If you have a Gateway laptop that won’t turn on, you will need to power drain it.
If you want to start, turn it off and turn it off again. The power button needs to be held for 60 seconds after the battery is removed.
It’s time to reassemble and restart the computer. I ran through the 7 total steps that were detailed below when I encountered this issue.
These steps have been ordered from the most likely to fix the issue.
If you want to get the fastest results, I recommend following along in this order.
Step 1: Power Drain Laptop
It is not difficult to perform a power drain for laptop models with an external battery.
Simply remove the battery when the device is turned off and unplugged.
You can hold the power button for 60 seconds after pressing it.
Plug the laptop back in and turn the power on, then put the battery back in.
If your laptop has an internal battery, you will need to follow the detailed steps below.
Ground Yourself
Before you start, you will need to learn how to properly ground yourself to avoid damaging your laptop.
Remove Bottom Base
We are prepared to open your laptop. It’s important that your device is off and unplugged.
All of the screws should be removed from the backside of your laptop.
Depending on the model, the total number of screws and their specific placement will be different.
It is worth noting that a screw or two may be behind a sticker.
You can use the Gateway manual to find them if you’re having a hard time locating them all.
With all the screws taken out, slowly start to remove the bottom base.
One of the best ways to do this is to put a credit card between the top and bottom cases and then run it all the way down the sides. Sometime in the future it will open.
Whatever you do, DO NOT use a metal object as your wedge. Ideally you can find something thin and plastic.
The laptop should not be pulled apart immediately. The bottom case or the palmrest on your laptop will come off.
If the palmrest comes off, you will see a number of ribbon cables connecting it to the computer.
If you move too quickly or aggressively, you could damage the ribbon cables.
Remove the ribbon cable port clips prior to removing the case by using your plastic pry tool.
Remove Battery
With the case removed, the battery is now exposed and accessible.
For most Gateway models, the battery just sits on the motherboard port and can be removed by lifting it straight up.
There is a possibility that a screw or two may be securing the battery to the board.
There could be a wire connection between the battery and the board.
Before popping out the battery, you need to remove any additional screws and detach the wire.
Flush Excess Power
When you have the battery out, open the screen by flipping the laptop over.
If the laptop palmrest came off when you opened the case, you need to connect the ribbon cable from the keyboard case to the motherboard.
Press and hold the power button for 60 seconds, when the laptop is still turned off.
There won’t be much happening during this minute, but rest assured that any excess power is being flushed out.
Reassemble Laptop And Reboot
Ok, you accomplished it! The above steps need to be reversed to put the laptop back together.
Your device should be back up and running once you turn it on again! There are a lot of different reasons for the build up of the laptop.
If this happens more than once, you should get a new power transformer, battery, or surge protection.
Step 2: Troubleshoot The Charger
It isn’t a good idea to perform a power drain for everyone. It is possible that your battery is the reason for the problem.
If you want to check if the battery is the problem, turn off the laptop, remove the battery, and plug in the power transformer.
If you want to reinsert the battery, you need to press the power button for 60 seconds.
The only way to turn on your laptop is by using just the battery.
If the laptop is turned on, you can rest assured that the battery and laptop are working.
Great news all the way around! The good news is you don’t have to worry about your charging device being fried.
Something that is really cool is that the laptop knows when the battery is running out.
This information is used to automatically prevent itself from turning on.
The damaged battery will not cause permanent damage to the motherboard.
If you want to give it a try, you have to locate a replacement charger or purchase one.
Step 3: Troubleshoot The Battery
If static build up isn’t the cause and the charger is working well, what do you think?
It is most likely that the battery is malfunctioning. Let’s take a look at it.
The power button should be held down for 60 seconds after the battery is removed.
The battery should not be reinserted this time. If you want to turn the laptop on, you should plug the charger back in.
You now know the battery is not good if your Gateway goes off. If you want to do the trick, you should purchase a new battery.
Step 4: Inspect RAM Sticks
Your PC’s overall performance and speed are dependent on the computer random access memory.
On a short-term basis, the information that is frequently used is stored on the RAM.
It is possible for your computer to perform every day tasks because of the rapid retrieval of information by the RAM.
It is no surprise that faulty RAM can prevent the laptop from turning on, as well as prevent the board from communicating.
overheating, fault connection, extreme voltage levels, and physical damage are just a few of the reasons that RAM fails.
The easiest ways to fix and test your RAM sticks are listed here.
Remove and Reinsert RAM Sticks
It is possible that your Gateway won’t turn on because your RAM sticks aren’t connecting correctly.
