Archive-name: pc-hardware-faq/gateway2000 Last-modified: Febuary 1, 2000 Last-Posted: January 1, 2000 Next-Posting: March 1, 2000 Posting-Frequency: the first of every month URL: http://come.to/alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000.faq Maintainer: Timothy S. Brannan (Tbrannan@usa.net) Section 1: General Information 1.1) Questions about alt.sys.pc-clone.Gateway2000, FAQs, & Usenet. 1.1.1) What is alt.sys.pc-clone.Gateway2000? 1.1.2) What is the Usenet and "Netiquette"? 1.1.3) Where can I get a copy of this FAQ? 1.1.4) What can/can't I post to the newsgroup? 1.1.5) Where can I ask for help? 1.1.6) What other newsgroups can I use? 1.1.7) What does TLA mean? 1.2) Questions about Gateway. 1.2.1) What is Gateway (Gateway 2000)? 1.2.1.1) What's up with the cows? 1.2.1.2) What is going on with Gateway and the lawsuits? 1.2.1.3) How has Gateway made history? 1.2.2) Why should I buy a Gateway system? 1.2.3) How can I get in touch with Gateway 2000? 1.2.4) Does Gateway provide support on the Internet? 1.2.4.1) Does Gateway have a world wide web site? 1.2.4.2) Does Gateway have an FTP site? 1.2.4.3) Does Gateway have a Telnet site? +1.2.4.4) Does Gateway have a Usenet Server? 1.2.5) Where can I get current prices/specs? +1.2.6) Does Gateway charge sales tax in my state? 1.2.6.1) Why does Gateway charge sales tax? +1.2.7) What other companies does Gateway own? 1.2.7.1) What is the status of Gateway's ISP(Gateway.Net)? *1.2.7.2) What is Gateway doing with Amiga? 1.2.8) Why won't Gateway Techs help me with my 3rd party product? 1.3) Other Sources of Information. 1.3.1) Gateway 2000 mailing list. 1.3.2) Gateway's own mailing lists. 1.3.3) What other FAQ's should I read? 1.3.4) Contact information for related companies. 1.3.5) Where can I get cow spotted (and other) goodies? 1.3.6) How do I contact the 10th Anniversary Club? 1.3.7) Where are some personal Gateway2000 Homepages? 1.4) Rumors about Gateway2000. 1.4.1) Gateway is owned/has been bought by... 1.4.1.1) Bill Gates. 1.4.1.2) Intel. 1.4.1.3) Motorola. 1.4.1.4) Compaq. 1.4.1.5) IBM. 1.4.2) Gateway is going out of business. +1.4.3) Gateway (and/or Dell) will use AMD chips. 1.4.4) Gateway is moving to San Diego, Irvine, CA or New York. Section 1: General Information 1.1) Questions about alt.sys.pc-clone.Gateway2000, FAQs, & Usenet. 1.1.1) What is alt.sys.pc-clone.Gateway2000? Alt.sys.pc-clone.Gateway2000 is an Usenet newsgroup for discussions on issues regarding Gateway computers. It is not only for owners of these computers, but for potential owners and the curious as well. The newsgroup started on Thursday, 29 Jul 1993 12:09:55 GMT from the UUNET control message from John M. Grohol from Nova University. The first message was from Nelia Lyda to Tod Pike. It was designed as discussion group for Gateway 2000 owners. It's earliest incarnations (parents?) were a discussion group on Prodigy and Fido Net newsgroup of the same name. An unofficial home page was created at http://www.mcs.com/~brooklyn/home.html. (which is now down). The first version of the newsgroup FAQ was posted on September 21, 1993. Current Statistics for the Newsgroup. - Actual readers of this group: 23000 - Average number of messages per day: 118 - Kilobytes per day: 163k - Percentage of Internet sites who receive this group: 52% - Crossposting: 7% Thanks to Tod Pike, David Eitelbach, Mike Friedman and Nelia Lyda for this historical information. 1.1.2) What is the Usenet and "Netiquette"? Basically, the Usenet is a world-wide distribution system of messages and information. Alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 is one of over 20,000 different newsgroups. To get the most and best information on what the Usenet is (and isn't!) you should check the FAQ archive (of which this FAQ is part of) at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/what-is/part1/ "Netiquette" is Net-Etiquette, very clever huh. It is the common rules and courtesies used when posting to the various Usenet newsgroups. to get more information on Netiquette check, http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/posting-rules/part1/ 1.1.3) Where can I get a copy of this FAQ? This FAQ is located at the following sites, - http://come.to/alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000.faq - http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/gateway.html - http://www.wwa.com/~brannans/gateway.html - http://www.faqs.org/faqs/pc-hardware-faq/gateway2000/ - http://www.landfield.com/faqs/by-newsgroup/alt/alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000.html - ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 http://www2.uic.edu/~tbrann1/gateway.html is now down. This FAQ is posted once each month (around the first) to the news groups alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 , alt.answers and news.answers. An announcement is also posted on Gateway's news server, news://customernews.gateway.com/gw and to the comp.sys.amiga and the comp.sys.amiga.advocacy news groups. 