First, for a personal computer, is the phrase "power transformer" often used
interchangeably with "power supply"? Below I am assuming yes.

I purchased a Gateway Essential 900c in September, 2001. I get a fair amount of
crashes (freezes; requires shutdown; reboot with scan) with it. A friend told
me Gateways were notorious for having poor power transformers.

In others' experience, would it be worthwhile to replace the power transformer?

What's the identifying information on the transformer (so I know what to ask for
at a shop)?

About how much should the transformer cost?

Where is it located inside the casing? (I'll also start researching this on my
own. I have had the computer apart for cleaning before. I'm pretty handy and
have a decent mechanical and electrical background.)

What's a good place to buy a transformer?

Might E-bay have these transformers?

Thanks in advance.

He is suggesting to replace the power supply. There is no power
transformer as such,in these computers. The power supply comes as a
complete interchangable module. If you are not familiar with this,
take the machine to an authorised computer store for your make of
machine, and let them fix it for you. This way the job will be done
right.

Jerry G.
========


"Caroline" wrote in message hlink.net...
First, for a personal computer, is the phrase "power transformer" often used
interchangeably with "power supply"? Below I am assuming yes.

I purchased a Gateway Essential 900c in September, 2001. I get a fair amount of
crashes (freezes; requires shutdown; reboot with scan) with it. A friend told
me Gateways were notorious for having poor power transformers.

In others' experience, would it be worthwhile to replace the power transformer?

What's the identifying information on the transformer (so I know what to ask for
at a shop)?

About how much should the transformer cost?

Where is it located inside the casing? (I'll also start researching this on my
own. I have had the computer apart for cleaning before. I'm pretty handy and
have a decent mechanical and electrical background.)

What's a good place to buy a transformer?

Might E-bay have these transformers?

Thanks in advance.

Caroline wrote:
First, for a personal computer, is the phrase "power transformer" often used
interchangeably with "power supply"? Below I am assuming yes.

I purchased a Gateway Essential 900c in September, 2001. I get a fair amount of
crashes (freezes; requires shutdown; reboot with scan) with it. A friend told
me Gateways were notorious for having poor power transformers.

In others' experience, would it be worthwhile to replace the power transformer?

What's the identifying information on the transformer (so I know what to ask for
at a shop)?

About how much should the transformer cost?

Where is it located inside the casing? (I'll also start researching this on my
own. I have had the computer apart for cleaning before. I'm pretty handy and
have a decent mechanical and electrical background.)

What's a good place to buy a transformer?

Might E-bay have these transformers?

Thanks in advance.



The problem may not be hardware at all. If you are using Windows 9x or
ME, Microsoft is most likely the problem.

A computer of that age may very well be suffering from the bad electrolytic
cap problem. Go to this thread on that problem.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e... .windows.misc

If the link doesn't work, it's at comp.windows.misc and look for the subject
"computer resetting - may not be windows' fault but please help".

WT


"Bennett Price" wrote in message
m...
Caroline wrote:
First, for a personal computer, is the phrase "power transformer" often
used
interchangeably with "power supply"? Below I am assuming yes.

I purchased a Gateway Essential 900c in September, 2001. I get a fair
amount of
crashes (freezes; requires shutdown; reboot with scan) with it. A
friend told
me Gateways were notorious for having poor power transformers.

In others' experience, would it be worthwhile to replace the power
transformer?

What's the identifying information on the transformer (so I know what to
ask for
at a shop)?

About how much should the transformer cost?

Where is it located inside the casing? (I'll also start researching this
on my
own. I have had the computer apart for cleaning before. I'm pretty handy
and
have a decent mechanical and electrical background.)

What's a good place to buy a transformer?

Might E-bay have these transformers?

Thanks in advance.



The problem may not be hardware at all. If you are using Windows 9x or
ME, Microsoft is most likely the problem.

Thanks, Wayne. I read the thread and went to the www.badcaps.net site that a
poster suggested. Very interesting.

Thanks also, Jerry and Bennett.

Update:

I carefully inspected the capacitors and none are leaking. Nor do they appear to
be bulging. Also, the badcaps.net site suggests that massive motherboard
capacitor problems may have only begun shortly after I purchased my computer in
September, 2001. So I think I have lucked out on this count.

Without too much difficulty I disconnected and removed the 90-Watt power supply
and took its dimensions. After some research and leg work, it turns out the big
trick in replacing it is that it's a "micro" size. CompUSA had a perfect fit 150
Watt version for $70 at its store; online CompUSA had a $33 (taking into account
shipping) 145 Watt version.

