Gateway laptop will not power up-Solo 2500

[Eradicator]

I have a gateway solo 2500 (PII 233, yes it is old). The other day I tried to power it up with the battery in, no luck. I then tried plugging the AC power supply in and once again no go.

Prior to this I had not noticed anything odd. I now note that when the AC power supply is plugged in I know longer see anything on the LCD that used to show the battery status. I tried taking the battery out and using the AC power supply but that did not help. I also tried holding the power button down for a long time to attempt to reset it...no luck.

I do note that when the AC power supply is not plugged in the LED light on the AC power supply is a solid green, when I plug it in to the laptop is starts to blink rapidly.

Any ideas? I tried a different battery and AC power supply that I knew worked on the same model laptop and that showed the same problems. Could it be the power supply? If so is that user serviceable? I am very adept at PC building repair but I have no experience at laptops.

Thanks in advance.

[Timelessblur]

As much as I hate to say it but welcome to the world of gateway crapulences. My first laptop was from gateway and about 9months into having it just stop turning on right. plug in the AC thing no likght to show charging tryed a diffent one still no luck after 4 fail tries at getting it repair underwarrenty I end up just getting it upgrauded and pay the diffence in cost. Now that one after 2 years is currently not turning on. when power is plug in the light comes on but I can not turn it on. (it was my excuss for building my computer this summer though so it was not all bad)

Dont bother going to a 3rd party to get if fixed. If you can find a good place to take it to they may be able to tell you whats wrong with it and not charge you for it but getting the parts is another story Gateway will not ship the parts to them to repair it. Plus the parts may be so old that they are no longer even made.

If the computer is an ATX design then it could be the mobo went out. If you had the money I would say upgrade it to something other than gateway.

[SkyDog]

Sounds like the DC/DC board is dead. It can either be a separate board or included on the motherboard depending on the design of the laptop. (The DC/DC board would be sort of like a laptop's version of a power supply. It's the part that takes DC voltage from the battery or "brick" and regulates it to the various voltages needed inside the laptop.)

You might be able to find some cheap parts to cannibalize on eBay, but I wouldn't pour a ton of cash into it.