jgb@linus.UUCP (Jonathan G. Bressel) (08/18/88)
Has anyone had any dealings with a company in Iowa called Gateway
2000? They advertise a very nice system in Byte Magazine, Sept. 1988,
p.11. Is the company reliable? Thanks.
--
Jonathan G. Bressel The MITRE Corporation
MS E095, POB 208,
ARPA: linus!jgb@mitre-bedford Bedford, MA 01730
UUCP: ...{decvax,utzoo,philabs,genrad}!linus!jgb (617) 271-2794jpdres13@usl-pc.usl.edu (Joubert John V) (12/08/88)
----------- Has anyone heard of Gateway Computers, or had any personal experience with them? It uses a Pheonix Bios, can one expect trouble with this? I have heard that Phoenix Bios can cause problems. Any information greatly appreciated. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Joubert | /\ | /\ | _ jpdres13@usl-pc.USL or ... | \|<>|>|> \|<>|>|><`|`| ut-sally!usl!usl-pc!jpdres13 |-----/|-------/|---------------------- GEnie: J.JOUBERT | \/ \/ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
liber@darth.UUCP (Eric Liber) (12/13/88)
> ----------- > > Has anyone heard of Gateway Computers, or had any personal experience with > them? It uses a Pheonix Bios, can one expect trouble with this? I have > heard that Phoenix Bios can cause problems.> > Any information greatly appreciated. > I recently purchased Gateway's 386 box. I am very happy with it. Here is a run down of the experience. I ordered the box with 2 meg of memo, 2 drives 5.25 and 3.5, no hard drive (i had one sitting on the shelf), no video card and no monitor (i wanted to do my own thing :-) ). They said that it would take about three weeks t deliver .. sigh .. Low and behold LESS than 3 weeks later it arrives ... with 1 meg of memory.. sigh ... I called them and they said .. "oops we blew it, we will send it out right away.. ". 4 days later another meg shows up. I installed it myself .. no real trick and everything is rosy... Well almost .. I tried to run windows 386 .. works fine until you try to read the floppies. hang up ...! Then i notice that If i type on the keyboard while trying to read a floppy based file the system dies!!!! Hmmm.. sure sounds like an interrupt problem (knowledge gleened from writing my own block device drivers). Wait a minute this thing has an Award Bios .. yep it comes standard with AWARD .. I called them and they said .. "Windows works fine here ......(thinking) ... what bios do you have" and i said .. "Award" and they said (in a low voice), "oh you need a phoenix bios .. award doesn't like windows 386.. we will send it right out".. 3 days ! later i have a new bios and Windows works fine. There is a reason for the Award bios. Apparently the Phoenix bios does not get along well with Novell neware networking software and they assume that you will want to use a 386 machine for a network server so they send Award. Anyway it now works fine. It is fast (0 wait state 60ns !!!!! memory - will be expensive to update) - rates a 2.55 mip rating on the Chips and tech test (IBM PS/2 - 80 rates 2.01) - rates a 24.8 on the landmark test. The response from their technical service and sales people has always been quick and informed. Their documentation sucks and when i asked for tech manuals on such things as the serial/parallel/gameport board or the WD1003-WA2 floppy/hard controller I was told that they couldn't release that information!!! (I suspect a call the Western Digital will elicit great quantities of documentation on their boards). But I have noted that this is the norm for dealing with clone makers .. don't expect to have them tell you anything more than is absolutely necessary to get it running. All in all i am very pleased with the machine and the service i have received. As an asside one of my previous bosses got one of their 286 machines and had similar success and was satisfied with them. If i can answer any more questions about the gateway 386 just ask .. i love to talk about it. Eric (the red) Liber
bc@wbcs.UUCP (Barry Caplin) (01/25/89)
harris@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Mark Harris) writes: >My brother is considering buying a Gateway 2000 computer and would >like to hear of any relevant experiences from Gateway users. The >machine he's looking at is a 25mhz 386 unit with 1 mb of 60 ns .... (rest deleted) To all who are interested in Gateway 2000 products: This is my experience with Gateway. I bought their 12.5 Mhz 286 system. I ordered it about a week before Christmas. They said it would take about 10 days to leave the plant and then a few days for shipping. Well, to my suprise it arrived early!!! Happy New Year! My 40 Mg. hard disk arrived partitioned with DOS already installed. Their setup doc. is OK and everything set up and worked fine. I have had no problems