Tuesday, August 9, 2005, 02:05 PM
The Gateway 450ROG/SX4 are both good units with the 450ROG being the better of the two. Some 450ROG has a 64MB video card whereas the SX4 has a 32MB video card. Also the ROG will accept over 1GB of memory whereas the SX4 takes a max of 512MB.
Both motherboards will fit either chassis (450ROG or SX4) The form factor of the boards are the same. However, as per Joel's entry dated Wednesday, October 4, 2006, 08:53 AM: "The form factor of the boards are the same, but the lcd plug-in is different on the two. The monitors are different from one to another. So you can't interchange monitors between them".
One problem I have noticed, if the fan on your heatsink as started to go bad becoming very noisy but still running. It will cause the unit to shut down. At this point its not cooling the unit fast enough. One of the first thing that will happend is distorted video due to over heating and the unit constantly going into standby.
One major problem on these units are the video on the motherboards. They tend to go bad and as with most Gateway units cannot be manually repaired. This is quite possibly lack of sufficient cooling. My opinion is to buy a cooling pad and this "MAY" extend the life of your unit.
Though an 80Watt power adapter is issued with these units you will find that the unit will function with a 70Watt adapter. However, using a 60 or 50watt adapter will cause problems. The unit will start function for a while then shut down according to usage.
Though the lcd cable connection is different between the 450ROG & 450SX4, one thing some 14.1" & 15" LCD Panels share is the same inverter, Gateway P/N: 8006699, Inverter P/N: 3RUA2IV0003.
Both the 450SX4 & ROG uses Pentium 4 CPUS. However, the SX4 uses a P4 Processor-M CPU (400Mhz FSB, 512Kb L-2 Cache & core voltage of 1.30V) whereas the ROG uses a Centrino P4 (400Mhz FSB, 1mb L-2 Cache & core voltage of 1.484V)
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( 3.1 / 1476 )Saturday, July 23, 2005, 01:50 PM
The 200STM can be found with three different speed (CPUs) Processors which all come soldered to the motherboard (systemboard). The three speeds are; 833MHz, 933MHz and 1GHz. The 1GHz systemboard is the one hardly found but should you have need for an upgrade, this would be your best option (may not be cost effective depending on price of the motherboard).
The Gateway 200STM, like most PIII Notebooks will accept a max of 512mb of memory (512mb pc-133 144pin so-dimm).
The Wi-Fi capability on this unit is one of the more significant features apart from its lightness and size. For these units I have mainly used the Broadcom wirless mini pci cards. However, it is possible to use other mini pci wifi cards, so long as drivers are available.
When purchasing a 200STM replacement optical drive, the best option is to stick with Gateways listed drives for this unit. I have tried several drives and found success with only one that was not listed on Gateways web site; Torisan CD-R/RW CDW-U4424. This drive the unit picked up immediately.
One thing the 200STM, Solo 3400 & 3450 have in common is the 42WATT AC adapter. Most of the ac adapters fits a three prong power cord. However, there are some which uses a two prong (double barrel) power cord. Both works just fine.
If the video on your 200STM starts giving problems then unfortunately the only solution is to change the motherboard as the video chip is soldered on to the board. Remember, a dim screen does not mean bad video but more so points to a bad video inverter. Additionally, no image on the screen is typical of a bad video cable, especially when the screen lights up and there is no video.
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( 3 / 1472 )Tuesday, May 31, 2005, 10:23 PM
Use this information at your own risk.The Solo 9300 can take one of several speeds MMC-2 CPU (PIII 400MHz, 500MHz, 600MHz, 650Mhz, 700MHz, 750MHz, 800MHz & 850MHz). The MMC-2 PIII 800/850MHz is a rear one and if found you can expect to pay top dollar. However, I have heard that with this CPU installed the unit tends overheat..In my testing I have installed two bars of 256MB PC-100 144pin SO-DIMM in a Solo 9300 laptop (Total Memory 544MB). The memory upgrade was picked up both by the bios and the OS. The Solo 9300 comes with a sound card that is not integrated with the motherboard. The card is located under the right palmrest and can be easily replaced. Also, located directly on top of the sound card is the slot to connect a mini pci modem or modem/nic combo card (compatible brands Action Tec & 3com). The question is, "Do you have a modem/nic port or just a modem port"? The ports can also be replaced since the port is not molded to the chassis or the motherboard. The port is slotted on to the chassis and a wire connection goes from the port to the modem which is directly on top of the sound card. Easily removable.It is particularly difficult to find a optical drive (cd,dvd,cdrwdvd) faceplate that not only looks similar but fits the Solo 9300 Laptop. Solution! Use the existing optical drive caddy (plastic that surrounds the drive) and use the old faceplate as template to carve the notched out section onto your new drive faceplate. Laslty reconnect the caddy.The caddy is removed by first removing the optical drive from the unit. Next remove the screws located on the right and left sides of the drive. These screws secures the black plastic to the drive. However, the drive is also secured by a bit of glue (try using a flat edge to help with the removal of the plastic). Next remove the two screws holding the plastic at the back of the drive. Easily remove the two pieces.
