Miscellaneous laptop discussions forum: Gateway 600ygr Problems

i've had EXACLTY the same problem you are describing about a year ago. i spent a long time on the phone with them. they sent me a different power adapter and that did not help. i sent in the laptop to their service department and the problem was resolved. it is still running great a year later.

My 600YGR was locking up alot and running hot and the fan ran pretty much all the time. Problem gradually became worse. Disassembled unit and found the cpu heat sink was not completely flat against the cpu. Upon further investigation I found that 2 of the pem nuts (4) that hold the heat sink down were no longer attached to the motherboard. They are only held to the MB with solder! I removed the heat sink and removed the MB. Cleaned the heat sink and applied silver heat sink grease. Cleaned the top of the cpu also (denatured alcohol). I removed all four pem nuts and wicked off all the solder. I then used a Dremel tool to very slightly grind down the MB side of each pem nut so I could use screws to hold them down (all four) to the MB securely and also I resoldered all four of the pem nuts. The pem nuts protrude too far past the board so a screw won't hold them securely, thus the slight grinding. Reattached the heatsink and reinstalled everything...much patience required. Unit has now been working flawlessly for over one year now...runs very cool and does not lock up, etc. The cpu was getting too hot during cpu intensive tasks so it would lock up. That's how I did it and you will see what I mean when you get inside. Do not just resolder the nuts...it will happen again because of the spring tension on them (there are springs in the heatsink assembly that pulls the pem nuts loose). Remember to have a large work table so you can put the screws, etc. in the same pattern you removed them....many different sizes and many of them. Pay close attention to cable routing, etc. or you will never get the thing back together or if you do you will end up pinching a wire. Everything has to come apart to effect this repair. It was the motherboard mfr. fault! Can't remember the name but it is one the MB. Good luck and may the force be with you.

There are a ton to list with this issue and M is absolutley correct in stating solder has no "holding" ability in this area. It would be fine except for the fact the heat from the CPU heatsink and related areas heat the joints up and the result is expansion of the solder as it has a lower melting point than the slugs that it holds. Basically it expands and contracts at a much lower temp causing the joints to crack and fail. You can however resolder these But it take a good hot iron to heat the hold downs enough to actually flow the solder correctly. I like hearing these stories as well and hope to be doing this for a lonnnngggg time..

Someone brought me their 600YGR laptop with issues of hang/freezing/reboots. Read your post and was able to get the machine working again by securing the pem nuts (#3 and #4 were detached from Motherboard)and applying some heat sync grease from Radio Shack. Thanks for the help

Kenzbo

Sorry but basic mechanics appear to be in play here. Sadly I see no web pages explaining basic mechanics of how to tighten loose nuts. If some matching screw has gone missing then you find and replace those. If some screw is stripped, snapped then replace those. Again, ALL APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE but it is something you either do or have done.

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-19681_102-0.html?messageID=3196452&tag=forums06;posts#3196452 is however something I would review as well.
Bob

Hi, Anybody can tell me how I can reach the motherboard of this laptop, in order to fix the CPU heat-sink problem as described, for example, by Mr. Beteveson on 1/20/05 in this forum? I have unscrewed all the screws in the back, but still cannot open up the back cover.
I have also taken off the strip above the keyboard, but did not proceed to remove the keyboard, because a pdf file I downloaded on how to remove the keyboard seems to show that this is not the way to reach the heat-sink.

Not too complex is it? If more people would do a simple weekly maintenance on the laptops.. IE: Blowing out the dust vents, as Ive seen Bob Proffitt EXPLAIN a THOUSAND times.. Alot less laptops would have to come our way..(www.ikenfixit.com) Heat will kill any electronic device, and in machine building, (Broach) we actually installed mini-temp controller devices in the electrical panel's where the Programmable logic controllers Or PLC's were mounted.(Miniature computer).. These controlled temperature and humidity ranges and added to the longevity (mis-spelled)? of the units. Just keep the machines clean, Blow them out. Dont try to over-run the capabilities of the device's like gaming with a max integrated video memory of 32 meg's and running a game that requires this just to operate. This will eventually reap havok and be the downfall of the board. Glad to visit this place and see people getting results! Keep em cool and if it aint broke? Dont flash it!