1.1.4) What can/can't I post to the newsgroup? Any questions regarding a Gateway PC is perfectly fine and very welcome. Also questions regarding purchases of new/used Gateway PCs is fine. Other issues should be handled as follows, - HTML/MIME Text.. Not everyone reads the newsgroup the same way. Please post only in plain text. - Binaries. Please refrain from posting binary files. This increases the newsgroup traffic and may prompt a news administrator to drop the group. Instead try any of the appropriate "alt.binaries.*" or "comp.binaries.*" groups and include a pointer to it. - For Sale/Wanted to Buy. If you have any item for sale please put FS for "For Sale", WTB for "Wanted to Buy", or WFT for "Wanted for Trade" in the subject line. You may also post in any of the "*.forsale.*" newsgroups and place a pointer to it. Try news://misc.foresale.computers. - Crossposting. Crossposting also increases network traffic. If it is important to more than one group then fine. But in general it is best to avoid it. - Commercial Advertising. Refrain from trying to sell something not related to this newsgroup. There are thousands of other groups that are more appropriate. Please read the "Advertising on Usenet FAQ" at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/advertising/how-to/part1/ - MAKE.MONEY.FAST and Chain letters. Really, this should go without saying. But here it is. Do not post the infamous MAKE.MONEY.FAST letter. It is a scam. No one has ever made any money on this but you will lose your internet account, and at least one person has gone to jail over it. The same goes for chain letters. In brief; the cookies are good, but cheap; the kid got better, thanks for the cards; and no one lost sexual potency from not forwarding e-mail. - Virus Announcements. Before warning the world of a "new" virus, check to be sure that it is not a virus hoax. "Good Times" and "Join the Crew" are two (in)famous examples. Neither is a virus, so no need to warn us. These are only suggestions. It is up to you to judge to appropriateness of your own post. 1.1.5) Where can I ask for help? There are two different groups that are set up to answer questions from Gateway system owners. The first is the Netnews group alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000. This was created in the middle of 1993 and is enjoying increased propagation and participation from the Netnews community. If your site gets Netnews, but does not receive this group, you should ask your news administrator to add it. The second group is a mailing list for Gateway owners. You can subscribe to the list by sending a mail message to gateway2000-request@sei.cmu.edu. This is an automatic subscription system - a mail message with a subject of help will get you a list of recognized commands. Sending a message with a subject of subscribe will subscribe you to the list. Note that the address for the list itself and the address you need to use to subscribe and unsubscribe are not the same. To unsubscribe send unsubscribe in the subject of a message to gateway2000-request@sei.cmu.edu. The mailing list is not just a copy of the newsgroup, but is a forum for getting quick responses to problems and questions. There are many helpful people on the list, and Dave Grabowski deserves special mention as being especially helpful. Other very useful posts have come from Tim Folker and Lance Cummings. The list has a higher ratio of technical information to commentary than does the newsgroup alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000. 1.1.6) What other newsgroups can I use? Dr. John M. Grohol posts the PC-Clone Hardware Newsgroup Pointer FAQ to this and many other newsgroups.It will help you know what hardware related newsgroups are about and how to find the information you need in them. Like all FAQs it is located at RTFM. ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/alt.sys.pc- clone.gateway2000/ PC-Clone_Hardware_Newsgroup_Pointer. It can also be found at, http://www.faqs.org/faqs/finding-groups/pc-hardware/index.html 1.1.7) What does TLA mean? TLA is a three letter acronym for "Three Letter Acronym"! The computer industry, the Usenet, the Internet and nearly every profession has it's own set of terms and acronyms. The Usenet is particularly full of them because they save time in typing or (as in my case) aid in horrendously bad spelling! Here are some common TLA's to be found in alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000. FAQ Frequently Asked Question Gw2k Gateway 2000 IMHO In My Humble/Honest Opinion RTFM Read The F***ing Manual IDK I Don't Know AFAIK As Far As I Know YMMV Your Mileage May Vary YRMV Your Results May Vary GTW Gateway's stock symbol on the New York Stock Exchange. Other abbreviations can be found at Tla.html. 1.2) Questions about Gateway. 