One frequent problem with the Solo 9300 laptops is a damaged power bar or status bezel connection cable. This is the cable that connects the status bezel (plastic strip directly below screen with the button to turn the unit on/off) to the motherboard. If this cable is damaged you will not be able to turn the unit on and will not get a light when the unit is plugged in. To replace this cable you must first remove the keyboard held by little metal hooks in between the lower first row of keys. When the keyboard is removed a screw holding the status bezel is uncovered. Remove this screw along with the two other screws holding the status bezel (one on each end). The cable is held by clips carefully push clips up being careful not to completely remove them from their respective places.
The 9300 comes with four different screen sizes; 14.1", 15" & 15.7" inch. The respective lcds are as follows; 14.1"-LG LP141XA (A1), 15"-LG LP150X1 (C2QT), LG LP150X2, HITACHI TX38D85VC1CAA and 15.7"-LP157E1 (A2TS). The lcds & corresponding inverter P/N are; 14.1"-3RE4U22600240 & 3RE4U2260034; 15"-3RE4U22600340, 3RE4U22600250 (LP150X1) and 15.7"-3RE4U22600350 & 3RE4U22600300.
When using an MD3 Docking station with the Solo 9300 it is possible to add a Video card, TV Tuner or network card to the docking station via the desktop pci port located in the docking station. To the right of your docking station is a slot that is at times covered but if viewed closely you will see the cover is removable. The pci slot is located under the top cover of the dock which is only held by one screw to the top left of the rear. So far I have had success adding a video card. With this second video card installed I have been able to connect an external monitor to the Solo 9300 for a dual monitor function. This gives me the ability to use the laptop's LCD screen and an external monitor to view images from the laptop (watch a DVD on one screen and browse the net on the other). The only setback is I have to connect to the docking station with the system already booted for it to connect successfully.
When connecting a network (nic) card to the unit via the PCI slot this requires no additional changes but for you to install the drivers for the card.
Adding a TV Tuner will require no further adjustement but for you to install the drivers and software for the tuner card. Also remember that it is necessary to have atleast 256MB of ram to run a tv tuner card and process other applications without freeze ups.
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( 3 / 1444 )Thursday, April 28, 2005, 09:05 PM
Use this information at your own risk. Here goes;
Solo 5300/5350 Keyboard, CPU & Heatsink Removal.
The Solo 5300 will accept MPGa 2 CPU from a PIII/Celeron 600Mhz to 1000MHz (1GHz) CPU.
At the bottom of your chassis, there are two screws; one located beside the cd/floppy release latch and the other is located at the end of the memory slot without the screws. Remove these screws and proceed to open the lid of your unit. There are three stubs that holds the keyboard in place. One is located below the left ALT key and space bar, one below the Windows & Ctrl keys and the other to your right between the End key and function (Fn) key. Remove them by using a flat head screw driver to pull them away from the keyboard while pressing down then pulling up to lift the keyboard. The keyboard ribbon is held down by the biege clip, gentle pull the clip up from the left and right side. This will remove the keyboard. Remove the heatsink by removing the four spring loaded screws. Remove the screws and gently lift the heatsink up this will reveal the CPU which is held in its setting by a screw which has an arrow showing how to release and tighten.Solo 5300/5350 Hinge & Inverter Removal
To expose the hinges; set your LCD (display/monitor) at a 180 degree angle and proceed to push back and pull up on both the right and left lcd hinge covers. Noticable are two screws, one holding each hinge, remove them and also remove the screw holding the LCd cable directly under the left hinge cover. Next pull the extended plastic portion of the lcd cable up for removal. Once the covers are removed close the LCD (display/monitor) and go to the bottom of the unit. Located directly above the two rubber stubs towards the back of the bottom area, there are two screws directly above each rubber stub, remove both screws. Holding both the bottom chassis (base) and the LCD lid return the unit to its correct position and once again open the LCd lid to a 90 degree angle. Pull the entire LCD lid up to remove the lid from the base of the unit. The piece being worked with now is the LCD lid. There are four black rubber stubs located on the LCD bezel (trim piece of plastic surrounding the front of the LCd) remove these rubber stubs, then remove the exposed screws. Remove the lcd bezel with a flat head screw drive/table knife by inserting the flat edge between the bezel and the lid (back cover) continue this process around the perimeter of the bezel using care especially in the area of the latch. Remove the additional screws holding the lcd hinge and remove it. To remove the inverter located immediately below the lcd, remove the two screws and the attached lcd cable to the right of the inverter.
