I just got the two gateway handbooks today with floppy drives & cables, AC power supplies and nice carrying cases.
The first is a 486DX2-40 with a bad screen. It seems to boot but hard to read the screen. I opened it up to find that the hard drive had been removed. But they neatly left the screws taped in the space along with the drive shield and the mounting rails. I'm thinking that either when the screen went bad, they opened it to get the hard drive, or they damaged the screen when they opened it. I have another handbook that doesn't boot, so I may try swapping the screen. Not sure how difficult that would be and of course I don't know if the screen I have even works.
The second is a 486SX-25. It boots up, but the hard drive is flaky and gives read errors. I opened it up and put in a 1 gb compact flash which I formatted to 500 mb. I put Dos 6.2 on it and it boots really fast. I double if I'll even play with windows since I am an old MS DOS fanatic.
Since I now had a working AC Adapter, I re-tested my other handbooks and one powered up fine. It's a 486DX2-50, but also has a very flaky hard drive. I opened it up and put a compact flash in it also.
So I now have two working Handbooks. The keyboards test out fine - all keys work.
Next chore is to rebuild some battery packs. I'm thinking of using one of those small lithium lipstick size USB batteries. I found one that has 5200 mAh that might fit - I'd have to chop up the battery case and reglue something back together that would still slide on the handbook. It would be nice to be able to recharge from a usb charge in lieu of the large brick.
Do you think a supply of 5V at 500 mAh would power the handbook. I'll have to rig up a test to see.
One thing that threw me somewhat was the way the handbook powers on from a dead condition. I press the power button and for several seconds it looks like nothing happens, then the screen flickers on and the AC light lights up, then everything goes dead for anther second or two, then the screen comes back on and the unit boots up. Both of my units exhibit this.
Another future thing to do is to replace the button rechargeable cell. I'll have to order a few of them. Does anyone know of a source for them?
Look forward to hearing from other Handbook users and their experiences.
Bill
Smithville, NJ
The first is a 486DX2-40 with a bad screen. It seems to boot but hard to read the screen. I opened it up to find that the hard drive had been removed. But they neatly left the screws taped in the space along with the drive shield and the mounting rails. I'm thinking that either when the screen went bad, they opened it to get the hard drive, or they damaged the screen when they opened it. I have another handbook that doesn't boot, so I may try swapping the screen. Not sure how difficult that would be and of course I don't know if the screen I have even works.
The second is a 486SX-25. It boots up, but the hard drive is flaky and gives read errors. I opened it up and put in a 1 gb compact flash which I formatted to 500 mb. I put Dos 6.2 on it and it boots really fast. I double if I'll even play with windows since I am an old MS DOS fanatic.
Since I now had a working AC Adapter, I re-tested my other handbooks and one powered up fine. It's a 486DX2-50, but also has a very flaky hard drive. I opened it up and put a compact flash in it also.
So I now have two working Handbooks. The keyboards test out fine - all keys work.
Next chore is to rebuild some battery packs. I'm thinking of using one of those small lithium lipstick size USB batteries. I found one that has 5200 mAh that might fit - I'd have to chop up the battery case and reglue something back together that would still slide on the handbook. It would be nice to be able to recharge from a usb charge in lieu of the large brick.
Do you think a supply of 5V at 500 mAh would power the handbook. I'll have to rig up a test to see.
One thing that threw me somewhat was the way the handbook powers on from a dead condition. I press the power button and for several seconds it looks like nothing happens, then the screen flickers on and the AC light lights up, then everything goes dead for anther second or two, then the screen comes back on and the unit boots up. Both of my units exhibit this.
Another future thing to do is to replace the button rechargeable cell. I'll have to order a few of them. Does anyone know of a source for them?
Look forward to hearing from other Handbook users and their experiences.
Bill
Smithville, NJ