1.2.1) What is Gateway (Gateway 2000)? Gateway (formerly Gateway 2000) is the second leading direct marketer of personal computers in the United States. Gateway develops, manufactures, markets and supports a broad line of desktop, laptop, business and family computers for business, individuals, families, government agencies and educational institutions. Gateway was started by Ted Waitt, chairman and CEO, in September 1985, in Sioux City, Iowa. He was 22 years old at the time. He was joined by business partner Mike Hammond, vice president and later his brother Norman Waitt, who later left. The company moved to its present location in North Sioux City, South Dakota, in January 1990. Gateway, sells computers on the direct market. You call up Gateway and order your PC to either your specifics or choose a general configuration it is then shipped to you. This method has proven to be very successful for Gateway. Gateway is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE :GTW) after going public in 1993. Ted Waitt initially invested $10,000.00 in Gateway, today his personal wealth is listed by Forbes at $3 Billion. Starting in April, 1998 Gateway announced it was changing it's name to Gateway, from Gateway 2000, and a new logo and ad campaign. Adds have appeared in many large newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. You can find more information regarding Gateway at their web site, http://www.gateway.com/corp/aboutgw/ 1.2.1.1) What's up with the cows? Waitt grew up as a fifth generation Midwesterner. The previous four generations of Waitts were cattlemen, a breed known for their independent, risk-taking approach to business. Ted Waitt took the cattleman's spirit into the world of high technology. With his Midwestern and cattlemen roots deeply in place, Waitt choose the Holstein cow as the company's mascot. It is also to remind us how Gateway got their start; in a barn next to the cows! 1.2.1.2) What is going on with Gateway and the lawsuits? Part of the reality of being a large business are lawsuits. Without getting into detail or taking sides, here is a breakdown of recent lawsuits against or by Gateway2000. Much of my information comes courtesy of Jim Taylor, senior vice-president of global marketing, who was kind enough to give me a personal phone call and also had this to say about Gateway's current lawsuits, "We have built tremendous relationships with customers built on trust. A person has to call us up, buy something they've never seen, that hasn't been built and trust us to deliver it. So the defense of our name and the integrity of that name is really critical," (PC Week, January 24, 1997) . Gateway2000 v. Mark H. Berkowitz CrystalScan Monitors and 486 Upgradable Computers. Gateway recently settled a class-action lawsuit regarding the 486 computers that were advertised as Pentium-ready. This lawsuit also covers certain MAG Innovision monitors that Gateway has sold. If you have any of these components, then Gateway will be mailing certificates for extended warranties or for price reductions on your next Gateway2000 purchase.Questions on this should be directed to 1-888-888-1090. Gateway2000 v. TUCOWS This suit was over TUCOWS use of Holstein cows on their Internet pages and ads. This is the letter from Gateway2000 to TUCOWS: Registered Mail From Gateway 2000, Inc. ---- October 22, 1996 CERTIFIED MAILRETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Scott Swedorski, President TUCOWS 5415 Dundas Street West Suite 301 Etobicoke, Ontario M9B 1B5 CANADA RE: Use of Holstein Cow by TUCOWS Dear Mr. Swedorski: It has come to our attention that your company is infringing on a valuable trademark of Gateway 2000, Inc. Specifically, we note that you are depicting Holstein cows on your web site to promote your company.Please be advised that Gateway 2000, Inc. owns the valid and subsisting federal Reg No. 1,725,231, marks consisting of a stylized design representing cow spots. This trademark and the Holstein cow are widely associated with Gateway 2000 and represent valuable goodwill and company assets. Gateway 2000, Inc. has promoted the Holstein cow and cow spots extensively to the consuming public and the trade, including the display of its cow spots trademark on boxes in which itsproducts are shipped, which in 1995 amounted to almost 3.7 billion insales. Your company's use of the Holstein cow and cow