Ebay also lists many 145 W and higher Watt versions whose dimensions and screw
holes appear to fit dead-on, too. Lowest price with shipping = $32 at the
moment.

I drove to three independent computer shops and they had nothing that would
physically fit. Also, they were not optimistic I'd find one locally.

Again, I don't know if a new power supply will improve my computer's
performance. Like Bennett said, it could be a software problem. Or it could be
something else. It's not crippling my computer use, but I figure it can't hurt
to replace the power supply. I did clean the power supply fan more thoroughly
than I ever have, so maybe this will help, too.

I will watch Ebay for a week or so then make a decision.

Whatever happens, I have a little more command of how the hardware of my
computer goes together and look forward to maybe putting together my own when
this one dies. So I appreciate everyone's "community service" in offering
assistance here and shall try to return the same "service" to others.

When capacitors are mentioned as leaky, they mean "electricaly leaky",
and not physicaly leaky. You will need the proper test instruments to
really determine if a cap is electricaly leaky or not. On some
occasions, they can leak some electrolyte if they were severly
overheated, but this is not very often.

To properly test caps, an ESR meter, and a true capacitance meter are
required. Or, a proper capacitor analyser can be used. Each one does a
different type of test, to determine if the cap is defective or not.

In the case of a power supply, these are normaly changed as a complete
module. The value of the parts and the time involved to service one,
is not very viable. Also, the manufactures do not support component
level service on power supplies and cards.

You should call the manufacture of your computer for proper and safe
power supply. It not only has to physicaly fit, but you also want it
to be electricly rated, and electricaly safe for your application.

Before changing the supply, you should take the machine to a proper
computer service centre to have it properly evaluated, so you know
that for sure the supply is defective. You may end up spending money
on a new supply, and the machine will still have the same fault!

Jerry G.
http://www.zoom-one.com

--


"Caroline" wrote in message nk.net...
Thanks, Wayne. I read the thread and went to the www.badcaps.net site that a
poster suggested. Very interesting.

Thanks also, Jerry and Bennett.

Update:

I carefully inspected the capacitors and none are leaking. Nor do they appear to
be bulging. Also, the badcaps.net site suggests that massive motherboard
capacitor problems may have only begun shortly after I purchased my computer in
September, 2001. So I think I have lucked out on this count.

Without too much difficulty I disconnected and removed the 90-Watt power supply
and took its dimensions. After some research and leg work, it turns out the big
trick in replacing it is that it's a "micro" size. CompUSA had a perfect fit 150
Watt version for $70 at its store; online CompUSA had a $33 (taking into account
shipping) 145 Watt version.

Ebay also lists many 145 W and higher Watt versions whose dimensions and screw
holes appear to fit dead-on, too. Lowest price with shipping = $32 at the
moment.

I drove to three independent computer shops and they had nothing that would
physically fit. Also, they were not optimistic I'd find one locally.

Again, I don't know if a new power supply will improve my computer's
performance. Like Bennett said, it could be a software problem. Or it could be
something else. It's not crippling my computer use, but I figure it can't hurt
to replace the power supply. I did clean the power supply fan more thoroughly
than I ever have, so maybe this will help, too.

I will watch Ebay for a week or so then make a decision.

Whatever happens, I have a little more command of how the hardware of my
computer goes together and look forward to maybe putting together my own when
this one dies. So I appreciate everyone's "community service" in offering
assistance here and shall try to return the same "service" to others.

In this particular instance, leaking meant leaving a brown trail on my
motherboard! I had 2 leaking and running down the board, 12 more that had
bulged tops, of which most of those had started to puke a bit of electrolyte
out the top, and one still good. However, I replaced it also. :-)
Computer works just fine now.

WT

"Jerry Greenberg" wrote in message
om...
When capacitors are mentioned as leaky, they mean "electricaly leaky",
and not physicaly leaky. You will need the proper test instruments to
really determine if a cap is electricaly leaky or not. On some
occasions, they can leak some electrolyte if they were severly
overheated, but this is not very often.

To properly test caps, an ESR meter, and a true capacitance meter are
required. Or, a proper capacitor analyser can be used. Each one does a
different type of test, to determine if the cap is defective or not.

In the case of a power supply, these are normaly changed as a complete
module. The value of the parts and the time involved to service one,
is not very viable. Also, the manufactures do not support component
level service on power supplies and cards.

You should call the manufacture of your computer for proper and safe
power supply. It not only has to physicaly fit, but you also want it
to be electricly rated, and electricaly safe for your application.

Before changing the supply, you should take the machine to a proper
computer service centre to have it properly evaluated, so you know
that for sure the supply is defective. You may end up spending money
on a new supply, and the machine will still have the same fault!

