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

[filesponge]

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

Bnash01 - Can you clarify a little, How do you know that your battery is fully charged ? The best way is to test on a fully working 2nd laptop if possible.

Although a laptop may show the charging & fully charged lights, and may even take an hour or more to charge, the battery can still be faulty (broken circuit or dead or weak battery cells), and it may never be able to start the laptop up again.

From what I can see, it does sound as if your battery is at fault. There is also a very slight possibility that the laptops charging circuit has stopped working, but that is a very very rare fault. Most likely just a broken battery.

This will be the same for all laptops, not just the MA3 models.

[moneypit]

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

I'm new to this board basically because I found this post. Do you recommend buying a new piece before doing the jumper mod? Or should I just do the jumper and it should fix this?

From what I can see the piece looks ok.

[heathric]

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

obviously a particular unnamed family member tried using the wrong ac adapter when they lost the original, so I inherited a 6518gz with a blown PQ38 and PQ40

Does anyone have the specs for the PQ38 and PQ40?

Both of which are burned and cannot be read. Does anyone have the schematic or bom for this board?

Thanks,
Heath

[Volkymaniac]

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

Hi everyone on this thread!!
I have a Gateway MX6216 with this problem (thread title) and I can resolve it with the help of all of you. I want to said to everyone here very very thanks. I solder a jumper to the center pin pos of the dc jack to the two common legs of the diode. Everything works great, thanks a lot again.

[Philface]

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

I have one of these faulty MA7's. Anyone know where I can have it fixed?

[Commander Gizmo]

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

I just wanted to say a big thanks to filesponge for his pictures and description of the repair. I was able to use a piece of solid copper wire and bend it to build a new path from the inside the center post to the black fuse. The laptop powers up and works perfectly!

[Robrote]

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

Commander, did you replace the actual plug and do the bypass, or just the bypass?

[Robrote]

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

Great instruction here. Thanks for all who have posted. A couple of quick question for this novice geek who will be attempting this....
- Do I need to replace the jack as well as doing the bypass?
- What size wire should I use to bypass? Soild or stranded wire?
- I'm assuming the M/B needs to be completely removed to attempt this?

Thanks in advance.

[festerboi]

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

Hi
i had the same problem on my gateway ma7 so i tried the jumper mod by put a wire from the centre pin and to the two points on the diode and made sure that it was insulated form anything and it work for ten minutes but then my laptop switched off and now it charges but when i try to switch it back onthe charge light goes off and nothing happens and dosent even attemped to start up.

And was wondering if anyone had an idea what could be wrong

many tanks

[juice0187]

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

hi, i have a mc7321u with the charging port broken just like the title says.. i searched and couldn't find a answer and seen this thread while searching. my question is if the gateway mc7321u is anything similar to the ma7..

thanks in advance.

[severach]

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

A broken jack needs to be replaced. The problem with the MA7 and similar laptops is that the board traces and vias break because the design does not withstand the normal forces from insertion and removal so the laptop won't charge even if the jack is perfectly good. Hasty solder patch jobs often result in a comeback in a few months. The jumper wires cross the broken parts to make the laptop work reliably again.

[juice0187]

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

ok, so i need a replacement dc jack.. do you know of a trusted site where i could order one.

[filesponge]

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

Wow, i'd lost my link to this posting/site, just found it again by chance and I see it's been busy here

I will leave a few answers, just in case it helps somebody again later. . .
And well done to everybody who's had success with it

Moneypit - you only need to replace your socket if it's actually broken, but while you have the board out, it's often best to replace it as a matter of course - if only to make sure.
I check my own sockets by attaching a meter to a power plug on a wire, then wiggle the wire gently - if the ohms changes or goes off completely, it indicates a bad contact. Or use a very small screwdriver (remove the battery first!!!!) and see if the centre pin inside the socket moves even slightly. It should be solid in there, if it moves, replace the socket.

Heathric - sorry, i dont have access to one of these boards at the moment, and don't have the specs on those parts

Philface - It should be an easy repair for anybody who can solder, so TV repair shops or anything like that 'should' be happy to help. If they look shocked at the idea of bypassing a track or component, then find another repair shop - being horrified at such repairs is a sign the guy doesn't completely understand the how & why of circuits

Commader Giszmo - Glad it worked, a pleasure to help.

