20 Most Recent Gateway MX3215 Notebook Questions & Answers

that will never happen

personally, I do not use Paypal, it is very unsecure. I have had illegal transactions via Paypal using my details. if the company is legit, surely they should accept credit/debit card payment over the phone. you have insurance with credit cards and some debit cards. most reputable companies have a sales department when you phone them and would accept payment over the phone. this very morning I placed an order with a company but the transaction tried to go via Paypal, so I e-mailed them instead and now I can phone with my card details. Every good, reputable company should do the same. Personally I will NEVER use Paypal

There are two different memory modules for that series.You can determine which you need by the chipset for you machine.If you have a Via VN800 Chipset You need the 1024MB-DDR333, 333MHz, PC2700, 200p SODIMM, 2.5v. If you have the NVIDIA nForce 410 Chipset The you need the 1024MB-533MHz DDR2-533 PC2-4200, 200p SODIMM, 1.8v Hope this clears up your problem

Here is how to disassemble Gateway laptop,

Here is replacement DC socket (needs soldering),

Here is DC board (no need soldering, but expensive).

Hope this helps.

Remove main battery and try again, if no! sub out the ram memory one at a time and power up, if still no result! have the power supply adapter checked for correct voltage, if okay! the DC jack in the laptop is a common source of trouble, the computer must be dismantled down to the motherboard to address this, professional recommended.

If you go into the BIOS configuration then the Device boot order and you do not see the USB port in the list, then an USB boot up option is not available.If it is available the move the USB as the first boot device so you can boot up with an USB memory stick.

Hi,

This issue unfortunately, is a hardware issue and not just a minor issue. Laptops have USB ports embedded to the motherboard and replacing just the USB ports means replacing the motherboard. If the computer is still under warranty, you might want to contact Gateway and don't call in for repair but to get an Accidental Damage Protection. Why? Because I don't think it is covered by the base warranty that you have on your computer. However, if the computer is no longer under warranty, you then have to get it repaired, and pay for the repair. The repair cost might make you decide to just purchase a new computer. Motherboard costs around $250 - $300 to replace.

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First this won't be a battery issue if you have the same problem when pluged to the grid.
This is certainly a screen issue, either it is the inverter that gives power to the backlighting system that has a problem or the lighting tubes themself. To make sure it is one of these 2, plug an external monitor on the vga connector, when you boot the laptop, if you see the bios sequence, the you definitely have a screen issue.
In this case, go to a laptop repair shop.
Or if you'd like to try, there are plenty of tutorial on how to unmount a laptop screen and change the parts...

hope this helps.

Hi Ms.Garcia

I can understand your concern. I'd be in a better position to help you out.

When you say the laptop turned OFF and if the power button blinks 3-4 times then i suspect its the issue with either power supply or RAM.

Before that i'd request you to try some basic steps. Please unplug all the cables behind the tower (CPU). Press and hold the power button for 30 seconds and reconnect all the cables back. Then turn on the computer, now check and see whether are we having the same issue or not.

If still the issue persists please start the computer and get into BIOS screen by tapping the F2 or DEL key moment when you see the computer logo (GATEWAY). Wait for 2-3 minutes and see are we having the same issue or not. If its happen then we could easily find out its an issue with the hardware issue.

Else boot the computer and see if its happening again or not. If its the same then it might be an OS
issue. Hence please follow the below steps:

1 - Click on start and go to RUN (if its XP)
Click on Start -> All programs -> Accessories -> RUN (VISTA, 7)
2. Type services.msc.
3. Click on OK
4. Now check for the option RPC (Remote Procedure Call)
5. Double click on that and change the Startup Type from MANUAL to AUTOMATIC (Provided if its MANUAL)
6. Then click on RECOVERY up at the top
7. Now select the option as TAKE NO ACTION in all 3 options.
8. Finally click on APPLY & OK.

Now restart the computer. Later check & see if its happening or not.
If still the same please revert. So that i could give you more information on tomorrow morning.

