Gateway ILL -- Service Bad ? - Electronic Circuits Projects Diagrams Free

**3v0** · 30th April 2008, 05:25 AM

I do not repair PCs for money but I fix one now and again for friends.

This unit is a Gateway and it developed a problem, during/after bootup it crashes. If I boot into safe mode it hangs at agpcpq.sys. There are several threads on the net about similar problems and about as many fixes as there are threads. Happens on several different brands and the fix seems different for each one.

The machine still has 6 months on site warranty so I called gateway. They strongly suggest that I not open it. That cut out several of the things that I try first.

The machine did not come with recovery disks and had an incomplete recovery partition. Gateway mailed me a set of recovery disks. Reloading did not fix the problem.

Called Gateway back and they said they would send a box to me so I could return the machine for diagnosis. Their way of saying that if it was a software issue they would charge me. The box never came. Today the support team email box was full so I emailed them. They now want about $70 to ship the box to me? Odd since the machine has on site service. But that does not cover software... If they are the sole judge of what is hardware and software I suspect everything but a total meltdown is judged to be software.

From what I read on the net I am fairly sure if I totally erase the hard drive and pull the backup battery then reload the system it will work. It ran spinrite6 for hours and boots knoppix. Could be an interaction between the bios and XP Home.

Mostly needed to vent.

Torben · 30th April 2008, 06:14 AM

I feel your pain. Any chance you can boot another OS from a CD or USB drive and see what happens?

Torben

[Edit: Nevermind---missed the "boots Knoppix" part. *sigh*]

mvs sarma · 30th April 2008, 06:22 AM

I had similar issue even after changing an intel Mobo to 915. It frequently shuts down at random. It was so painful that during mid of a DVD write session, it switched off.

After some effort, I traced the fault with a dry joint in the 5V section of the PSU of the Desktop. I think this could add to list of probables, while you are serving some friends over there.

Gayan Soyza · 30th April 2008, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3v0

From what I read on the net I am fairly sure if I totally erase the hard drive and pull the backup battery then reload the system it will work. It ran spinrite6 for hours and boots knoppix. Could be an interaction between the bios and XP Home.

Some bad sectors on the Laptop hard disk causing the problem even afer formatting the problem still there (depends upon the type of bad sector).If you lucky it will clean up after formatting.

For the time being only solution is to install a clean copy & see.I'd use a different partition on this case.

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30th April 2008, 05:25 AM	(permalink)
3v0	Gateway ILL -- Service Bad ? I do not repair PCs for money but I fix one now and again for friends. This unit is a Gateway and it developed a problem, during/after bootup it crashes. If I boot into safe mode it hangs at agpcpq.sys. There are several threads on the net about similar problems and about as many fixes as there are threads. Happens on several different brands and the fix seems different for each one. The machine still has 6 months on site warranty so I called gateway. They strongly suggest that I not open it. That cut out several of the things that I try first. The machine did not come with recovery disks and had an incomplete recovery partition. Gateway mailed me a set of recovery disks. Reloading did not fix the problem. Called Gateway back and they said they would send a box to me so I could return the machine for diagnosis. Their way of saying that if it was a software issue they would charge me. The box never came. Today the support team email box was full so I emailed them. They now want about $70 to ship the box to me? Odd since the machine has on site service. But that does not cover software... If they are the sole judge of what is hardware and software I suspect everything but a total meltdown is judged to be software. From what I read on the net I am fairly sure if I totally erase the hard drive and pull the backup battery then reload the system it will work. It ran spinrite6 for hours and boots knoppix. Could be an interaction between the bios and XP Home. Mostly needed to vent. __________________ search engine for electronic parts Junebug USB PIC programmer kit., USB Bit Wacker, 3v0's Homepage The 15 Minute Printed Circuit Board! (+drill time)

30th April 2008, 06:14 AM	(permalink)
Torben	I feel your pain. Any chance you can boot another OS from a CD or USB drive and see what happens? Torben [Edit: Nevermind---missed the "boots Knoppix" part. sigh] Last edited by Torben; 30th April 2008 at 06:43 AM.

30th April 2008, 06:22 AM	(permalink)
mvs sarma	I had similar issue even after changing an intel Mobo to 915. It frequently shuts down at random. It was so painful that during mid of a DVD write session, it switched off. After some effort, I traced the fault with a dry joint in the 5V section of the PSU of the Desktop. I think this could add to list of probables, while you are serving some friends over there. __________________ Regards, Sarma.