aftrshock

Not sure if this is the right area for this post, but here goes anyway.

These Gateway 610XL media center PCs have this issue with screen blinking -- that is, the screen will randomly power off and come back on sometimes. I can always make the screen come on, for however limited a time, at boot time, or from resuming after suspending. One time from this suspend/resume, the unit found new USB devices, the built in card reader and I think DVD, but this doesn't happen every time.

Multiple fixes have been suggested: upping the PSU, changing for a revised PSU, unplugging the subwoofer, changing the spread spectrum in the BIOS, one person even suggested it could be from magnetic fields in the home or wiring.

I've checked out the writeup on PSU's and used the 'lite' configurator to see what my system should take. the 185 watt shipped w/ the machine definitely isn't enough.

The system is using the 180watt Rev 01 PSU that is recommended. It's been changed out from the original at least twice, per the user who owns the system.

So far, none of the super fixes have worked, although per the write up on PSU's, I may need > 300 watts for a PSU -- I'm wondering if its inside wiring. The 20 pin mobo connector is split to an 8 pin and 12 pin, and the standard P4 4pin. That's it, to power everything! No adapter even! Subwoofer, board, chip, RAM, DVDrw, 200gb HDD, LCD panel, firewires, USBs, card reader, IR receiver, TV card, AM/FM receiver... that's a lot of devices for those cables to be powering.

Maybe I should hit 350 or even 400 for a PSU?

Or, let's look at the issue at hand: my screen shuts off. Not a 'no signal' display, but the LCD panel itself goes out. Suspend and resume brings it on, but I can never be sure how long.

Ideas? Or should I be posting elsewhere?

Machine stats: Gateway 610XL media center
P4 3.0 ghz + 512mb DDR400 RAM
128mb AGP ATI vid
15" LCD panel
PSU: 185 watt Delta Rev 01 model, also used a Delta 250 and an Allied 300, custom modified to fit the power connector.
not sure what else would be useful in here.

CSantoriello

I hope someone provides an answer for you. I have been living through this 'blinking screen' nightmare for years. 3 times I sent the unit (under warranty) back to Gateway for repair. Each time they (against my stated wishes) formatted my hard drive before (obviously) replacing the power supply and returning it. I had backups after the first time - but restoring all our games and software and settings is still a lengthy process. The last time this occurred, the unit was out of warranty. I followed instructions that someone had posted online for obtaining a new (rev 2) power supply and my husband replaced it. The unit worked for about 3 weeks before starting to flash again. It only seems to be happening so far when running software that uses the sub-woofer (such as watching tv on Media Center)

We'll try taking it apart again and not connecting the sub-woofer - but from the sounds of your posting you may have done that and still have problems.

What infuriates me is that Gateway - not once - during my in-warranty years admitted that it was a problem with the power supply. They kept claiming it was the hard drive or other issues.

aftrshock

Hi CSantoriello,

it's true that Gateway's support is absolutely pathetic. Check out the MFP1400 (I think that's it), an LCD gateway sold for 2001. Constant blanks within 2 years on the screen.

Gateway's modus operandi appears to be to build crap hardware to work for a year or two, then fail to a degree that you have to replace the unit.

My 610 had already had a rev 1 powersupply.

I do not believe the problem is a faulty power supply. I have done much hardware work in the ways of LCDs and panels lately and believe the problem to be solely to a weak LCD inverter.

However, due to the nature of the 610, I would not recommend anyone but a professional to tackle this.

The reason is this: I tear down laptops all the time and can rip it apart to mainboard out of the case and the thing in pieces and back together inside of 30 minutes. I had trouble with the 610, and it would require documenting and presumably photos to get the wiring and harnessing and screws back in their correct places. But, if you're feeling brave...

Gateway hasn't said it's the PSU; I have contacted them, Sony, HP and others with issues and been told there are no issues -- even when I'm on the friggin website, looking at the exact issue on the machine.

All of these steps worked for some people, limiting voltage, etc -- if you want to rule out your PSU, get a good UPS system in place -- this will ensure that your voltage is just fine. If there is an issue beyond that, you could get a 300+ watt PSU, and that should take care of any possibility of it being a power issue; it may be a draw issue or resistance in the wiring, bad caps, etc.