spots in connection with services relating to products of Gateway 2000 is likely to confuse and deceive the consuming public. We therefore call upon TUCOWS to cease all use of trademarks of Gateway 2000immediately.Please contact us within ten (10) days of receipt of this letter with written assurances that TUCOWS has undertaken to cease its infringement of our registered trademarks. Absent a satisfactory response from you, we will take whatever legal action we deem appropriate without further notice to you. Sincerely, William M. Elliott Senior Vice President and General Counsel l610 Gateway Drive P.O. Box 2000 North Sioux City, South Dakota 57049-2000 Telephone 605-232-2000 Fax 605-232-2023 Toll Free 800-846-2000 ------------------------------------------------------------- This suit has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both parties. Gateway2000 v. Cyrix Gateway2000 sued Cyrix over the use of cows in their ads against Gateway. This suit has also been resolved and Cyrix has pulled the ads. Gateway2000 v. Alan B. Clegg Gateway2000 has sued Mr. Clegg for "predatory Business practices" for his use of "www.Gateway.com" as an Internet site. Gateway 2000 claims that Mr. Clegg infringes on their copyright. Alan Clegg claims that the term "gateway" is generic, and therefore he can use it. As of the beginning of March 1997 the law has agreed with Mr. Clegg, Gateway 2000 is appealing the judges rule. Recent developments in this case: Gateway 2000 has gained ownership of www.gateway.com, Alan Clegg's site has moved to www.firehouse.net. Gateway2000 v. Jeff Blackmon Jeff Blackmon was an unhappy former employee with Gateway2000. After he quit his job as a computer technician he wanted the world to know his opinion of his former employer. He created and posted the (now infamous and defunct) "Gateway 2000 Sucks" page. The pages included, "Top Ten Reasons Not to Buy a Gateway computer", "How to Outsmart Tech Support" and Ted Waitt's personal email account. Gateway sued Mr. Blackmon on his use of copyrighted Gateway2000 images and logos. They successfully obtained a court order against Mr. Blackmon. While Gateway acknowledged that Blackmon has a right to express his opinions about Gateway, they did sue to keep him from using their copyrighted logos. Mr. Blackmon agreed to remove the pages and Gateway did not seek the hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. Gateway also said they would look into Blackmon's complaints. The "Gateway 2000 Sucks" page debuted in January 1996 and was removed in October of 1996. Gateway2000 v. Hill In Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc., 105 F. 3d 1147 (7th Cir. 1997), a federal appeals court held that telephone purchasers of a Gateway 2000 computer were bound by an arbitration clause in a license agreement placed in a computer box. The court analogized to other scenarios in which contract terms are imposed after the purchase of goods or services and are accepted by conduct -- buying an insurance policy, an airline ticket, a concert ticket or a product containing the warranty on the box -- and rejected the theory that the shrink-wrap contract terms were an amendment to the underlying purchase and sale agreement, enforceable only if agreed to by the buyer. The Hills ordered their computer by telephone and paid for it by credit card. Within a few days, a box arrived containing the computer and a list of terms that purported to govern the relationship of the parties unless the purchasers returned the computer within 30 days. The Hills kept the computer more than 30 days before complaining about its components and performance. The Hills filed suit in federal court, and Gateway 2000 asked the court to enforce the arbitration clause. When the trial judge refused, Gateway appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The question before the court was: are the terms in the box effective as the parties' contract, or is the contract term-free because the order-taker did not read any of the terms over the phone and elicit the customer's prior assent to them- The court held that the contract contained in the computer box was enforceable. Circuit Judge Easterbrook, who also wrote the opinion in ProCD, reiterated that a vendor may invite acceptance by conduct and may limit the type of conduct that constitutes acceptance. The court concluded that by keeping the computer more than 30 days, the Hills accepted Gateway's offer, including the arbitration clause. Gateway2000 v. FTC Gateway 2000 Settles FTC False Ad Charges 07/23/98 WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1998 JUL 23 (NB) -- By Bill Pietrucha, Newsbytes. Gateway 2000 [NYSE:GTW] has agreed to pay $290,000 to settle allegations the company made numerous false statements in advertising its refund policy and its on-site warranty service. Gateway v. Web America Networks Gateway has sued Web America Networks for "failure to meet the needs and expectations of Gateway and its customers." Web America has been providing Internet Service to Gateway for it's Gateway.Net customers. This follows a "breach of contract" lawsuit filed by Web America against Gateway. While the lawsuits are proceeding, Gateway.Net customers are encouraged to download new internet connection software. More information can be found at http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2189230,00.html and http://www.gateway.net/. 