(Nearly) dead Gateway laptop...

I would expect some type ofswitch mode power supply - they're available as a single chip with minimal external components. Much more efficent than the 'room warmers' like the LM317/78xx devices.

Check for questionable electrolytic capacitors - a dead one can kill the switch mode power supply.

SMPS don't like caps with high ESR either - probably easier to replace than to test.

John

Hey, THANKS John. I will definetly check this out. Much appreciated.

Dave

Hey John, took a look at the motherboard again with no (obvious) luck. One question: would the there be a SMPS on the motherboard, in addition to whatever is in the AC adapter? I have the voltage from the AC adapter coming into the board, but it does not appear to be "processed" into anything like a 5V supply for the digital logic to operate with. It seems to simply drop to the 1VDC level I mentioned earlier. I feel like I ought to be able to locate the source of the trouble, but haven't been able to do so.

Thanks,

Dave

Dave Inscribed thus:

There are maybe half a dozen SMPS in a laptop ! You need to trace the

19V to find out where it goes. Not at all easy, even if you have a circuit diagram !

--
Best Regards:
                     Baron.

Wow. Give or take a half dozen potential sources of such trouble. Or other trouble. Okay. And, yeah, to the observation that tracing this path is not easy. Man. sigh Well, thanks for the reality check. :) Much appreciated.

Take it easy...

Dave