Member Avatar for caustin

I have a Gateway MT3422 that will not power up properly - dead LCD screen, dvd spins, CPU cooling fan runs, indicator lights blink but no display or bios, etc. Tried external VGA display - same result. Took unit apart and redid CPU heat sink connection using artic silver grease, etc. Still nothing - cannot find service manual or schematics anywhere. I have sen many forum entries with the same symptoms but no solutions - any ideas or help?
Thanks
JC

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Quick expert note for this thread (adds to 's original report and the replies from and ).

The combination of spinning drives/fan and blinking LEDs with no internal or external video means the board gets power but never reaches POST. After trying RAM swaps (as suggested by ) the next practical steps that aren't already mentioned are a focused, ordered diagnostic sequence and a few safe visual/electrical checks.

Minimal-boot sequence (ordered): remove battery, disconnect HDD and optical, remove wireless card and other peripherals, leave AC connected; try one known-good DIMM in one slot at a time; note whether removing all RAM produces POST beeps (requires an internal speaker). Reset CMOS by removing the coin cell for a few minutes. Reseat display ribbon cables and the external VGA connector. If any step produces beeps or video, reconnect devices one at a time to find the culprit. If the HDD needs data recovery, the drive can be removed and read in a USB enclosure.

Board-level inspection and basic measurements: inspect the PCB closely for bulging/leaking capacitors, scorched components, lifted traces or cracked solder joints around the DC jack and power circuits. With a multimeter (only if comfortable and experienced), verify the standby rail (3.3VSB) and main rails at accessible fuses/test points when the power button is pressed; a missing or shorted rail points to power-IC/fuse issues rather than simple BIOS/ RAM faults. Note that the recent heatsink rework and thermal compound application should be checked visually — confirm no compound bridged nearby pins and that the cooler mounting did not stress the board.

Outcome guidance: if minimal troubleshooting and rail checks fail, the fault has likely progressed to a board‑level logic or power problem and requires bench diagnostics or a replacement donor board. Given the machine's age, recovering the HDD first and then weighing the cost of professional board repair versus a used donor board is usually the most pragmatic route.

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Member Avatar for jmaat7

just a guess, but try switching the ram out. If their's something wrong with it it won't display but will power up.

Member Avatar for caustin

Hi, Thanks for the help - I will try that this morning and let you know. Good idea - keep forgetting that some computers do not have dedicated graphics memory.

Member Avatar for kelbelo_XY

This (and related models) as well as many other laptops of the same era used a AMD CPU and NVIDIA GPU attached to the motherboard via BGA (Ball Grid Array) interface. BGA uses tiny balls of solder that are melted to form the circuit connections between "lands" (circuit connection points) that correspond between the GPU chip and motherboard. Because the AMD GPU setup was rather a budget chipset, the cooling solutions for these were usually not very robust and led to overheating under heavy use or with restricted airflow (such as lying on a bed, couch, etc), which could cause the BGA solder points to liquify (at relatively low temperature) and lose connections. It seems many/most of these laptops eventually died this way. Symptoms are laptops that seems to power on, LEDs light up, but never any video and never completes POST.

It is sometimes possible to (temporarily) fix this problem with process called a "BGA Reflow" which heats the GPU to a point where all the solder melts and reseats the chip and fixes the BGA connections, or have it professionally "BGA Reball" (expensive!) which completely removes the chip (often replacing it) and creates new soldered BGA connections. Or buy a new motherboard.

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

Do you really think this 9-year-old post warrants further input?

commented: Some think it does. I disagree with cause here. My findings were the lack fo Pb in the solder. +15
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