1.2.1.3) How has Gateway made history? Most companies would be happy with the sales-history Gateway has done. But Gateway has also made history in other ways. Gateway was the first PC company to offer CD-ROMs, CD-Recordables and DVDs as standard equipment. They were also the first to offer Pentium Pro and Pentium II systems, including the 400mhz. Among Gateway's other first's in the computer buisness are: - The first mail order company to offer a catalog store, Gateway Country. - The first to offer Internet connections with a new PC. - Your :) Ware program first of it's kind for the home direct market. Also Gateway was the first, and only, computer to be sold in space. Two MIR cosmonauts purchased two Gateway G6-233 systems from MIR's internet service. Gateway also was thrust into the world of E-commerce as President Clinton and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern signed an historic communique at Gateway's Dublin headquarters. This was the first ever digitally signed communique on world commerce. It was done on two Gateway FireAnt Laptops. 1.2.2) Why should I buy a Gateway system? There are many different companies that make IBM PC clones; most of these are viable machines that will do the job for you. The real question that you need to ask yourself when thinking about purchasing a machine is "What do I want from this system, and what am I willing to put up with?" If you do not understand systems at all, and don't want to learn, you will probably be better off with a system from a large ("first tier") company such as IBM or Compaq. These companies put out computers that are more expensive, but they provide first rate support and documentation and are willing to hold your hand when you don't understand what is going on. On the other hand, if you are willing to do some work yourself, you can save considerable money by purchasing from a mail order house. At this point, you should be looking for a company that is stable, will be around for a while to provide support, and gives good value for the money. While there are quite a few companies that meet these criteria, many of the people in this group have chosen (surprise!) Gateway 2000. We feel that although there are some problems with Gateway as a company, the systems they produce are the best for the money around. Frequent problems reported with Gateway are difficulties contacting the Technical Support staff, late delivery on systems, problems with the CD-ROMs, and some problems with the monitors. The first two are prevalent with companies that are growing too fast; Gateway is now shipping close to 7600 systems *per day*. This is up 38% from last year. Trying to contact Gateway's toll-free telephone tech support has been difficult, according to most reports. It had improved for a while, then slipped again, and now it is on the upswing again. Gateway has introduced a premium support alternative. Gateway is now getting their modems from 3Com/US Robotics, which has a good reputation in the field. Also, the quality of the monitors (made by MAG) has also improved. Some of the larger monitors have Sony tubes, which are considered one of the best in the market. On the plus side of Gateway, they do produce very nicely configured systems at close to the best cost around. They put some first-rate parts into their systems (the ATI GUP board was very good, and their hard disks and motherboards are made by top notch companies) and often upgrade their systems with newer and better components. In short, if you are willing to put up with a few problems and are willing to spend some time diagnosing any system problems, Gateway will give you a good system for the money. Gateway was the first PC company to offer CD-ROMs and DVDs as standard equipment. They were also the first to offer Pentium Pro and Pentium II systems, including the 400mhz. Also Gateway was the first, and only, computer to be sold in space. Two MIR cosmonauts purchased two Gateway G6-233 systems from MIR's internet service. Gateway has recently been voted highest in customer loyalty. With as many as 50% of Gateway's customers saying they would be a repeat buyer. 