I personally think a new inverter board would take care of this issue, however, I no longer have a 610 so that I can find out. :)

Let me know if I can do anything to help.

Regards.

noelaudio

I have a Gateway 610 for quite some time now. A year or two ago I replaced the PSU with one from a mfg in China that was doing the newest revision of that form factor. It solved my blinking screen problem directly...until now :(
Just today it started doing it again. I just moved recently into an older home so I thought it was maybe a supply voltage to the computer and so I put it on a APC UPS, but that didn't make any difference. I've also unplugged the sub (which helped last time) no improvement. So I'm left with either an under powered PSU (I have recently put in two gigs of mem though I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if the current draw across another ram module is enough to drop the total current in the system that much.) or a bad inverter board.
My question is how varied are the types of inverter boards inside these machines and will buying a replacement from an online site be a proper solution, or are all of these inverter boards inherently faulty for this set up?

Note: while writing this email I reminded myself that I didn't have both pieces of memory in the computer until recently as MemTen sent a bad module and I returned it so I've only been operating on 1 gig until today. I put the 2nd module in and then I started having the screen issue.
I just removed the module and it seems the blinking has stopped!

So IS this a power supply issue? Would it be best to go get a larger PSU and run it outboard of the computer. I remember this being a solution when I had this problem the first time around.

Has anyone done this recently, can I merely extend the PSU connections to a new power supply? It has been quite awhile since I've really dabbled in computers so if this is a solution could someone point me towards the proper type of PSU to purchase.

Sorry for the lengthy post as it seems I've found my problem, but I am still curious about the sustainability of replacing the LCD inverter.

Thank you

Noel

aftrshock

Noel,

I believe it is a power issue, but not directly a power supply issue, seeing as how in my case, I hooked up a 450wt known working PSU that should put out way more than enough power, and still had an issue.

I believe the 610's were faulty pieces of garbage, as so many gateway products are.

Also, per my work on laptops, you actually draw less voltage when you have more memory -- reason being, less virtual memory (hdd space) being used, so less power goes to the harddrive for performing normal operations.

I don't recommend anyone without a lot of patience and documentation abilities and hopefully some experience attempt a teardown on these machines; it's a difficult one, filled with lots of wiring harnesses and cabling.

There appears to be no solid rhyme or reason; my unit already had the Rev 1 power supply, and I used multiple different supplies; never made a difference. I believe the inverter or screen was going out, and I'd be more likely to say the inverter. Keep in mind, with the screen on the dimmest setting, I got it to work just fine (for a while), but putting it up in brightness would almost always cause it to fritz.

My diagnosis: shoddy production and inferior support means the root cause of this issue will never be found. Could be wiring, could be damage by early revision PSU's, could be shoddy components elsewhere. If I were to be certain I fixed it, I would swap every part, minus the housing.

Again, multiple 'fixes' have worked for people. The woofer, for some, replacement PSU for some, external PSU for some, swapping out RAM for you... seems too randomized to just be one thing causing this issue.

Regards.

noelaudio

Thanks for the quick response. I really do like this 'gateway' product even though they were just a reseller in America (I first saw them in Kuwait many years ago under a different distributer) But the whole screen issue makes the unit pretty useless.
Cheers and have a great weekend!

aftrshock

Cheers.

At least someone likes gateway. I'm fairly certain they're gone /dissolved now, though I do know there was some form of merger between Gateway & eMachines. eMachines makes about the worst garbage imaginable.

Underclocker

From the first post, it seems those 610XL systems run AGP video cards. Therefore they require a power supply capable of 18A output on the +12V rail to run properly. The blinking LCD issue could be a result of the graphics card not receiving enough power and not outputting video properly. The 185W Delta PSU is definitely not enough for any system made in the last 5 years. You should be looking at the very least at a 300W unit capable of the AGP power requirement.

P.S. Gateway was acquired eMachines in 2004, and was itself eaten up by Acer late last year.

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aftrshock

Went to a 430wt PSU w/ 80% efficiency (2 diff kinds, one standard, one 80% efc.) and no changes; also swapped out AGP cards, to no avail. Also, on my unit, changing the brightness would effect the blips; turning it down resulted in fewer blips and longer sustained picture; turning it up would mean the LCD wouldn't display anything.