GP6-400 PC

[obourne]

I have a GATEWAY PC GP6-400 around 3 years old. There was a suspected virus and decided to rebuild. Unfortunately I do not have a restore drivers CD. Gateway in NZ is closed and I am having trouble contacting the Australian office. I tried the USA and they tried to help but I still do not have any drivers. I entered the Part number of the monitor and it comes back with no such part. I have tried using generic drivers but can't anymore than 256 colours and I had 16 bit prior.

What does someone do in a situation like this?

 

[Toejam31]

It would have been nice if you had listed the part number within the post, as these systems shipped with two possible video cards, and four different monitors. And the components can vary from country to country.

"ESP" technical support is difficult, friend.

However, I'll take a stab at it, and assume that the computer came with a 17" Gateway Vivitron 700. If that's the case, you may be able to use one of the driver files on this page.

<A HREF="http/www.monitor-drivers.com/companies/424.htm" target="_new">Gateway Monitor Drivers</A>

The computer also usually shipped with either a STB Velocity 4400 (RIVA TNT) video card, or a ATI 3D Rage Pro AGP 8MB card. Have you installed the video card drivers, because the monitor should still function within most of its range, even detected as just Plug-n-Play.

<A HREF="http/www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=drivers" target="_new">nVidia Drivers</A>

Some people suggest using the 23.11 driver for RIVA TNT cards. For both this driver, and the one for the ATI 3D Rage Pro, go to this page:

<A HREF="http/www.reactorcritical.com/download.shtml" target="_new">ReactorCritical - Drivers</A>

Toejam31

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<font color=purple>"Some push the envelope. Some just lick it. And some can't find the flap."</font color=purple>

 

[obourne]

Thank you so much for taking this much trouble. You've given me more to go on than Gateway with their repeated unhelpful automatic replies.

 

[Toejam31]

I know exactly how it feels to deal with Gateway Support. I once had to call them years ago for a warranty replacement on a floppy drive. The snap-on plastic facing had broken off during shipping. They are proprietary, so I couldn't just run out and get a new one. At the time, anything Gateway-related was strictly mail-order.

The person I spoke to had no idea what I was talking about. She couldn't "visualize" what this looked like, or where it was located. She explained that no one around her had a floppy drive, that she had never actually seen one, and she couldn't pull up an image of this kind of device on her display. I had to assure her, that as with optical drives, floppy drives came with a plastic facing that snapped on, and they could get broken, not being metal.

She asked the person sitting next to her for help, and I was able to hear parts of the conversation. Neither of them could figure out what was on the front of a floppy drive.

She eventually had to transfer me to a supervisor, as she was unable to comprehend any aspect of the conversation.

I finally told them that the floppy drive didn't work ... period, and that I needed a new one, as the supervisor wasn't sure how to fill in the RMA report describing this kind of damage. I think she couldn't find the checkbox for "broken plastic facing", and as such, was mystified. I told her to just write down that the drive wasn't functional. For whatever imaginary reason she preferred.

I made it a point after that to never, ever call an OEM technical support or RMA line again. I'm afraid exposure to that much stupidity all at once might rub off, and someone might have to dress me each morning.

Toejam31

<font color=red>First Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http/www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=17935" target="_new"><font color=green>Toejam31's Devastating Dalek Destroyer</font color=green></A>
<font color=red>Second Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http/www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new"><font color=green>Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</font color=green></A>
__________________________________________________________

<font color=purple>"Some push the envelope. Some just lick it. And some can't find the flap."</font color=purple>