Gateway 2000 GP5-200 Overheating Fix

I think I found the problem I was having with a Gateway 2000 GP5-200 desktop
computer. It would randomly freeze or drop into STOP errors. I started
looking at the motherboard and found a voltage regulator attached to a beefy
heatsink. Even with that, it still got too hot to touch for very long. If
you look at the URL below, note the electrolytic caps sandwiched in between
the two major fins on the heatsink. That can't be a great idea.

Last I looked it had been up for over five hours now. I guess Gateway
shouldn't have been so stingy with their idea to put another fan in
place...maybe that's why I've never seen another one of these?

http://12.206.251.215/gp5200/

Sorry for the cross-posting. It seemed like this topic would fit well in
both groups.
The IP is dynamic but should be relatively stable. I lost my DynDNS account
(after six years, they killed it for 30 days of my not signing in!) and am
working to get it back.

William

William R. Walsh wrote:

I think I found the problem I was having with a Gateway 2000 GP5-200 desktop
computer. It would randomly freeze or drop into STOP errors. I started
looking at the motherboard and found a voltage regulator attached to a beefy
heatsink. Even with that, it still got too hot to touch for very long. If
you look at the URL below, note the electrolytic caps sandwiched in between
the two major fins on the heatsink. That can't be a great idea.

Last I looked it had been up for over five hours now. I guess Gateway
shouldn't have been so stingy with their idea to put another fan in
place...maybe that's why I've never seen another one of these?

http://12.206.251.215/gp5200/

Sorry for the cross-posting. It seemed like this topic would fit well in
both groups.
The IP is dynamic but should be relatively stable. I lost my DynDNS account
(after six years, they killed it for 30 days of my not signing in!) and am
working to get it back.

William


they call that obsolescence.


--
"I'm never wrong, once i thought i was, but was mistaken"
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5

"William R. Walsh" m
wrote in message news:jzQUi.174372$Fc.168614@attbi_s21...
I think I found the problem I was having with a Gateway 2000 GP5-200
desktop
computer. It would randomly freeze or drop into STOP errors. I started
looking at the motherboard and found a voltage regulator attached to a
beefy
heatsink. Even with that, it still got too hot to touch for very long. If
you look at the URL below, note the electrolytic caps sandwiched in
between
the two major fins on the heatsink. That can't be a great idea.

Last I looked it had been up for over five hours now. I guess Gateway
shouldn't have been so stingy with their idea to put another fan in
place...maybe that's why I've never seen another one of these?

http://12.206.251.215/gp5200/

Sorry for the cross-posting. It seemed like this topic would fit well in
both groups.
The IP is dynamic but should be relatively stable. I lost my DynDNS
account
(after six years, they killed it for 30 days of my not signing in!) and am
working to get it back.

William



I noted in a different thread a few days ago, that switch mode power supply
designers have a pathological need to locate any and all electrolytics as
close as possible to hot components, in order to cause the service industry
as much trouble as possible. Seems that mobo designers are similarly
afflicted then ... d:~}

Arfa

"William R. Walsh"
m hath wroth:

I think I found the problem I was having with a Gateway 2000 GP5-200 desktop
computer. It would randomly freeze or drop into STOP errors. I started
looking at the motherboard and found a voltage regulator attached to a beefy
heatsink. Even with that, it still got too hot to touch for very long. If
you look at the URL below, note the electrolytic caps sandwiched in between
the two major fins on the heatsink. That can't be a great idea.

Last I looked it had been up for over five hours now. I guess Gateway
shouldn't have been so stingy with their idea to put another fan in
place...maybe that's why I've never seen another one of these?

http://12.206.251.215/gp5200/

Yech. Barbequed electrolytics. Forget the fan idea. Unsolder or
just chomp out the caps. Replace them with caps that have LONG leads.
Bend the leads away from the heat sink and over the edge of the
motherboard. That should get them away from the heat without adding
too much lead inductance.

Incidentally, I just sent to the eWaste recyclers everything in my
house, office, and storage dumpster, that was slower than a PIII. I
kept a few boards, but all the old machines and most of the ISA and
VESA boards went away. I can now almost walk into my office without
climbing over a pile of computahs. Befo
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/slides/IMG_0086.html
After will have to wait until after I finish purging.

Sorry for the cross-posting. It seemed like this topic would fit well in
both groups.

The IP is dynamic but should be relatively stable. I lost my DynDNS account
(after six years, they killed it for 30 days of my not signing in!) and am
working to get it back.

Just pay the $12/year for an account. I have about 20 dyndns entries
on mine, some of which are laptops and PDA's that rarely connect. They
don't pull the plug on you if you have a paying account.

Still want the MCA boards? Send me a mailing address. I
lost/forgot/misplace/too-lazy-to-look-for your mailing address.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Hi!

Yech. Barbequed electrolytics.

Actually--and amazingly--no, make that completely amazingly--they haven't
suffered a bit! I borrowed an ESR meter and tested them. They seem to be
good, and have no signs of bulging, leaking, etc. They're 105 C rated, so
that probably helped. I still can't quite get over what a craptastic design
idea that was.

Incidentally, I just sent to the eWaste recyclers everything in my
house, office, and storage dumpster, that was slower than a PIII.

