Help & Advice Gateway solo 2500

I was recently handed an older Gateway Solo 2500. By all appearances looks
like it's in good shape. From what I gathered it's a PII 233mhz model with a
12.1 Tft. The problem is, it won't boot. Nothing shows on the screen when
powered up. It stays 'black'. The person that gave it to me said that
Gateway told him that the "battery" was dead and to replace it would cost
"$350". I am not sure 'which' battery Gateway meant when they gave him this
info... I am inclined to think that they meant the C-mos battery..(which
would make the repair cost more justifiable in my mind).

My questions a Does this older model require that the 'main' battery be
installed and have a charge.. even when the laptop is plugged into the power
adaptor... in order to boot? Does the C-mos battery also have to be in
working condition in order for the laptop to boot?

The hard drive is OK .. (checked on another machine)
I have added ram to the solo .. (100mhz instead of 66... but that shouldn't
matter.. or?)

I would like some advice on what to try next.. or perhaps a website that has
more info on this model... (I already checked the Gateway site, not much
help there for me)... preferably a site that might have an in-depth
'exploded' view of the components and/or instructs on how to dissasemble.

The machine is too old for me to go to the expense of a major overhaul.. and
I would at least like to attempt a repair myself before giving up.

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA
--
GEO©~

Edward J. Neth wrote:
If it powers up, but the screen remains black, the LCD backlight
and/or the inverter chip has failed - these cost about $50 for parts
and perhaps another $100 for labor to repair.


The thing is... it doesn't power-up ! It 'wants' to ... the HD begins to
get accessed, then stops ! It never gets to the point where the screen would
indicate any booting process. Therefore, I don't know if the display is
having a prob or not. I will try to hook up another monitor to the laptop to
see if anything is displayed when powered on... but from what I am seeing,
that's doubtfull. As I mentioned, the HD appears to be fine...(when used in
another laptop). It has win98 loaded on it... and I can access it just fine
(as a second HD) on another laptop.

I'm thinking a 'bios' problem here .... or .. the cmos battery...or.. the MB
is shot. I just have so little experience in troubleshooting this sort of
thing, I thought I'd run it by you guys to see if I could gain some insight.

Thx for responding,
--
GEO©~