Help with Gateway Solo P3C

[BethHarper]

I feel pretty silly posting this message, as I've been a firmware engineer since 1984! I have plenty of experience going inside a desktop PC. My laptop experience is quite limited though.

I've got an old laptop, a Gateway Solo P3C, 133 MHZ, that I am putting into a condition that it can be used to get online, very basically. It would be nice to put in a NIC card to allow for high speed Internet, but that's in a day or two. The hard drive is incredibly small, and FULL, so I'll get it a new hard drive and do the BIOS upgrade.

It was purchased used. I do not know the details. It was obviously used to get online in a work environment. It is in very good condition for its age.

It has a modem card installed, connected to COM3. I've looked and looked at the case, and opened everything I can find to open, looking for an RJ-11 connector. I cannot find it! Can someone tell me how to hook the phone cable to this PC even to test it?

Thanks,
Beth Harper

[bobchang]

The Gateway P3C is an old one - so I'm speaking from memory since I have not come into contact with one of these in years. As I remembered it, this system does not have a built-in modem, so when you say it has a modem card installed, I'm assuming that you're talking about a PCMCIA modem, which is probably missing a dongle (the dongle is the part that contains a phone jack connector on one end, with the other end having a flat connector that plugs into the opening on the pcmcia card) and hence, no phone jack :o

A pcmcia modem without a dongle - and lots and lots of people will lose their "dongles" over time - is functionally useless. Although there are many sources for replacement dongles (look on eBay), it is probably just as cheap to buy a new pcmcia modem to replace your dongleless one. If you're looking to network the machine, you might even look at a combo pcmcia 56k/ethernet card - they'll come with two dongles: one for the phone line, the other for your ethernet cable. There are also pcmcia 56k/ethernet cards that have built-in phone jacks and ethernet connectors, albeit they're buikier because of the built-in connectors...

[BethHarper]

Thank you.

It's up and running, just as the person who wanted it to work had in mind. Sure, it's quite old. It's serving this person's needs, after some basic "system administration" housekeeping tasks. Why spend $1500 for something you can spend $90 for?

I eventually got a technician who owns and operates the used hardware "junk store" locally to figure out what was what with it. It took him about 2 minutes. The dongle is pretty flimsy, and the person who has the Solo has bought a "like new" modem for it on E-bay, but this one is working okay for now.

Beth

[moral]

i forget my password,how i can remove the password to get in the laptop. gateway solo 2000 p3c

[Catweazle]

moral, please start a new topic for separate questions.

[moral]

how i can remove the password to get in the laptop. gateway solo 2000 p3c
i don't remember my password

[capt2duck]

Beth
The RJ11 connector should be right on the edge of the PCMCIA modem card. Usually you have to push it IN slightly for it to release and pop out. Connectors like this are very fragile. I've seen many PCMCIA card modems tossed out because the user inadvertently broke the RJ11 connector.

Cheers
George

PS I'm looking for an operating manual for that machine. Have you seen a pdf version of one?

I feel pretty silly posting this message, as I've been a firmware engineer since 1984! I have plenty of experience going inside a desktop PC. My laptop experience is quite limited though.

I've got an old laptop, a Gateway Solo P3C, 133 MHZ, that I am putting into a condition that it can be used to get online, very basically. It would be nice to put in a NIC card to allow for high speed Internet, but that's in a day or two. The hard drive is incredibly small, and FULL, so I'll get it a new hard drive and do the BIOS upgrade.

It was purchased used. I do not know the details. It was obviously used to get online in a work environment. It is in very good condition for its age.

It has a modem card installed, connected to COM3. I've looked and looked at the case, and opened everything I can find to open, looking for an RJ-11 connector. I cannot find it! Can someone tell me how to hook the phone cable to this PC even to test it?

Thanks,
Beth Harper

[alc6379]

how i can remove the password to get in the laptop. gateway solo 2000 p3c
i don't remember my password

moral, start a new thread for this topic. Piggybacking on someone else's thread diverts attention from the original poster's topic, and it keeps your question from getting the attention it deserves.

[caperjack]

how i can remove the password to get in the laptop. gateway solo 2000 p3c
i don't remember my password

Look up above where you come into this thread ,click where it says new thread ,and tell us what password you forgot,bios/or windows

[LOTTTO3856]

Beth
The RJ11 connector should be right on the edge of the PCMCIA modem card. Usually you have to push it IN slightly for it to release and pop out. Connectors like this are very fragile. I've seen many PCMCIA card modems tossed out because the user inadvertently broke the RJ11 connector.

Cheers
George

PS I'm looking for an operating manual for that machine. Have you seen a pdf version of one?

DID YOU EVER FIND A USERS MANUAL?

[capt2duck]

DID YOU EVER FIND A USERS MANUAL?

No I did not find a user manual.

My Gateway Solo P3C is available to anyone on this board for parts.
email me at [e-mail].

Thanks
George

[tregear]

DID YOU EVER FIND A USERS MANUAL?

I have a pdf version I can email you. I found it on the Gateway website. You can email me at [e-mail].

Toni

[capt2duck]

I have decided to part out my Solo P3c. I still have
(2) hard drives 2.1GB and 1.2GB
keyboard, battery, charger
CD drive, floppy drive and (2) 16MB memory sticks
modem

George
[e-mail]

MANUAL

I have a pdf version I can email you. I found it on the Gateway website. You can email me at [e-mail].

Toni