[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Gateway 2000 486/33

ferris@gradient.cis.upenn.edu (Richard T. Ferris) (06/16/91)

I recently bought the Gateway 486/33 (Micronics motherboard) and I
seem to be having difficulty accessing the floppy disk drives when I
am working in Windows 3.0 .  It happens when trying to install print
drivers using the printer setup feature in Windows and when I shell
out of Windows using the Dos feature and then try to access the
floppies.  Anyone have any idea why and what can be done about it?
Thanks for the info.

--RF
Richard Ferris
ferris@grad1.cis.upenn.edu

ferris@gradient.cis.upenn.edu (Richard T. Ferris) (06/17/91)

In article <44717@netnews.upenn.edu> ferris@gradient.cis.upenn.edu (Richard T. Ferris) writes:
>I recently bought the Gateway 486/33 (Micronics motherboard) and I
>seem to be having difficulty accessing the floppy disk drives when I
>am working in Windows 3.0 .  It happens when trying to install print
>drivers using the printer setup feature in Windows and when I shell
>out of Windows using the Dos feature and then try to access the
>floppies.  Anyone have any idea why and what can be done about it?
>Thanks for the info.
>

Thanks to those who responded to this posting.  I got a message from
someone on Gateway's Compuserve Forum which said, strange as this may
sound, that I had to be sure the turbo switch was disabled via the
CMOS setup in order to avoid this problem.  I changed the setting and
now everything is fine.  Except that the machine only works in high
speed mode and pushing the turbo switch has no effect.  Oh well,
better that it requires high speed rather than slow speed.

--RF
Richard Ferris
ferris@grad1.cis.upenn.edu

kirk@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu (James Kirk) (06/25/91)

>In article <44717@netnews.upenn.edu> ferris@gradient.cis.upenn.edu (Richard T. Ferris) writes:
>>I recently bought the Gateway 486/33 (Micronics motherboard) and I
>>seem to be having difficulty accessing the floppy disk drives when I
>>am working in Windows 3.0 .  It happens when trying to install print
>>
>
>someone on Gateway's Compuserve Forum which said, strange as this may
>sound, that I had to be sure the turbo switch was disabled via the
>CMOS setup in order to avoid this problem.  I changed the setting and
>now everything is fine.  Except that the machine only works in high
>

You know I had this kind of problem on a brand X (unkown and not here AMI
bios) 386 except that firing up windows in the slow speed caused it to lock 
up. Couldn't even warm boot. It would just dit and beep at you. If you 
switched back to high speed it would work. Disabling the hardware switch
fixed this also.


jim..


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Those who say it can't be done will eat the dust of those doing it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim "Capt." Kirk			INTERNET : kirk@eecs.wsu.edu
Elect. Eng. & Comp. Sci.		UUCP     : ...uunet!eecs.wsu.edu!kirk
Wash. State University			BITNET   : kirkj@wsuvm1
Pullman WA 99164-2752		        DIALNET  : (509)-335-6887
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Oh...I have no response to that! 
			--Meg Ryan in Joe vs. the Volcano

jdalin@devildog.att.com (Jimmy Dalin) (06/26/91)

A friend of mine had exactly the same problem with a new Gateway 2000 
486/25 system.  (Actually, it was one of several problems, including a
months-long wait for the system to be shipped.)  Eventually, it turned out
that Gateway had shipped a brand-new confighuration for their 486's, and not
all of the cards worked well together. I suggest that you call Gateway,
explain the problem, and hope that you're talking to a technician who is
already familiar with the problem.  I believe they simply sent my friend a
new controller card (or was it the I/O board?). 

His experiences were, by the way, enough for me to question ever buying a
system from Gateway.  Good luck.

-- 
Jim Dalin            "No Salga Afuera"  
AT&T                    N.Y.C.T.A.
ATTMail id: !jdalin            
Compuserve: 72260,1573