Arg...my laptop died

Jay Barracato

Jay Barracato

Graduate Student
Jan 11, 2011
1,528
5
38
Solomons MD
My Gateway MA7 has stopped charging. Recently I updated to Windows 7 from Vista, and just thereafter, I would be using it and even though it was plugged in it would stop charging. This was intermittant at first, until finally all it will do is run off of the battery.

After using the gateway online support, I replaced both the charger and the battery, but I still have the same problem. Both chargers read the correct output voltage, there doesn't appear to be any damage to the jack and both jacks firmly plug in to the computer.

Since I have limited battery life, I wanted to check to see if anyone had any ideas. Maybe there is some laptop specific power handling that got turned off in the windows install.

I would appreciate it if anyone has any ideas. This is my show computer and I wasn;t really ready to retire it yet.
 
Re: Arg...my laptop died

Jay Barracato said:
My Gateway MA7 has stopped charging. Recently I updated to Windows 7 from Vista, and just thereafter, I would be using it and even though it was plugged in it would stop charging. This was intermittant at first, until finally all it will do is run off of the battery.

After using the gateway online support, I replaced both the charger and the battery, but I still have the same problem. Both chargers read the correct output voltage, there doesn't appear to be any damage to the jack and both jacks firmly plug in to the computer.

Since I have limited battery life, I wanted to check to see if anyone had any ideas. Maybe there is some laptop specific power handling that got turned off in the windows install.

I would appreciate it if anyone has any ideas. This is my show computer and I wasn;t really ready to retire it yet.
Click to expand...

I'm many years out of date with Windoze, so this may be completely useless...

First try a generic 'hard reset' by removing the battery of the unplugged laptop and hold the power button down for a while (maybe a minute to be sure).

Try a BIOS reset (from the BIOS menu)?

How about CMOS battery removal or equivalent jumper technic?

You basically want to flash the power management one way or another...
 
Last edited:
Re: Arg...my laptop died

Jay Barracato said:
My Gateway MA7 has stopped charging. Recently I updated to Windows 7 from Vista, and just thereafter, I would be using it and even though it was plugged in it would stop charging. This was intermittant at first, until finally all it will do is run off of the battery.

After using the gateway online support, I replaced both the charger and the battery, but I still have the same problem. Both chargers read the correct output voltage, there doesn't appear to be any damage to the jack and both jacks firmly plug in to the computer.

Since I have limited battery life, I wanted to check to see if anyone had any ideas. Maybe there is some laptop specific power handling that got turned off in the windows install.

I would appreciate it if anyone has any ideas. This is my show computer and I wasn;t really ready to retire it yet.
Click to expand...

If all else fails and you still need this computer to work
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R...way+ma7+motherboard&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Since this a "show computer" and all...
 
Re: Arg...my laptop died

Thanks guys,

The jumper looks like the solution to the exact symptoms. I am not fond of the idea of breaking it open, but if I can make it work it will probably be worth it.
 
Re: Arg...my laptop died

The battery deal was about 4-5 years ago. Long since corrected. It was a Sony issue that also affected Dell and Lenovo. We use three platforms in the show. Ubunto for the console servers, Macs for most of the rest of the creative side (Cue Station clients, Protools, Final Cut Pro, Max/MSP, Smaart Meyer MAPP and Ableton to name a few) and WinXP for other control apps (Matrix 72 com, IAS, IFR remote display, KT, Sierra audio switcher, Meyer RMS, HiQ Net/London, Lab Gruppen Device Control, MIDI Ox, Nuendo, Yamaha Studio Manager, Samsung multi channel DVR recording array, and EAW DX810 to name a few). Prior to our change over each position needed at least two computers to maintain the configs. With Macs we are able to dual boot or emulate whatever platform we need. With Bootcamp it's just like having a Dell, or Sony Wintel machine. Best of both worlds.
 
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