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Gateway 4dx2-66 desktop

I

irishmike

Experienced Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2006
Messages
331
Location
Overland Park, KS USA
I just acquired a GW2K 4DX2-66 Desktop yesterday. I know it needs a new Dallas RTC chip which it appears that the number in this machine is actually still made. Just FYI, a company called Matrix now owns Dallas Semiconductor and they still make a few of the old RTC chips.

I know there is a mod out there, but I really don't want to take all that trouble when the replacement (not old/new stock, but made this year) is only $17 through my local Batteries Plus store.

The real question I have is there a manual for the machine out there someplace? I specifically need to find out what is the jumper (and where it physically is) to disable the onboard video so I can put in a little better video card.

Thanks for any leads and would love the manual if someone has one and would make a PDF.

All help is appreciated!

Mike
 
irishmike said:
I just acquired a GW2K 4DX2-66 Desktop yesterday. I know it needs a new Dallas RTC chip which it appears that the number in this machine is actually still made. Just FYI, a company called Matrix now owns Dallas Semiconductor and they still make a few of the old RTC chips.
Click to expand...

Um, Mike, it's "Maxim" and they've owned Dallas for about a decade..

Maxim no longer makes the DS1287, which I suspect your system uses. They do offer the DS12887, which will probably work (although there is an outside chance that it won't).

The Gateway 2000 486DX2-66 was fairly common, so it's a pretty good bet there's a manual out there somewhere.
 
DOS lives on!! said:
Jameco Electronics offers the DS1287 for around 7 dollars.

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/st...&pa=76646&productId=76646&keyCode=WSF&CID=GMC
Click to expand...

This has been discussed many times on this forum. AFAIK, all of the DS1287 chips for sale are NOS. For most chips, this wouldn't be a problem, but the DS1287 with its internal battery has a shelf life.

So, before you decide to purchase a DS1287 from anyone, including the good folks at Jameco, inquire as to the date code on the chip and then make your decision based on the datasheet estimate of a 10 year working life.
 
Chuck(G) said:
So, before you decide to purchase a DS1287 from anyone, including the good folks at Jameco, inquire as to the date code on the chip and then make your decision based on the datasheet estimate of a 10 year working life.
Click to expand...
I just bought mine so I could perform the rework on them and replace the dead batteries in my older PCs.
 
This is my machine. It simply says that it is a 4DX2-66 and has a manufacture date of 1996. I have included an image here for two reasons: 1) so we can determine whether it might have the 12887, I have not yet looked at the physical chip and I am also still trying to find out where the jumper physically is to disable the onboard video too so I can install one of my other vid cards. I do know that my motherboard has 3 PCI slots on it as well as I think 4 16 bit ISA.

Reason 2) I need to find a bay cover for the 3.5 slot that currently has the floppy, I am replacing it with an FD-505 dual floppy which will live in the first 5.25 bay. So I am hoping someone has the right cover as IIRC, gateway used this case a lot.

20110629203041.jpg


Hope someone can help, I can pay postage for the cover or something.

Thanks all for all the help.

And still looking for manual if possible.

Mike
 
Last edited:
Hmmmm...., apparently there's more versions of the 4DX2-66 line than I thought. My 4DX2-66E is a tower. I also have one that looks exactly like the pictured one, only it is a P5-100. It has a button battery.
 
I've never seen one of those things with onboard video... The ones I remember seeing all had PCI video cards.

But, Gateway used this case on a LOT of different machines.

What does the motherboard look like? Post a picture of the insides.

-Ian
 
I have a Gateway Gateway 2000 433/SX that I had trouble finding info on the motherboard. The only markings it had was the number 612194-004. Turns out it was an Intel Classic R board.

Maybe this guide will help in identifying your board.

http://pcnineoneone.com/howto/moboid1/

If you can list any markings on the board here, we could help finding what you need. Good pictures of the board would help also.
 
My wife had a similar one, I had the tower.

A picture of the back and the mainboard would help.

Good luck !

One did recently sell at a ????price - always difficult to describe a price.

Do a search on this site.

But if both parties are happy - life is good !

Frank
 
Chuckster_in_Jax said:
I have a Gateway Gateway 2000 433/SX that I had trouble finding info on the motherboard. The only markings it had was the number 612194-004. Turns out it was an Intel Classic R board.

Maybe this guide will help in identifying your board.

http://pcnineoneone.com/howto/moboid1/

If you can list any markings on the board here, we could help finding what you need. Good pictures of the board would help also.
Click to expand...

Was your CPU on a removable board? I have a SX chip on a board that came from a Gateway and was wondering what model it came out of.
 
Generally if you install a PCI video card it should disable the onboard video.

Now I never seen a Gateway 486/66 that was not ISA/VLB, I think maybe you have a different motherboard installed?
 
I will try to get a picture in the next week of the insides and back. What I can tell everyone is that on the board video is an SIS chipset and that the DS RTC chip is located in the front right corner of the motherboard. I just neglected to see what number is on the top when I opened her up the other day ;-) It is a very new looking chip so perhaps someone changed it out with the newer chip? I can tell you that the reason I suspect the battery is that when she boots she seems to retain all the BIOS settings, however I get a message about "invalid configuration...please run configuration program" during the boot and it waits for you to hit F2 to get into the BIOS setup. It will eventually go on. I went into the BIOS setup and entered YES to reset the configuration data and rebooted, but the message remains, ergo, I suspect the DS RTC battery to be dying...but I suppose it could be fine and just not "fully compatible" with the system.
 
irishmike said:
I can tell you that the reason I suspect the battery is that when she boots she seems to retain all the BIOS settings, however I get a message about "invalid configuration...please run configuration program" during the boot and it waits for you to hit F2 to get into the BIOS setup. It will eventually go on. I went into the BIOS setup and entered YES to reset the configuration data and rebooted, but the message remains, ergo, I suspect the DS RTC battery to be dying...but I suppose it could be fine and just not "fully compatible" with the system.
Click to expand...
My Compaq Portable III has that same problem. The Dallas battery was just replaced with a new one. I just live with the error message as it still boots up properly.
 
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