it to both?

That motherboard has problems on both sides of the power jack so you need to add a wire on both sides of the board. I have repaired about six of these and it is very rare that the jack needs replacing. The tracks on both sides just disintegrate around the center pin.

[bazthespazz]

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

I used filesponges method but instead of soldering to the center pin of the AC jack on the backside of the board and running the wire through a hole to solder the other end to the chip on the topside, I did all of my soldering on the top of the board. As I mentioned before, I soldered my jumper from the center pin of the jack to the leg on the chip closest to the USB ports. Could you please be more specific as to where I need to run the extra jumper? Also, can you think of any reason why it won't boot?

[Spitz]

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

I used filesponges method but instead of soldering to the center pin of the AC jack on the backside of the board and running the wire through a hole to solder the other end to the chip on the topside, I did all of my soldering on the top of the board. As I mentioned before, I soldered my jumper from the center pin of the jack to the leg on the chip closest to the USB ports. Could you please be more specific as to where I need to run the extra jumper? Also, can you think of any reason why it won't boot?

On the top side, you need a wire from center pin to chip marked PD1 which you have already done. On the bottom, you need a wire from center pin to caps marked pc1 & pc2 on the side closest to the center pin.

[bazthespazz]

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

OK, I'll give it a try. Would that explain why the battery isn't charging?

[bazthespazz]

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

OK, I got it to load Win 7 and everything is running fine, as long as I don't plug in the battery or any USB devices. The USB ports work but if I try to boot with anything attached, including the battery, it hangs at the Gateway start screen. Do you think the extra jumper wire on the bottom of the board will solve my problem. Thanks again for all the help.

[Spitz]

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

OK, I got it to load Win 7 and everything is running fine, as long as I don't plug in the battery or any USB devices. The USB ports work but if I try to boot with anything attached, including the battery, it hangs at the Gateway start screen. Do you think the extra jumper wire on the bottom of the board will solve my problem. Thanks again for all the help.

It cannot hurt to try it. Normally the symptoms are that it will not charge or will not start when you press power on. Your symptoms are different. Are you sure your battery is good and not shorted?

[bazthespazz]

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

Not sure about the battery. I've got no way of checking it and I hate to spend money on a new one if it's really not bad. Any way to check it?

[Spitz]

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

Not sure about the battery. I've got no way of checking it and I hate to spend money on a new one if it's really not bad. Any way to check it?

Not without having access to another ma7 laptop. Do you have a batteries plus store, they will run a test of your battery and tell you if it is any good.
The boot problem with the usb I have seen before with desktops too. It may be a setting somewhere. Never took the time to figure it out.

[mdavidson]

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

I Did The Fix And The Power Supply Is Blinking , I Think There Is A Short Somewhere, Any Help Please, Thanks

[jap1122334]

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

Thanks to this fantastic walkthrough another MA7 has just sprung back into life after being hidden in a cupboard for almost 2 yrs many thanks to all involved

[Comfis]

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

Try to change PQ29 AO4407 and capacitor PC34 / near MAXIM 8724E/ .

[Alf]

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

Hi anyone i have hp g62 and the led on power only flashing ,,no on

[bazthespazz]

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

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.