One of the beauty of a 5300/5350 is the ability to use a secondary hard drive.The secondary hard drive fits into a secondary caddy (caddy looks similar to the floppy or cd-rom) which utilizes the CD/Floppy drive bay. In my testing I have used 40GB 9mm hard drive on a Solo 5350. The drive becomes handy if you have a need for mass storage or have some highly confidential data that is best kept close.
Solo 5300 laptops can use one of three mini pci cards depending on your need. The unit can use a Action Tec 56k Mini PCI Modem (for those who only need dial up & fax capability) or a 3COM Mini PCI Modem Nic Combo/Xircom Mini PCI Modem Nic Combo (gives both dial up & lan (ethernet/nic) capability).
One common problem among laptops is finding a CD/DVD/CDRW drive with a faceplate that fits your laptop perfectly. However, is it totally necessary to match the faceplate perfectly. No! This is not necessary. In the case of the Solo 5300/5350 if you find a drive with a flat faceplate it will work just as well as the original curved faceplate. However, the faceplate must fit the width of the caddy. Brand drives known to be 100% compatable with this laptop are Teac, Torisan & Toshiba. This drive will accept a CD-ROM, CDRW, CDRWDVD COMBO or even a DVD Burner
It is possible to get a docking station for this unit (GATEWAY MD-3 DOCKING STATION) with various ports. Some of which are; Composite video sync & S-Video (enables the display of your laptop contents on a Television or view VCR/DVD content), Audio ports and 2 PCMCIA card (you have 2 on your unit now you can add two more for expansion devices). However, the biggest benifit of this unit is the PCI slot located on the left side. With this slot you can add a PCI TV tuner (watch cable or regular tv on your laptop) PCI Video card (Add an external monitor with the ability to view different images on each monitor), a PCI WIFI/ETHERNET card (for networking) or the lateast sound card for exceptional sound quality.
After disabling the laptops onboard video (Solo 5350) and disconnecting the power cable connected to the VGA out port of the docking station to prevent hardware conflict (to do so remove the square shaped metal on the bottom of the docking station and you will see the two prong power cable connected to the VGA port), I have been able to connect a 64MB video card to the pci port on the docking station for use of an external monitor. Adding this 64MB video card to the Solo 5350 gives the benefit of being able to run a program requiring 64MB ram without purchasing a newer model laptop. Makes using programs like photoshop a little easier.
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Sunday, April 17, 2005, 06:12 PMThe Solo 1400 & 1450 has two memory slots and will take a MAX of 1024MB of PC-133 144PIN SO-DIMM. This is TWO bars of 512MB of PC-133 144PIN SO-DIMM. Memory is very important on the Solo 1400 unit because it uses the Shared memory architecture SMA (The video card uses the memory you install).The Solo 1450 takes a FCPGa CPU. The ones worth considering are the PIII or Celeron 1GHz to 1.066GHz CPU.So your Solo 1400/1450 needs more storage space. Laptop hard drives can now be found from 6GB to 100GB, anything lower I would not recommend. For the Solo 1400/1450 the maximum hard drive recommended is a 60GB 9.5MM SLIM 2.5 INCH 4200RPM NOTEBOOK HARD DRIVE.
The Solo 1450 & 1400 takes several different model optical drive. However, you can obtain a DVD, CDRW or CDRWDVD combo for this unit. The brand drive used in most of my testing is QSI.One problem that seems to be common with the Solo 1400/1450 is that of a loose DC connector. In my opinion, this may be a result of the soldered points on the DC power connector (part where ac adapters connects to latptop) becoming loose from heat (The heat comes from CPU while using the laptop)and pressure at times from the AC adapter. When plugged in the adapter is sometimes left to hang, the cpu heats up and the soldered points become loose due to the heat combined with pressure from the adapter. This is easily fixed by soldering the loose points once again.Usually, when there is a problem with the LCD of the Solo 1400/1450 one or more of these issues may apply; bad lcd inverter, bad lcd flex cable or bad backlight. The problem may be the inverter when the screen goes dimm on boot/startup (screen with faint image in the background). However, when the images on the screen appears to be scrambled, this is usually a problem with the video cable.If you are wonder where your wireless (WiFi) card is, its located within the LCD bezel/lid. The wireless network card interfaces with a connector that is apart of the lcd flex cable (Yes somewhat strange). The card is held by a pair of clips. To get to this card; remove the six rubber stubs (4 top & 2 bottom) and then the screws from the lcd bezel (plastic surrounding the front of lcd) and carefull with a butter knife or flat head screw remove the plastic. Proceed to carefully remove the lcd to expose the lcd flex cable with wifi connector and the WiFi card
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