so far (so what?, I've only had the thing for 3 weeks). The big deal that I must mention is their tech. supp. I have called them about 4 times with questions and.....They are great!!! You call up and leave your name and number with the secretary and they give you an appointment. These guys work from about 8AM to 9PM or later (CST). They have always had the answer (so far) and seem real knowledgeble (sp?). In fact I was having problems with a cheapo modem I bought from JADE (JADE's tech. supp. sucks) and I figured I'd ask Gateway. Not only did they figure out the problem but the guy had me set up the modem in host mode and he called me to establish a connect to test the modem. Maybe this is standard procedure but I was impressed. The only problem is that sometimes you might get an appointment that is a few days away. That's a small price to pay considering that you'll probably get a great answer. So, I'm real happy with my 286. I don't know anything about their 386's, but I think their a great company. BTW, I don't have anything to do with them except that I bought from them and use their tech. supp. -- "The bus came by and I got on that's when it all began..." Barry Caplin or @: Boeing Computer Service UUCP: ..!ncrwic!wbcs!bc PO Box 7730 - M/S K79-51 OR: ..!bcsfse!wbcs!bc Wichita, KS 67277 316-526-9564
usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (03/09/89)
I promised to let you all know about my experiences with Gateway 2000 so here goes. I ordered my Gateway 2000 16 MHz 286 on february 16. They finally shipped it out today. They delayed shipping because they needed to do more testing on my machine. It should have been shipped ten days after I ordered it. That is probably best since I would rather they delay shipping and make sure the system works than have to send it back with problems. So far the company has been very pleasant and cooperative. I will post again when I receive my system. Greg Cook Chemistry Michigan State University
usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (03/14/89)
Well, I received my Gateway 2000 16 MHz 286 today. Finally! They finally shipped it out last Thursday so once they ship it it doesn't take long at all. Everything seems to work fine. I will let you all know if I have any problems while I am breaking it in. If you have any questions for me just email to: cook@frith.UUCP Greg Cook
goldstin@shire (Jonathan Goldstine) (07/22/89)
On July 10, I posted a request for opinions about Gateway 2000. I have gone
back through half-a-dozen postings about Gateway 2000 in the preceding month,
and have seen about twenty postings since then. I have also received half-a-
dozen comments by e-mail. Here is a summary.
In May, Milan purchased a 386-20 from Gateway which he returned a month later
because it would not run certain software, especially Windows/386. He was
upset with Gateway because he had been assured before the purchase that the
machine would run Windows/386 but the company conceded later that it was
having difficulty running Windows on that machine; because he lost several
weeks trying to get things straightened out; and because Gateway's 30-days
money back guarantee does not cover software, so he had to pay for the MS Dos
that was bundled with the machine. The computer was a 20MHz 386 with a 4 Meg
memory and a motherboard called Gene II.
It seems likely from other postings that the problems Milan was unfortunate
enough to encounter were specific to one particular configuration. For
example, there was a report of a Gateway 2000 386 20MHz machine purchased last
October (motherboard unknown but thought to be Gene) that ran Windows/386
version 2.03 without difficulty, but only after Gateway replaced the Award
BIOS with a Phoenix BIOS (at no expense, the next day by air). "I have yet to
find a hardware card or a software product that will not run." There was
also a report by someone who thought he had a Gene II motherboard in his
Gateway 2000 who was unable to run Compaq OS/2, although he declared himself
"very satisfied" with his machine.
Here are excerpts from the e-mail that I received:
"The support is good ... I don't regret I bought their
computer. Problems - when you call support (toll-free
of course) - it may take a day for them to get back to
you. Otherwise - I'm satisfied."
"Excellent machine!!! I just got done with some consulting
where we purchased three 386/25mhz machines and they worked
great. We had a problem with a 3 1/2 inch drive going bad
but they replaced with no questions. One suggestion or
complaint. The tech support is hard to get in the afternoon
because they are so busy but if you call early in the
morning it is not too bad. System worked flawlessly otherwise."
