Gateway 700GR is SHOT...

[jsslifelike]

I had a buddy bring his Gateway 700GR over to look at it the other day- when it powers, the mobo gives four distinct beeps indicating an overheat. The problem is, it doesn't even get to the point where I can get into the BIOS setup before it powers down. Upon a bit of Googling and such, I found that this series was notorious for this problem. My buddy brought me the workorders from Gateway showing what had been replaced- mobo/CPU, heatsink, both case fans, and PSU- all multiple times. He bought the machine from Tiger refurbished and apparently Gateway is done assisting him w/ it. I tried unplugging all but one DIMM of memory and disconnecting the vid card and secondary HDD but to no avail. I pulled the chip and it appears to be fine upon visual inspection, but I'm not sure if that matters. I told him I'd try to post the issue here plus the salvage backup plan. If it is indeed kaput(which I believe it is), here's what I planned on just to get him a PC that actually DOES something:

Purchasing:
Asus Vintage-PH1 BB Kit
Sunbeam 450-watt PSU (if 300-watt one is insufficient)
Cooler Master X Dream P775

Salvaging:
Prescott 3.4 GHz P4
2 GB DDR PC 3200 (512x4)
2x HDD (200 GB and 250 GB both SATA)
PCI-e GeForce 6800
(2) proprietarily-designed Gateway DVD drives (hopefully, if only for the time being)

So, will this plan work? Obviously, he'll have to buy an OS as the Gateway one won't work. Like I said before, he just wants something that actually works and can run a few games. And for less than $300, he can have that. Also, when installing XP over the Gateway OS formatted drive, will the disc give me the option of reformatting/partitioning? I do want to know what I'm getting into before diving in headfirst. Thanks.

[hitchface]

My recommendation? No Sunbeam PSU. Go with something from the PSU guide in the general hardware section. That system won't be the greatest, but it looks like he is in a tough spot.

[glc]

The Sunbeam NUUO series PSU's are good - the regular cheap series are not. NOBODY makes a quality 450 watt PSU that only costs 20 bucks.

I would not go the barebones route like that - but it's not going to be easy finding a motherboard that supports Socket 775 with PCI-E and has 4 standard DDR slots. There's only one that I trust:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186048 Foxconn 915P7AC-8KS LGA 775 Intel 915P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Toss that into an Antec Sonata II case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129155 - a STEAL after that rebate - one of the few cases made that comes with a PSU I'd trust with that video card.

You are now at around $150 shipped. That should give you enough to play with to get an OS and a decent heatsink/fan.

All you have to do is a repair reinstall of Windows. Procedures are in the Tips and Tricks forum.

[Panama Red]

If that cpu continues to give you heat challenges, remove the internal duct work from the Sonata II case and add this cpu cooler. Exact configuration I run on my Pentium D 950 with both cores at 100% load running Folding@Home. Keeps it nice and cool.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186134

[jsslifelike]

Thanks for the suggestions- I'm having him order the stuff ASAP.

Do you think that the OS that came on the Gateway will repair or should he just invest in a legal retail version?

[Panama Red]

You could try a repair install with any XP SP2 disk and just use his Prod Key. I think it's work just fine.

[LeftyAce]

It's probably linked to the motherboard, so he'll need to purchase a new copy of XP. (But you can try it and see, first)

*Edit* That should work. Did it with an old eMachine myself.

[glc]

If the Gateway board has a 915P chipset, Windows should boot right up. It will have to be reactivated though - and it won't activate on line, you will have to use the telephone process and explain to the agent what you did and why.

[jsslifelike]

First of all, I want to thank all of you for you help and suggestions. We did order the Antec case/PSU and Foxconn mobo. Being that this was my first build/refit, I was suprised at how relatively simple it was. Boy, is it ever nice and quiet. I got everything to work but the power LED- it seems to have a 3-prong plug where only 2 prongs are on the mobo and as a result, it's not working. Hell, I've already asked for so many suggestions, what's one more?

Originally Posted by glc If the Gateway board has a 915P chipset, Windows should boot right up. It will have to be reactivated though - and it won't activate on line, you will have to use the telephone process and explain to the agent what you did and why.

GLC, you were exactly right- XP did boot right up and we had to go through that damned process using the new XP copy's product key. He's extremely happy as we saved everything on both of his HD's. Kudos, once again...