And here I am after just resurrecting a 386DX-40. What a seriously cool
machine. I didn't even know I had it. I had one before that I put in a
desktop case, but it disappeared in a basement flood and I thought I'd never
find another one. Lo and behold, stashed in a storage unit that I'm giving
up is the same Bioteq motherboard in a mini tower case. It works great and
the onboard NiCad even seems to be charging up. Have I got any 30 pin SIMMs
left to max it out?

I love this old stuff and can usually find neat things to do with it.

Just pay the $12/year for an account. I have about 20 dyndns entries
on mine, some of which are laptops and PDA's that rarely connect. They
don't pull the plug on you if you have a paying account.

They didn't for six years, so I'm surprised. Looks like someone took the
greyghost(.dyndns.org) part away. It's got my index page and nothing else.
Not sure what's going on there...?

I'll certainly give thought to getting a paid account with them, but right
now I need to eliminate other debts first.

Still want the MCA boards? Send me a mailing address. I
lost/forgot/misplace/too-lazy-to-look-for your mailing address.

Yep, got to do that. Stay tuned...it won't be long.

William

"William R. Walsh"
m hath wroth:

And here I am after just resurrecting a 386DX-40.

Well, I guess raising the dead is a good pastime.

I love this old stuff and can usually find neat things to do with it.

I'll do us both a favor and not mention the junk I saved. Well, maybe
a hint. I have a few Compaq Portable III lunchbox machines with
plasma displays.
http://members.tripod.com/~net2000plus/compaqiii.htm

Just pay the $12/year for an account. I have about 20 dyndns entries
on mine, some of which are laptops and PDA's that rarely connect. They
don't pull the plug on you if you have a paying account.

They didn't for six years, so I'm surprised. Looks like someone took the
greyghost(.dyndns.org) part away. It's got my index page and nothing else.
Not sure what's going on there...?

Using NSlookup:
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: greyghost.dyndns.org
Address: 88.214.200.163
Quite different IP from your but does bring up your home page.
However, looking at the page source, there are no links to any of the
tags. Methinks your index.html is busted or we're reading the page
from your ISP's web server cache.

No clue on the different IP's. Reverse DNS fails to resolve anything
for 12.206.251.215 except that you're on an Mediacom line. RDNS for
88.214.200.163 points to someone in Amsterdam.

Still want the MCA boards? Send me a mailing address. I
lost/forgot/misplace/too-lazy-to-look-for your mailing address.

Yep, got to do that. Stay tuned...it won't be long.

Just send me the address. I just want the boxes of boards out of my
palatial office. I keep tripping over them. We can argue what to
extort from you later.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Incidentally, I just sent to the eWaste recyclers everything in my
house, office, and storage dumpster, that was slower than a PIII. I
kept a few boards, but all the old machines and most of the ISA and
VESA boards went away. I can now almost walk into my office without
climbing over a pile of computahs. Befo
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/slides/IMG_0086.html
After will have to wait until after I finish purging.

Boy ! And I thought my workshop was bad ...

Arfa

Arfa Daily wrote:

Incidentally, I just sent to the eWaste recyclers everything in my
house, office, and storage dumpster, that was slower than a PIII. I
kept a few boards, but all the old machines and most of the ISA and
VESA boards went away. I can now almost walk into my office without
climbing over a pile of computahs. Befo
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/slides/IMG_0086.html
After will have to wait until after I finish purging.


Boy ! And I thought my workshop was bad ...

Arfa


AH, that guys looks like he really works in there


--
"I'm never wrong, once i thought i was, but was mistaken"
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5

Jamie t hath wroth:

Arfa Daily wrote:
Boy ! And I thought my workshop was bad ...
Arfa

I've seen worse. The breaking point was reached when a rather rotund
customer literally could not enter the office due to the "canyon"
created by all the piles of dead computahs. I also found myself using
workbench space for storage and not being able to find things. When I
converted the office desk into a work area, and found that I couldn't
properly deal with the billing, it was time for a purge. I've been in
the same office since about 1990, so I guess one purge every 17 years
isn't too bad.

AH, that guys looks like he really works in there

Work? Yeah, I do that but mostly I needed the space so that I could
sleep on the floor. Maybe I'll drag in a bicycle and rollers so I can
get some exercise while waiting for Windoze to boot.

The real me:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/jef...effl-wolf.html
About 4MB. Give it time to load.

http://www.LearnByDestroying.com/panorama/jeffl.htm
Move mouse around image after it's done loading.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

Jamie t hath wroth:


Arfa Daily wrote:

Boy ! And I thought my workshop was bad ...
Arfa


I've seen worse. The breaking point was reached when a rather rotund
customer literally could not enter the office due to the "canyon"
created by all the piles of dead computahs. I also found myself using
workbench space for storage and not being able to find things. When I
converted the office desk into a work area, and found that I couldn't
properly deal with the billing, it was time for a purge. I've been in
the same office since about 1990, so I guess one purge every 17 years
isn't too bad.


AH, that guys looks like he really works in there


Work? Yeah, I do that but mostly I needed the space so that I could
sleep on the floor. Maybe I'll drag in a bicycle and rollers so I can
get some exercise while waiting for Windoze to boot.

The real me:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/jef...effl-wolf.html
About 4MB. Give it time to load.

http://www.LearnByDestroying.com/panorama/jeffl.htm
Move mouse around image after it's done loading.


you're setting a bad example to any customers watching this! Time is
something you're not suppose to have! . It looks like you've had
lots of it here!


--
"I'm never wrong, once i thought i was, but was mistaken"
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5