"... we are running a Gateway 386/20mhz machine that we have
Xenix on. We have had no problems with compatibility. We did
experience some problem when we purchased serial boards to
allow for 8 serials on the gateway machine. The board they
originally suggested did not work. We swapped them for the
boards and paid an additional $50-$75 for the new board and
everything is ok now."
"I just ordered a Gateway 2000 386/25 tower model with 4 mb ram
64k static memory cache, and 150mb ESDI drive. The system is
made entirely of name brand components (i.e. AMI motherboard,
ATI VGA wonder card, Miniscribe drives, NEC monitor, etc.) ...
The cost savings on this configuration of the Gateway is
substantial - a comparable Dell system would run me $2500 more
while a Compaq would cost about $7,000 more. ... I feel that
this cost difference is too great to ignore, while Gateway's
use of name brand components makes for a relatively low risk
purchase."
"In Dec. '88 I bought a Gateway 286. ...I'm real happy with the
machine and the company. ... The docs are marginal. But the
big deal about Gateway is the tech support. It's fantastic.
I've called a few times with problems or questions. Usually
they give you an appointment for the next day when they will
call you back. The support people have always been knowledgeable
and willing to help. That in itself could make buying a Gateway
worth it."
I also received a comment that "Gateway ships several machines with a WD
1007 controller, which makes no use of the DMA channel, and is not exactly
blazing fast. Not so hot for a 386." (In this regard, I note that some
postings about disk controllers have suggested that use of DMA is undesirable
under DOS but useful in a multiprocessing system such as Unix.)
To sum up, most people seem to be reporting positive experiences with
Gateway 2000. The company is currently shipping its 386 25MHz machine with
a Wedgetek motherboard and AMI BIOS; for $500 more, you get a Micronics
motherboard with 64K cache and Phoenix BIOS. It is currently shipping
the Orchid Prodesigner VGA card ($80 to upgrade to the VGA Plus, i.e. to
upgrade from 256K to 512K), and the Western Digital 10007 ESDI controller.
Personally, I am tempted by the cache machine, but I am hesitating
because of an incompatibility problem that I have not seen discussed.
According to Everex, ENIX currently will not run on the Micronics 25MHz board
(it will run on the 20MHz board). They are looking at the problem but make no
promises about solving it. They have not tested the Wedgetek board. I do not
know whether there are any difficulties running other (generally much more
expensive) versions of Unix on that Micronics board. If anyone has
information about the Wedgetek 386-25 and Micronics 386-25 cache boards, send
me e-mail and if it is of general interest, I will post a summary.goldstin@omega (Jonathan Goldstine) (07/25/89)
A few days ago, I posted a summary of responses to my request for
information about Gateway 2000, and I mentioned a compatibility
problem with the Micronics 25MHz 386 board. (Due to my inexperience
with posting, I neglected to give a complete set of return
addresses:
goldstin@psuvaxs.bitnet
goldstin@shire.uucp
goldstin@shire.cs.psu.edu
I can be reached at these addresses for any followup.) Since then, I
received the following additional message. But first, one follow-on
question. Gateway 2000 offers a choice of 150 Meg ESDI disks: CDC and
Miniscribe. Any recommendations between the two?
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 89 17:24:27 EDT
From: Floyd Miller <starsend!floyd@psuvax1.uucp>
To: goldstin@shire.cs.psu.edu
Subject: My Gateway Experience
[ I would post this myself but I have no software to post news.
Please post for me if you feel it would enhance the publics info ]
Our company bought a Gateway 2000 20Mhz in June. It came with a Gene II
motherboard, Phoenix BIOS 3.10 03 (I'm not sure if it's 3.10 or 1.10),
80MB SCSI hard drive, Orchid ProDesigner VGA board, etc.
We had problems running some CAD software which uses an imbedded extended
memory manager called DOS16M from Rational Systems. The problem seemed to
be related to getting in and/or out of protected mode. We were able to
get around this by telling DOS16M to use the old 286 method - slower, but
it worked. I also tried Windows386 which ran alright except for the
HIMEM.SYS driver which complained about A20 being already enabled (???).