Jerry G.
http://www.zoom-one.com

--


"Caroline" wrote in message
nk.net...
Thanks, Wayne. I read the thread and went to the www.badcaps.net site
that a
poster suggested. Very interesting.

Thanks also, Jerry and Bennett.

Update:

I carefully inspected the capacitors and none are leaking. Nor do they
appear to
be bulging. Also, the badcaps.net site suggests that massive motherboard
capacitor problems may have only begun shortly after I purchased my
computer in
September, 2001. So I think I have lucked out on this count.

Without too much difficulty I disconnected and removed the 90-Watt power
supply
and took its dimensions. After some research and leg work, it turns out
the big
trick in replacing it is that it's a "micro" size. CompUSA had a perfect
fit 150
Watt version for $70 at its store; online CompUSA had a $33 (taking into
account
shipping) 145 Watt version.

Ebay also lists many 145 W and higher Watt versions whose dimensions and
screw
holes appear to fit dead-on, too. Lowest price with shipping = $32 at
the
moment.

I drove to three independent computer shops and they had nothing that
would
physically fit. Also, they were not optimistic I'd find one locally.

Again, I don't know if a new power supply will improve my computer's
performance. Like Bennett said, it could be a software problem. Or it
could be
something else. It's not crippling my computer use, but I figure it
can't hurt
to replace the power supply. I did clean the power supply fan more
thoroughly
than I ever have, so maybe this will help, too.

I will watch Ebay for a week or so then make a decision.

Whatever happens, I have a little more command of how the hardware of my
computer goes together and look forward to maybe putting together my own
when
this one dies. So I appreciate everyone's "community service" in
offering
assistance here and shall try to return the same "service" to others.

Jerry Greenberg wrote:


You should call the manufacture of your computer for proper and safe
power supply. It not only has to physicaly fit, but you also want it
to be electricly rated, and electricaly safe for your application.

Before changing the supply, you should take the machine to a proper
computer service centre to have it properly evaluated, so you know
that for sure the supply is defective. You may end up spending money
on a new supply, and the machine will still have the same fault!

Jerry G.
http://www.zoom-one.com

Just curious. Do the Gateway rigs use something other than the typical
PC power supply or is this some laptop version? Easy enough to just
borrow one for a try-and-see test.

It really doesn't make much sense to repair at a component level
motherboards and PC power supplies unless one is simply doing it as a
hobby. There's SOOO many things that could cause the OPs scenario and
my first suspicion would be software problems. An old version of
Netscape (for example) will often misbehave as described. My rig
crashed daily when I was using Netscape 4.7.

They (computers) can be fun to play with. If the goal is to save money
on repairs its not gonna likely happen with a few simple discrete
component replacements.

But hey, go for it. Its a learning experience and if I hadn't been thru
this scenario several times then I couldn't give advice. While you're
learning, keep your eye open for a good deal on another rig.

-Bill

On 30 Apr 2004 15:57:45 -0700, (Jerry Greenberg)
wrote:

When capacitors are mentioned as leaky, they mean "electricaly leaky",
and not physicaly leaky. You will need the proper test instruments to
really determine if a cap is electricaly leaky or not. On some
occasions, they can leak some electrolyte if they were severly
overheated, but this is not very often.


Actually the hoopla over the MB caps was that the caps would
physically leak their electrolyte all over the MB. The impact was
two-fold in that the caps lost their capacitance and the goo would eat
into the traces. I've tossed over a dozen MBs at work so far.

For the original poster, start by checking that all of the fans are
still working. In particular the CPU fan. It's more likely that
you've got a bad fan than a bad power supply. Also beware that the
off-brand $32 power supplies are not exactly high quality. Your
original, even after so many years, is probably a better unit.

You're frequent crashes are probably software related. Given the
vintage, you probably have Win95 or Win98. Both were very buggy and
over time eventually become unstable. Of all the Win9x machines at
work, I've yet to have one make it more than 3 years without reaching
the point where it needed nuked and reinstalled. Of course, now they
get Windows 2000 installed...

-Chris

On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:18:53 GMT, "Caroline"
wrote:

First, for a personal computer, is the phrase "power transformer" often used
interchangeably with "power supply"? Below I am assuming yes.

I purchased a Gateway Essential 900c in September, 2001. I get a fair amount of
crashes (freezes; requires shutdown; reboot with scan) with it. A friend told
me Gateways were notorious for having poor power transformers.

Sounds like a typical spyware/virus infestation. Suggest running Spybot Search
and Destroy as well as AVG Antivirus, both available as freeware from their
respective sites.

http://www.safer-networking.org/
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

Alan Harriman