Gateway Solo 1150

KnightRid · Post by **KnightRid** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:32 pm

Ok, a woman at my wifes work is going to give me this laptop for reinstalling windows and setting up a wireless network for her - yes i got ripped off, but thats another story, and it gets worse.

Now this laptop does not have a dvd drive, the touchpad is broken, and the battery is of course dead.

First - can this notebook support a dvd drive? I do not know which speed 1150 it is, but I think they are either 500mhz, 550 or 650. I will have the laptop this weekend to see first hand what she was talking about with the touchpad, and such.

second - does anyone know a place OTHER than ebay to get CHEAP parts for something this old? I do not know if I jsut ned the actuall touchpad screen/bezel or if I need the board also.

I would like to put linux on this and use it to watch dvds and to just surf the web and such out on my front porch, so it shoudl not be too taxing. I am jsut concerned about the dvd playback. I had a PIII 450 that played dvds perfectly, but that was a desktop.

OH and what dvd drive can I get for this. I have not found any place that actually says they have a drive that would fit. Even gateway only lists the 24X cd drive

I would hate to have to convert to divx or xvid to watch them.

Thanx
Mike

OH and I take it any pcmcia wireless card would work with this, right?

Hmmm I wonder if I could use my external case with a regular ide cdrom in it and hook it through USB and have playback...hmmm...

Post by **Apoptosis** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:45 pm

pretty expensive part list:

http://www.mundocorp.com/1150.html

KnightRid · Post by **KnightRid** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 6:50 am

Yea I found that. I was just hoping someone would have another site that would be cheap without having to go through ebay. It is always like playing cards on ebay, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose ;)

I can get the touchpad electronics for around $18
lower bezel with the touchpad screen for $17
and a new battery for $36

all from ebay of course

Once i have it in hand I might see waht is stamped on the MB to see if I can get a faster cpu also. Or maybe another MB and cpu would fit? screen is only 12.1", so I still dont count it as having a laptop

Mike

The Black Pumpkin · Post by **The Black Pumpkin** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 9:24 am

Finally, someone I can give advice too!

I got a Compaq Armada 1700 from a friend for $20 bucks. Screen was broken, power cord and fan were missing, and a new motherboard was needed, as a capacitor had been broken off. It runs fine now, with a PII 266 and 288 mb of ram and 4.3 gig hard drive. It can't play movies either. And after buying this and that from ebay, it cost me $200 in all. For another $40, I could get it up to 700 mhz or a little more, then it could play movies.

Was it worth it? Most likely not. It was a fun experience, but I now have an expensive fossil.

The point is, be sure it can do what you want without having to upgrade it. If you can fix the little things and it works fine for what you need, then go for it. Otherwise...meh...

KnightRid · Post by **KnightRid** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:01 pm

VERY good advice!!! I am thinking of MAYBE only doing the battery for now since i can always hook up an external mouse rather than use the touchpad. I just need to find out if there is enough speed to use it for movies. Would be awesome when I am laid up in bed to be able to use it for the internet and movies!!!! ( disabled - multiple ruptured discs in neck..blah blah ). Would also be neat to take to Kansas City the end of September for the race

Just hope the plane ride doesnt mess with my neck

I will have it in a few hours, so then i can play tonight or tomorrow morning and see what the beast can do

Mike

The Black Pumpkin · Post by **The Black Pumpkin** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:26 pm

As long as it's got at least 400 mhz, it should be fine. My old PII 400 did passably on movies.

At least I can play SNES games on my fossil.

edit: Btw, XP should run on it if you want, it runs on mine.

Sort of.

KnightRid · Post by **KnightRid** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 6:21 am

Well to show you how people ALWAYS screw me over - cept infinite with this AESOME case sitting here which I STILL dont have a P/S for

- the laptop wont even get power to it.

Had it running for maybe 2 minutes, it shut off and that was that. If I click the power button the green lights flash like it wants to come on, but then nothing. The red/amber/orange light for the power doesnt even come on anymore.

Any ideas on this one?

Mike

It is a 550mhz cpu in it, so dvds should be ok if I can find a dvd player to fit inside or use my external, but i need power first

The Black Pumpkin · Post by **The Black Pumpkin** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 7:20 am

Mine's done that blinky light thing twice, dunno if it's the same problem though. The batteries were completely drained, I plugged it in, but it wouldn't start. It needed like 30 seconds to get power flowing to start.

Other than that, I'd say find a service manual online and take it apart, then put it back together, see if that solves it.

KnightRid · Post by **KnightRid** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 6:13 am

Well I finally tracked it down to a faulty power adapter! I used my dremel and cut the plastic housing off, and lo and behold, the led inside was flashing also. My uncle told me it sounds like a diode went out...I have no clue sine I am not an electrician

I am looking at maybe grabbing a universal power adapter off of ebay, since they are the same price or cheaper than the one specifically for this laptop - go figure.

money money money, always more money

Mike

The Black Pumpkin · Post by **The Black Pumpkin** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:12 am

Well at least THAT problem is figured out. You'll have more, probably, though.

I'm always here to help with lappie repair.

A universal adapter would be better IMHO, because there's a chance it could work for another laptop down the road.

I'm assuming you took the dremel to the adapter? Because, the laptop will screw apart...