Several Questions RE: Dead Laptop

wcjj

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Sep 23, 2010
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Good Evening,

I have a Gateway MA2-6520gz that will not power up. No lights, fan, or any other signs of life with either the battery or AC adapter.

I tried the reset (holding the on/off switch down, etc) to no avail. The power brick shows proper output when measured with my meter.

I disassembled the laptop and removed the motherboard. I checked for power going through the power-in jack and get the same reading as from the adapter.

One of the oddities of this board is that I cannot find a fuse anywhere. Any ideas on that?

Also, I have tried to test the little on/off switch but with uncertain results. I checked using the Ohm scale for resistance between the two pins that I think are for the switch. It shows an open circuit. The result does not change when I push the switch in while holding the leads on the pins. Still indicates an open circuit (I think). Is that the proper way to check the switch. I did that with the ac adapter unplugged from the MB.

Finally, what would be the proper way to check for power at the battery terminals? When I check those terminals should I be checking for AC or DC current?

Oh, the final finally - does anyone where I might locate a schematic for this model? The motherboard ID seems to be DAOMA2MB6D8.

Any help or appropriate suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Bill
 

wcjj

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Thanks Schiz. That's what I was Thinking. The connector for the battery has seven blade-type terminals. One is larger than the others, I'm assuming that one is the ground. I checked for power between that larger terminal and each of the others but get no indication of current.
 

wcjj

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Okay, if I'm measuring the current at the switch correctly, I am getting 4.3 v and it grounds when the switch is pressed. It's hard to tell if I'm on the right connector. I'm going to get a smaller meter tomorrow and give it another look.

Bill
 

wcjj

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Jaro, thanks for the drawing, it was very helpful. I got a smaller meter to check with and I am not getting any readings from the switch. I also got a better magnifying glass and I have returned to the DC-in jack as the potential culprit.

This jack is one that is soldered directly to the MB. Reading from the pin coming out of the back of the jack I get the reading I previously noted. However, I noticed that if I move the cord into another position, I get no reading.

I looked closely at the other side of the board and the solder point where the pin from the jack goes through the board and is soldered on looks to have a good bit of black pitting around it and appears to have possible burn marks. I have attached a picture of that. The solder point of the pin is circled in red in the photo. The area that the red arrow points to may be some burn marks as well. I've ordered a new jack and will try that. I'll follow up afterwards.

Board Pic

Thanks again for the info and help.

Bill
 

wcjj

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The cord from the A/C adapter seems to be quite stable. I checked it again and then wiggled it around a good bit and the reading held steady. I get some variances, though, when it is plugged into the MB. With the cord stretched out across the table, for example, I get a good current reading from the pin in the DC jack. But if I place the cord where it is hanging off the table (pulling downward on the jack, sort of) it loses the current reading off the pin.

As always, thanks for the insights and suggestions.

Bill
 

wcjj

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Well that's at least a starting point. There may be other issues, as well, because even when I have the cord in a good position and am getting the proper voltage, the board does not run. So once I have a new DC jack in place I'll go deeper.
 

wcjj

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Here's a shot of the MAX-1772 and PU3, hope they're clear enough -

MAX_1772

And, a couple of extra shots of parts of the board -

board_01
board_02

The dark mark right below the "PU3" label is where my daughter marked it with a sharpie. She found it for me and thought that would be a good way to direct me to it. (I still couldn't see it)

Thanks, as always, for the assistance and suggestions.

Bill
 

wcjj

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It's just glue residue. There is a silver foil covering part of the board that sticks down. I peeled it back to get photos and that was some of the gummy residue from it. Very good eye!
 

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