1.2.3) How can I get in touch with Gateway 2000? Here are the telephone numbers and addresses for the various departments (from the manuals) : Mailing Address Gateway P.O. Box 2000 610 Gateway Dr. North Sioux City, SD 57049-2000 USA Numbers: - Customer Service: 1-800-846-2000 Fax: 605-232-2023 - Technical Support: 1-800-846-2301 Fax: 605-232-2182 - Add-on Components: 1-800-846-2080 Fax: 605-232-2121 - Portable Tech Support: 1-800-846-2302 - Automated Tech Support: 1-800-846-2118 - FaxBack service: 1-800-846-4526 - Gateway 2000 BBS: 605-232-2224 (V.32 BIS/HST 300-38400 BPS) - Gateway 2000 BBS: 1-800-846-7562 (fixes and drivers only) - Technical Telecommunications Device for the Deaf: 1-800-846-1778 Overseas Offices: - International calls: 1-605-232-2000 - International Tech Support: 1-605-232-2191 - Dublin office: 353-1-797-2000 - Customer Service Fax: 353-1-848-2022 - European Faxback 353-1-867-0400 - European BBS: 353-1-867-0433 - European BBS: 0800-97-3140 (free-phone, from UK only) - UK Sales office: 0800-20-2000 - Ireland office: 1800-44-2000 - Ireland Tech Support: 1800-46-2000 - France Sales: 353-1-797-3040 - France Sales Fax: 353-1-797-3700 - France Showroom Fax: 331-1-45-63-4569 - Germany Sales: 353-1-797-4040 - Germany Sales Fax: 353-1-797-4700 - Japan Customer Service: 0120-54-2000 or 045-338-2000 - Japan Customer. Service. Fax: 045-338-2046 - Australia Sales: 1800-648-096 - Australia Customer Service and Support: 1800-802-776 - Australia Fax: 844-8588 - New Zealand Sales: 0800-445-868 - New Zealand Support: 0800-445-765 - New Zealand Customer Service: 0800-445-766 - Canada Sales: 800-846-3609 or 605-232-2191 - Canada Sales Fax: 605-232-2613 New: Gateway Dial-up Server: Telephone Number: Toll free- 1-888-888-0520 Username: gwclient Password:(there is no password) Protocol: TCP/IP with DHCP enabled URL: http://gateway.your.way Modems 72 X2 modems Configure a new Dialup Connection in your Dialup Networking program using the information above. Dial the number and wait for a connect box. Login, wait for the connection to be established and then open your browser. type http://gateway.your.way in the URL box and press Enter. It may take a few seconds. This is a toll free area to get drivers and other information. Internet: GATEWAY'S OFFICIAL WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW) SITES: - http://www.gateway.com/ - http://www.GatewayCountry.com/ - http://www.destination.com/ - http://www.gateway.net GATEWAY'S OFFICIAL FTP SITE: - ftp://ftp.gateway.com Gateway support personnel: COMPUSERVE (TO ACCESS THE FORUM, TYPE GO GATEWAY) : - 75300,1300 - Forum Administrator (Brian Kelly) - 74774,3022 - Technician (Cynthia Correia) AMERICA ONLINE (TYPE KEYWORD GATEWAY): - G2KBrian - Forum Administrator (Brian Kelly) - G2KLori - Technician (Lori Seibold) These are addresses of contacts at Gateway, but the address to use for tech support and client relations is support@gateway.com. It's understandably tempting to e-mail or CC a favorite technician at Gateway. A lot of people are doing this, which results in good technicians getting swamped. Please resist the temptation and instead just e-mail support@gateway.com, allowing Gateway to fairly distribute the workload. - Web Submission Page. Just click right here, http://www.gateway.com/home/support/contact_tech to submit an email on the Gateway website. There's a handy, easy-to-fill-out form located here for your convenience. - support@gateway.com is for Technical Support and Client Relations. Please don't e-mail or CC individual representatives unless you are carrying on an already established e-mail dialog with them. Also, when you compose your message, be sure to include your full name, customer ID, Serial Number and Order Number, or as many of those as you can find, and also give a complete description of the problem. The more detail, the less emails back and forth. - E-mail supervisor@gw2kbbs.com to get the boss. Gateway now offers specialized e-mail tech support for various system components. - Motherboard questions, motherb@gw2kbbs.com. - Modem questions (except portables) , modem@gw2kbbs.com. - Multimedia questions, multimedia@gw2kbbs.com. - Network questions, portable@gw2kbbs.com. - All portable questions, portable@gw2kbbs.com. - Questions on GW2K software sent with system, software@gw2kbbs.com. - Storage device questions, storage@gw2kbbs.com. - Video questions, video@gw2kbbs.com. - All Destination questions, destination@gw2kbbs.com. - Customer Service questions (non-technical) , custserv@gw2kbbs.com. All e-mail sent to these addresses is also CCed to tech@gw2kbbs.com, so don't CC there yourself. 