I have an off the shelf Gateway that recently stopped responding. Powers up, HD and Optical Drives spin up but nothing else. As a self admitted newbie I want to troubleshoot and to repair myself but other than checking connections and looking for possible visible signs of a short or burn, I'm not sure where to start.

Gateway GT5252
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor 4600
320 GB 7200 RPM SATA II Hard Drive
FIC K2BC51 Motherboard with NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Chipset

Any advice would be appreciated
Mac

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So the machine starts up but you have no video output? no beeps or anything, I'm assuming...

Perhaps you should try reseating the memory to try fixing the video output. Otherwise, try to find a video card, as I'm guessing you're still using the integrated video that came with the motherboard.

I have the same machine with the same problem... i have been scratching my head for about a month now. The problem started when it wouldn't come out of standby mode. I would have to restart it a few times before it would actually complete POST but, When it did start i would get a reset cmos error. I would get past that and everything would work fine until it went into standby or turned off. Well it stayed on for as long as fate would let me and Now it wont start at all, as the original poster described everything powers up but it is just a black screen. I thought it was a failing power supply but hooked up a new one with the same results.

update: just bought a graphics card.......didnt help the cause.
guess i will be buying a motherboard next...:(

OK! so a few people have had this problem with this exact PC (gt 5252). Its the motherboard, I replaced mine and everything is running fine; typing this message from it actually. The only problem i ran into was my motherboard did not fit. I was told that the original mobo that came in it was a micro atx style mobo, so i bought a micro atx style mobo from bio star (GREAT! motherboard). So this was most likely my mistake and being new to building and replacing large components such as the mobo. I don't recommend doing what i did.i totally went monster garage on this case, looks great just like it did from the store on the outside just heavily modified the frame so the mobo would fit correctly ....Does anyone know what style of motherboard it is that comes with the Gateway Gt5252 ??

-remove cmos leave out for 10-15 minutes replace...same results?
-remove all ram turn on...does your pc scream for attention??post results before buying new mobo

i bet 5 dollars its mobo........

I dont hav time to google around and track down if this is a gt5252 known prob. doing what ill do before running to conclusion. but hey you were a victim so....but lets see first. I can do with 5 dollars I starving for a snack

Glad to see someone has gotten to the bottom of this, I thought it might be the mobo, just no time and even less money to experiment. After a little research the GT5252 shipped with a FIC K2BC51 LF mobo. I have contact the manufacturer for retailers who might carry a replacement. More to follow...

I had the exact same occurrence with my GT5252, complete with video death and powering up with only continuous running without doing anything upon reboot. The sequence would lead me to believe that the answer would have to be the motherboard. The problem is, the board is apparently a microBTX, not microATX, factor...and there don't seem to be any available from any of the 10 or 11 sources I checked with, except for one with a "new pull" with a 30 day warranty for $279. Don't think so. I had understood that the components were just rearranged on the BTX vs. the ATX, but that is clearly not the whole story, as the microATX boards do not seem to fit. It would appear the solution will involve those internal modifications to get a microATX board in there. What is actually required?

By the way, Gateway support was a real pain. There chat system was unstable and after multiple attempts and broken conversations that they recorded as me ending the chat (while the clock on the chat page just kept ticking on my (laptop) screen), I gave up on them.

I had an old hp micro atx style case laying around so i decided to make one case out of my hp and gt5252 cases. OK what i did to my gateway case to make the micro atx board fit......
1. the panel that the mobo is fastened to is on the wrong side for a mirco atx causing the i/o on the back to not line up. So i drilled out the rivets that held the panel on to remove it and throw it away. Did the same for the hp but i used this panel.

2. had to cut out most of the back i/o panel on the gateway case.

3. so i used the motherboard panel and the back i/o side of the hp case and riveted it into my gateway case but on the opposite side of the original panel.

it was a good little bit of work... took me about an hour, but had all the tools needed so gave it a shot (drill, sheet metal shears, rivets and rivet gun)

turned out good..cant even tell from the outside except on the back .i could post some pictures

i probably wouldnt do this again, i would just buy a new case

ok here are some images of my pc after i did the mods to the case. wish i had some before pictures so i could point out what i did easier but, if you have this pc you should notice what was done. circled in red are the pieces i used from my old hp case... Oh, and one more thing, i had to mod the hd bracket a little. Since the orig panel was on the wrong side, i had to bend down the slides (it would have to slide the wrong way to remove it since i swapped sides) and drill another hole and screw it down to hold it in place

The Back (I/O Panel)
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e295/Christian-Ross/IMG_0205.jpg
The Micro Atx Mobo Panel Inside The Gateway Case
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e295/Christian-Ross/IMG_0204.jpg
View of Mobo
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e295/Christian-Ross/IMG_0203.jpg
I/O Panel
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e295/Christian-Ross/IMG_0208.jpg
Fianlly Put Back Together! woot:icon_smile:
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e295/Christian-Ross/IMG_0210.jpg

I'm working on a customer's Gateway GT5228 with a K2BC51 LF mobo. The mobo seems to be the problem. It's a uBTX, extremely rare piece of engineering. And this Gateway Case will only accept this architecture mobo; standard ATX will not fit without heavy mods. I bench tested an ATX board using the original AMD 64 socket AM2 type CPU and the unit started booting. OF course I stopped it before XP tried to load. And that will be another issue for another thread.

I've searched for two days to find a replacement mobo; what a shocker - no AM2 types, plenty of Intels on eBay though. Whose idea was this BTX? If this were my computer, well, I wouldn't have paid for it.

This unit had a severely clogged up exhaust fan (only one case fan inside, dumb) so I'm assuming it overheated or something. The fan comes on and that is all that this board does. Looks like I'll have to replace the mobo and the case.

When troubleshooting mobos, I've noticed that dead boards always produce a slight clicking sound when powering up/down. Listen carefully, put your ear to board and apply power, then power down, did you hear a click or two? The mobo is most likely broke and needs repair or replace.

Gateway is terrible with customer service. So is Toshiba. For that reason I would recommend never using their products.

Hi, Im repairing a customers computer and thats the same problem with her computer. You have to replace the motherboard.

It seems like the video chip on the BTX Mother Boards do not last for any length of time. They had the same problem with the GT 4000 series computors too. I think that they have discontinue using the BTX mother boards.

OK, I've got the gateway computer GT5235e with the micro-BTX mobo # K2BC51 LF, it does not turn on. When I took the mobo out and looked at the CAPs, the one on the board's edge, by the memory stick sockets, beside the CPU FAN header was "blown"... ie the top of the CAP was "popped" up (not flat). I will be removing the 1000uf 6.3 volt cap and replacing it with a 1000uf 6.3 volt cap from a different mobo, and see if this clears up the issue for me.

I also forgot to mention that the customer removed the video cable from the back of the case, by yanking on the cord and pulling the VGA connector off the mobo... one more thing to fix. I know I can purchase a replacement micro BTX mobo (same model #) for about $160 from ebay, BUT since this is now my machine, I just want to have fun... will add to this article when I get more info for you-all.

OK the blown capacitor, was replaced with the same part, and it didn't fix the board, so I'm tossing the mobo and case, keeping the Hard Drive 200GB, the DVD burner, the 9 in 1 card reader, the front USB/audio/firewire ports, the power supply, and the dual core CPU... I figure I money ahead...

Oh I almost forgot I'm keeping the memory and the power switch/LED "thingy".

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