The CAD software company sent a copy of their diagnostic program to Gateway
to eveluate the problem. In not too much time (a few days) Gateway's tech
department called me with their results. They said they had some 20Mhz
machines it would run on and some it would not. Their 25Mhz machines had
no problems. Later, they ran the test on the Micronics (Weitek) mother board
which they said they just beginning to evaluate. It ran fine on the Micronics
board. I believe there is some timing tolerance problem with the Gene II
motherboard but I'm not about to try and track it down, myself.
Gateway sent us a new motherboard and memory card (The 32-bit slots are not
standard) and we're on the air for real. The Micronics board outperforms the
Gene II board, I'm not sure of the exact statistics. The new board has
Phoenix BIOS 3.10 10. I don't know if the last number indicates a revision
or simply a customization for a particular mother board.
All in all, we are now another happy Gateway customer. I found their service
and technical people rather helpful and certainly willing to help solve
our problem.
--
******* *************************************
***** ********************** Floyd Miller
*** ***************
* ********* floyd%starsend@PRC.Unisys.com
*** starsend!floyd@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.comgoldstin@shire (Jonathan Goldstine) (07/28/89)
A few days ago, I posted a summary of comments about Gateway 2000, which included some favorable comments about technical support. The current issue (July 24) of InfoWorld reviews 11 33MHz 386's. It rates Gateway's a top value because it costs less than the others. However, it says the following about technical support: "We made three calls to technical support and each time had to leave our number for a callback. Twice we had to wait until the next working day and only once did we get a callback the same day, three hours later. When we did talk to the technicians, their responses were curt; the first problem we posed wasn't solved until we called again and identified ourselves as InfoWorld. The second problem was answered correctly, but the technician had to refer to others for the answer. Callback delays and uneven responses combine for a poor score in technical support." The comment about calling back the next day does not surprise me; other people had described that policy but were still very satisfied with the technical support. But I am having trouble reconciling the rest of the comment with the other reports. Is it possible that InfoWorld asked tough questions and the satisfied users asked easy ones? goldstin@psuvaxs.bitnet goldstin@shire.uucp goldstin@shire.cs.psu.edu
joec@Morgan.COM (Joe Collins) (10/08/89)
My brother-in-law is considering a computer known as the GATEWAY 2000.
Does anyone have any experience with this company or this computer?
Here are the particulars:
12Mhz
286 VGA
80286-12
2meg RAM
1.2meg 5 1/2"
1.44meg 3 1/2"
40 meg 28ms harddisk
16 bit VGA board
14" Multisync monitor
1 parallel, 2 serial ports
101 key keyboard
MSDOS 3.3 or 4.01
Cost: $2199, including 1 year warranty with free onsite service
30 day money back guarrantee
Lifetime toll free support
This machine is supposed to have won the 1988 BYTE magazine Award of
Distinction.
Kindly email me direct and I thank you in advance for any
experience/opinions you can offer.