Robrote - it doesnt matter if you use stranded or solid, as long as the width and rating of wire can take the power going down it. Usually, a solid copper wire makes it easier though, as strands can separate and leave a stray strand that 'could' short out if not noticed. Plus copper can be bent to make exactly the shape of wire you want. What size of wire is usually down to experience, and things just look 'right'. Too thin and it will act like fuse wire and blow/get hot, too thick, it's a pain to fix to the board and can snap the solder away early in its life.

Festerboi - that sounds like you've got a bad solder join, or a short out (see what i mentioned above about using stranded wire). Try taking all wires off again, clean up all the solder points using solder braid, then refit new wires again. Theres a slight chance something else is now at fault, but most likely it's just a bad join somewhere. You will save a LOT of time by just redoing the job once more to see.

Juice0187 - Sorry, I'm not sure on how similar these boards are, i've seen several all from the same family, but each has its own little differences, generally though this bypass is about the same for all so far, luckily.
Have a look on ebay usually for a new jack, they are about £2.50 here in the UK, there's not much difference from one seller to the next.

Severach - good advice there, a rushed job isn't a good investment eh? I take about half an hour on most of mine now, 20 of that is for the actual soldering, then to all be checked over a few times, meter readings and things, all just in case. I'm very lucky with them I think.

[brianve]

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

when removing old jack removed sleeve of + pin as well. No idea where to hot wire pin to mother board untill i read these threads. Thanks alot. Hope i can be of help sometime

[brbled]

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

hello i hav a MA3 and will not power up or charge. i have seen what you talked about on the jumper is there a clear picture of what to do. the dc jack tested fine but still not working. thanks

[filesponge]

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

hello i hav a MA3 and will not power up or charge. i have seen what you talked about on the jumper is there a clear picture of what to do. the dc jack tested fine but still not working. thanks

As far as I am aware, the MA3 is just about the same as the MA7, but maybe the none-UK version ?

If you could take a close up clear photo of your own power/socket area of the board, somebody should be able to point out where you need to solder It's a main thing in trying to give any guide on this subject, any blurry or low resolution photo makes it risky trying to see where to solder as the boards have so many slight variations - just the manufacturers keeping us all runnin round in circles

I've got a better camera now (Olympus X-44) with a super-close-up feature, but, i dont have any MA3/7 boards with me just now to show unfortunately. Just as a general possibly useful thing - I find it best to have the camera on either some kind of tripod (mins is a small one to fasten to a desk from MAPLIN, and also put the camera on 10 second (or 2 second is easier) delay. Most blurry close photos are caused by pressing the shutter button and making the camera move, but if using the timer, you just press and then concentrate on keeping the thing still.

I'll drop by again in a day or two just in case.

[nitram]

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

in ma3 board if that particular diode shown is damage is there another one i could use

[zubairqureshi]

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

Can someone pls show the pictures for MA2 for this fix?

[linux]

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

By the way, when you add a jumper wire, pay attention to the conductive surfaces (one copper foil, one braid type) that rest between the power jack and the plastic case when the board is installed. Insulate with something in between. Otherwise you'll get a neat fireworks show and probably hate yourself for a little while...

are there any other ways? https://www.badcaps.net/forum/images/icons/icon5.gif

[theoj]

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

HI, I'm new to this forum (have to say I've have been impressed by the depth of knowledge and willingness to share - there's a lot out there who have the knowledge and want to hang on to it). Anyway, enough digression, I have a MA7 with similar problems i.e. will run from charged battery etc. I stripped it down and everything looks ok at power socket, checked continuity though jack to board which is fine. On closer inspection the surface-mounted capacitor (C937), inboard from the network sockets looks a little burned at one end. Laptop was fine until an electrical storm. I live in Edinburgh, but storm was on Leros in the Agean, where I was holidaying. Any help appreciated - else it's the hardwire to battery terminals and external 12v supply mod from now on.