When your device is unplugged, remove the bottom base to expose the RAM compartment.
You may need to pull the battery out to access the RAM for some models.
If you want to make sure you have a proper connection, you need to remove the RAM stick from their seats.
Put your laptop back together and try to get it started. It is time for you to be back up and running!
If there is more than one RAM stick in your model, be sure to order them again.
After you reinsert one RAM stick at a time, you should attempt to rebooting your laptop.
Windows Memory Diagnostic Test
Once the issue is fixed, I highly recommend testing the sticks for any faults.
In order to check the health of your newly reseated RAM sticks we will run a Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool.
To run the test, type Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool into your search bar and click on it. Next, select Restart now and check for problems.
Once your laptop has restarted, a RAM diagnostic report will appear.
If no issues are uncovered then you are all set and no further action is needed.
On the other hand, if there are faults discovered you may need to purchase a new RAM stick.
Step 5: Remove And Reinsert The CMOS Battery
Another possible cause is a system board failure There is an issue with your Embedded Controller.
Which may be waiting for the BIOS to come back from the system board. The fix is simple, remove the battery from the board.
This action will reset yourBIOS and set it back to its previous configurations which can fix a lot of different issues.
You have to disassemble the back of your laptop and remove the battery from the board.
To drain excess power, hold down the power button. Take at least 10 minutes to get the battery back into your laptop.
If your problem has been solved, you need to restart your computer.
It can be very challenging to access your battery.
The Gateway laptop manual can be used to find your battery location.
It’s a good idea to go to your local PC repair shop for support.
Step 6: Clean Or Replace Cooling Fan
It’s less likely than it used to be, but there could be a problem with your computer.
If your laptop is running too hot, it’s probably because you hear the fan running all the time.
The central processing unit or graphics processing unit is the one that will cause the most damage.
The laptop will not work correctly if this is the cause. If you want to fix an issue that is overheating.
The internal cooling of your laptop needs to be fixed. You should clean the internal fan the first thing you do.
Dust can accumulate onto your laptop fan and cause it to lose power. The case has to be taken out of the laptop to fix the problem.
The laptop needs to be turned off before you can remove the battery.
If you want to expose the fan, you have to ground yourself and remove the bottom case.
The fan needs to be cleaned with a cotton swab and some alcohol.
It’s a good idea to clean the exhaust port on the case in order to allow air to flow in and out of the laptop.
Allow the alcohol to be completely dry for 30 minutes. Once it is dry, take your laptop and turn it on.
If the issue remains, you may need to replace the cooling fan or purchase an external cooling unit for your laptop.
Step 7: Perform BIOS Recovery
If all else fails, it is likely that your Gateway laptop won’t turn on due to a problem with the bios chip.
You may hear a sound similar to the one in the picture. Certain keys may light up unexpectedly depending on your Gateway laptop model.
The very first thing your computer does when it’s up and running is boot the BIOS.
When your hard drive takes over, your hardware is configured by the BIOS.
That is what it is supposed to happen. It’s possible that your BIOS can become corrupted.
There are a lot of reasons why this could happen:
- Your PC’s flash memory is failing
- Interruption of a BIOS update
- A computer virus
overheating, too much voltage, and random cosmic ray interactions are some of the things that can cause your BIOS chip to fail.
This “handover” to your hard drive cannot take place because of a failure of the BIOS chip or firmware.
The reason you are looking at the screen is due to it being black!
Built-in BIOS Recovery Function
First, we need to know whether or not your specific Gateway laptop model has a built-in function for BIOS recovery.
The easiest way to test this is to turn off your computer and hold the power button for 10 seconds.
When the lights stop blinking and the fan comes to a stop, you will know that your laptop is off.
We are going to try two different BIOS recovery keys:
- “F1”
- “F2”
During your attempts to turn on your Gateway laptop, it is important to hold down each of these keys.
If this doesn’t work, you should try to tap these keys multiple times prior to and during the laptop start up.
If you want to try a new key, be sure to power down your laptop before.
Conclusion
Did you just go to power up and your laptop isn’t turning on?
There is no need to panic! These fixes aren’t going to work for some people.
If you are still not able to solve the problem, you might want to review your Gateway warranty policy.
You can get in touch with Gateway customer support by phone, chat or both.
Hopefully this was helpful to you.
If you solved your laptop issue using this post or another method, please leave a comment below so that we can include it.
Additional laptop support was brought to you by The Flexible Worker Team.