joec@morgan.comhoward@ateng.com (Howard Morales) (11/17/89)
Subject: Gateway 2000 >From: er1p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Erik Riedel) > I am looking to buy a new 386-based PC system and I am seriously >considering buying from a company called Gateway 2000 (they seem to have >some of the best prices around). Does anyone have any experiences (good >or bad) with their machines and/or the company itself? I will most >likely be buying a 20 Mhz 386 system. Thank you for your support! >From: troj@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Kevin Trojanowski) >For the past few months I've been helping an acquaintance determine what >sort of '386SX machine to purchase. He'd limited his choices down to >Zeos, Austin, or Gateway 2000. > ... >One thing to note, however, is that DOS 4.01 (possibly 3.3) comes pre-loaded >on the hard drive. My guess is this mean that no manuals are included with >the system. Wrong, all of the standard manuals are included. > >From my conversation with the salesman it sounds as if few, if any, parts of >the package are etched in stone. Instead, they're willing to change things >around at the buyer's request. Some changes cost money, some reduce the >charge, some leave it alone. I bought an AT system from Gateway in late June 1989. It was 16Mhz 80286, two floppy, 40 Meg HD, VGA with DOS 4.01. I did a lot of shopping around amoung the mail order companies and it came down to the same three, Zeos, Austin, and Gateway. Zeos had the advantage of same day delivery (vs two weeks) while Austin claims to be made in the U.S.A. But I decided that Gateway had a significantly better value for only a couple hundred dollars more. The salesperson I talked to (Nancy) was great, and very knowledgeable. They are willing to add or remove components with appropriate adjustments in price. I upgraded my monitor to a NEC MultiSync 2A (?). When I called for sales information they did try to get me to place my order immedately by offering an extra discount ($50?), but I was able to get the same price when I called back several days later. I am very pleased with my system except for the fact that 386 systems have dropped to the same price that my 286 cost in June. Maybe I should have waited. The only problems have been a loss of CMOS memory (this has happened three times since June) and an annoying rattle/buzz from the cover. The VGA display is spectacular. Their service seems to be pretty good. They will call back the same day or at a specific time if you request. They don't have any Saturday or evening hours unfortunately. I did have to talk to two or three techs before I finally got hold of someone who really knew how to setup my CMOS so that it worked with expanded memory. The one really bad thing is their mother- board manual. It is full of misspellings, bad grammer, etc. Some parts are only barely understandable. The rest of the documentation is good. I fully recommend them based on my experience. I think that they have the best fully integrated complete system for the price, and they use quality components. And they have a good guarantee. 30 days no questions asked, you only pay postage back.
passt1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Philip A. Sircely) (05/10/90)
HAs anyone seen any info or reports on the Gateway 2000 ibm pc compatible. I was thinking of buying one and was wondering if it was a good clone and what type of tech support they have basically what do ya know about the machine. in a 386/20 w/ 2 drives one each size, 4 mg ram110 mg hard disk Vga 16 bit 512 k1024x768 and dos 4.01 also what other compatables would be a good type to get for the above configuration.... Please e-mail to me or frward all info to me if it is available.......
keegan-edward@cs.yale.edu (Edward Keegan) (05/10/90)
PC Resource magazine rates the Gateway as a best buy along with the
ALR FlexCache in this months issue.
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+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+ucoerp@swuts.swbt.com (Robert B. Paster) (06/28/90)
Sorry to post this, but my email keeps failing. In response to post by cbnewsj!fad3 and nosc!marlin!jbjones asking about Gateway 2000 computers, I purchased a 386SX from them in early May of this year. I ordered the standard configuration (2Mb RAM,65Mb HD, 3-1/2 fd, 5-1/4 fd, Tatung monitor), but upgraded the monitor to a NEC 3D (special offer for $100). It was delivered two days earlier than they originally said it would be (just under two weeks). After setting it up using the provided documentation, it worked with no problems at all. I will say that the documentation provided is pretty good, but doesn't provide all the technical detail I would have liked. I was not sent a backup battery pack with the original shipment, but when I called and told my customer service representative, she said she would send one. I received it three days later. I have had no problems with the machine for the 6 weeks I've had it, but I did mess up the memory management configuration set up about a week after I got it. I called Technical Support and had to wait about 30 minutes before I got to talk to a technician, but he was able to get the problem resolved very quickly. I did call in the early evening (7:00 P. M.) when they said it is the busiest time for support. One other thing I'll mention. On the 30th day after the machine was delivered, I saw a Gateway 2000 ad in PC World showing that they were now including Windows 3.0 with there computers. I called my customer service rep and asked her if I were able to get a copy as part of my original purchase. She put me on hold for a short time and when she came back said they would ship me a copy when they came in (about the first of July) Overall, I would highly recommend Gateway 2000 for price, quality, and support. I have no affiliation with GATEWAY 2000, other than being a satisfied customer!!!!! ____________________________________________________________________ Bob Paster Southwestern Bell Tel. Co. UUCP - swuts!sw1sed!ucorrbp One Bell Center UUCP - swuts!ucoerp Room 12-A-02 314-235-2741 St. Louis, Missouri 63101 ____________________________________________________________________ -- Bob Paster One Bell Center UUCP - swuts!ucoerp Room 12-A-02 Southwestern Bell Tel. Co. St. Louis, Missouri 314-235-2741 63101-3099