1.2.4) Does Gateway provide support on the Internet? Yes. At http://www.gateway.com/support/, there is a large support section with Tech Docs, FAQs, a customer newsgroup, and a tech email submission page, along with much more. Gateway also provides e-mail tech support at support@gateway.com. The turnaround time is about 24 hours. Gateway did provide support to the newsgroup until late January of 1996, at which time it was withdrawn. 1.2.4.1) Does Gateway have a world wide web site? Yes, at any of these URLs: - http://www.gateway.com/ - http://www.destination.com/ - http://www.GatewayCountry.com/ - http://www.gateway.net/ International users should try these sites: - Australia: http://www.au.gw2k.com - France: http://www.fr.gw2k.com - Japan: http://www.jp.gw2k.com - Netherlands: http://www.nl.gw2k.com - Germany: http://www.gw2k.de - Sweden http://www.se.gw2k.com - United Kingdom: http://www.gw2k.co.uk - New Zealand: http://www.gw2k.co.nz If you're having problems displaying the pages, the site may show up better in Netscape version 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0x. Gateway's preferred choice is Microsoft Internet Explorer. For those who are curious. Gateway 2000, Inc. registered their first domain name 'gw2kbbs.com' in February of 1994, and followed with the registration of: gw2k.com (September 1994), gateway2000.com (January 1996), gateway-2000.com (January 1996), gway.com (March 1996), gw2000.com (March 1996), gway2000.com (March 1996), spotshop.com (March 1996), and destination.com (November 1996). 1.2.4.2) Does Gateway have an FTP site? Yes, at ftp://ftp.gw2k.com. FTP to ftp.gw2k.com log in as anonymous or ftp send your e-mail address as password, for example, billg@aol.com. If you are unfamiliar with FTP, you can type help at the FTP prompt to get a list of available commands. You can then type the word help followed by the command you need help with. Editor's note: I find that a dedicated FTP program, such as WS-FTP, usually work better than all-in-one programs like Netscape or Internet Explorer. 1.2.4.3) Does Gateway have a Telnet site? Yes. You can reach it at telnet://bbs.gw2kbbs.com. +1.2.4.4) Does Gateway have a Usenet Server? The server is now officially down. You might be able to read some of the old messages. Try the following news groups, news://customernews.gateway.com/gw news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.motherboards news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.multimedia news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.software-os news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.storage-devices news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.telecomm news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.video news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.destination news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.portables news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.portables.software-os news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.portables.pcmcia These groups work the same as alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000. That is a forum to discuss issues regarding your Gateway PC. Here is the information from Gateway's Newsadmin: >Welcome to the newsgroup! >Our newsgroup is up and ready to go! What's a newsgroup and what does it >mean to you? Well, the Online Services department has implemented a >peer-to-peer communication system that you can access through your web >browser. It's not a new idea on the 'net, but it's great way to communicate >with other Gateway owners. You can now post messages in a Gateway-specific >environment where other customers will be able to read and reply to your >mail. If you have your news reader configured, the name of the newsgroup is >customernews.gateway.com. Note: As of Februrary 1st, 1999 the Gateway server is back up. 1.2.5) Where can I get current prices/specs? Well, prices change rapidly, as do the specs on the systems that Gateway offers. To get online copies from Gateway check , http://www.gw2k.com/. Online copies in this FAQ would be out of date too fast to do any good. If you call Gateway Customer Service at 1-800-846-2000, they will quote you information (or fax it to you). The FaxBack service is a good source of the same information, and you don't have to wait on hold! The Gateway BBS e-mail server for prices and configurations is down. No word on when or if it will be back up. Thanks to Brian K. Palmer for pointing this out to me. +1.2.6) Does Gateway charge sales tax in my state? Gateway collects tax charged by the following states: AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, HI, ID, IA, IL, KS, KY, MA, ME, MD, MN, MO, NE, NV, ND, NJ, NY, SC, SD, TN