Thanks in advance

Go to Gateways site and download the "recovery" disc info....I note that your laptop specs only has 256 MB ram which is too low to run XP. I suggest you need at least 1GB ram DDR2 whixch is the max it will handle. This will really speed it up and is relatively cheap.

Throw the whole thing away. I had the same problem plus the wireless card gave out. Biggets piece of junk made. Also had to upgrade the ram to 1 gb just to get the thing to work. Best use for this unit is a paper weight.

Your gpu may share your laptops ram
confirm it with your vendor

try tapping the LCD bezel, if you sense that the LCD would flicker, your hunch might be correct about the bad inverter card. it would also depend if the LCD type has an inverter. or worse case scenario - LCD is already failing...

Hope it helps!

Pls Check this link, in reference to your memory upgrade...it seems that your laptop could only accomodate max 1Gb of RAM

http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/Magic/5948sp2.shtml

You may have non OEM memory, your system may not be able to handle that much mem, or you could have something wrong with the connector that your mem fits into. If your original mem still works then the connector is not the issue. You should also make sure you are putting in the memory stick correctly. Make sure it is put in straight and is firmly placed in the connector. If you don't it will cause your problem. Capacity is 1G. If you are trying to put in a 2G it will not work. Hope this helps.

http://www.4allmemory.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.memorySearch&model_id=61473

Try this site. They say if it doesn't work you get your money back.

More likely to be bad backlight inverter borad or worst case will be the lamp. You will need a test lamp assembly to narrow down where the problem is.
http://www.google.com/products?sourceid=navclient&q=Gateway+MX3215+backlight+inverter&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=JslYS9z0M4LeNbrQxNQE&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CCYQrQQwAg

The mx3215 uses a SATA Hard drive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380%201035915133%201309729183%201035507776&name=7200%20RPM

hi, Okay so you was expecting it to go faster, well that depends on a number of factors, remember if the system runs out of ram, it will start using virtual memory so it will swap a page of memory out to the harddisk so it can use that page of memory for a program etc hence that's why it slower, ok , but if the system has the right amount of memory when running a application you will not notice a speedup, your problem could be caused by spyware or infected files trying to access the internet etc hence a general slowdown, also look at the programs that are running , it could simply be that you got too many applications running in the background , so a faster processor is required, I suggest you look at what's getting loaded when your laptop starts up,

The best way to do that is goto the CMD shell and type msconfig,

now goto the startup tab and look at what's starting up here,

be carefull that you do not unselect something your system required to function correctly,

Not sure what the file does , look it up on the net, get a balance view of the the file if it sounds bad unselect and reboot, if the systems displays a error or somehing no longer works , go back into the program and select the previous applicaiton that you unselected.

Another thing you can do is , start up in safe mode by pressing the f8 key after the bios screen disappears, press it couple of times and a display should appear , now select safe mode,

Once windows has loaded , does it seem faster then I suggest you looked at what hasn't loaded, it may be a driver making it slow ?? Do a virus scan and spyware check now.

Anyway I hope that helps.

Regards
GeWiz.

May be your driver for the Wireless device is not installed, you can download the Wireless driver for your model from here (Under the Network Category)
Regards, Waqar.

You may have a defective CCFL backlight, it may have the following symptom: Screen flashes on and off or displays reddish pink hue. Picture stays on in red and slowly be come normal. Picture flickering with dim display or appear black. Picture flickers on and off. All these symptoms indicate that the LCD backlight lamp (CCFL Lamp) has reached the end of the life and all you need to do is replace the CCFL lamp.
To determine if the video card or the LCD is faulty, connect an external monitor to your laptop and power the monitor up first then the laptop, if you see the normal Windows images then the video card and laptop is OK and the problem is definitely the backlight. Dim image and/or dark display on the laptop's LCD screen indicates a faulty LCD backlight. It could be a faulty inverter that supplies high voltage to the CCFL lamp or it is the CCLF lamp is nearly burnt out, usually the CCFL lamp fails before the inverter.
The inverter can be replaced easily but the CCLF lamp is more time consuming and requires soldering skills.
Check out LCD Parts for service, parts, and DIY info Use this link to their WEB site: -
www.lcdparts.net