TX, UT, VA, and DC. Currently Gateway also charges sales tax in any state that has a Gateway Country store. So if they don't know they will soon charge sales tax in your state if your state collects sales tax. 1.2.6.1) Why does Gateway charge sales tax? This has been a recent concern lately. According to the Gateway2000 representative I spoke to Gateway charges sales tax in states that request sales tax from them. It seems to up to the individual states. It has also been suggested that Gateway now sales tax in this states because of recent pressure from the Federal Government and a threat of paying back taxes. +1.2.7) What other companies does Gateway own? Like many businesses Gateway has purchased other companies. Amiga Technologies GmbH. See 1.2.7.2 below. Advanced Logic Research (ALR) Gateway purchased Irvine, CA based ALR for $194 million, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Gateway 2000. Gateway plans to use Advanced Logic Research as their entry into the business client and server market. ALR has now increased their line of desktop computers. ALR ads run independently and concurrently with Gateway's ads with both featuring similar looking products. ALR (Gateway Partners) information can be found at http://www.alr.com/ Gateway Country Stores A wholly own subsidiary of Gateway 2000. The Gateway Country stores offer the newest Gateway products in a country store-like setting. They can be found all over the U.S. and at http://www.gateway.com/home/country/ 1.2.7.1) What is the status of Gateway's ISP (Gateway Net)? On November 5, 1997 Gateway announced it was going to offer Internet services to new and current customers. The service will be shipped on all Gateway computers starting December 3, 1997. It will be offered to existing users beginning sometime in 1998. Gateway will charge $12.95 for the first 30 hours of Internet use each month, and $2.95 for each additional hour. The actual service will be provided by another, undisclosed provider, and will be a 100-percent digital network using U.S. Robotics' x2 56Kbps technology. Customers will be able to access the service nationwide. More information can be found at http://www.gateway.com/net/ Gateway is currently in discusion with American Networks, who had provided service to Gateway as their ISP. This has resulted in periods in which subscribers have not been able to access Gateway.net. *1.2.7.2) What is Gateway doing with Amiga? In March 1997, Gateway announced that it plans to purchase Amiga Technologies GmbH. This purchase covers all patents, trademarks, and tradenames. The company was a subsidiary of ESCOM AG, a German-based computer company. Before that Amiga was owned by Commodore Business Machines in the U.S. Purchase of the Amiga was final on May 16, 1997. The Amiga is a 32-bit computer based on the MC processor. It was a pioneer in the areas of multitasking, multimedia and auto-configuartion. Gateway plans to support the existing Amiga community and to develop new products based on the Amiga open standards. - Amiga information can be found at http://www.amiga.de/ or http://www.amiga.com/ - The Amiga Announcement FAQ can be found at http://web.wt.net/~gpeake/faq.html - Eric Schwartz's thought's on the announcement. http://www.compsoc.net/ericschwartz/art/GW_Amiga.jpg More information can be found at http://amiga.com/diary/executive-e.html or the newsgroup comp.sys.amiga.advocacy. Currently there is much debate on what exactly Gateway is going to do with the Amiga computer and company. 1.2.8) Why won't Gateway Techs help me with my 3rd party product? Gateway provides lifetime technical support for any product that they sell. If you install a third party product, hardware or software they will still provide you with tech support. However they cannot support the 3rd party product you purchased. In Gateway's own words, from their FAQ Installing 3rd Party hardware and applications shouldn't void your warranty. However, there are thousands of products available for your computer, and each of these have unique requirements for installation and use. Unfortunately, Gateway technicians can't possibly have access to all of the information necessary to support all of these devices. The manufacturer or vendor of these products is usually the best place to turn when you need help with a 3rd party product. 1.3) Other Sources of Information. 1.3.1) Gateway 2000 mailing list. Tod Pike maintains the Gateway2000 mailing list. Like this group it is an independent source of information. It is not a copy of the newsgroup and usually has a higher level of technical information. >From Tod Pike: My name is Tod Pike, and I have volunteered to run the mailing list, as I have the software and resources to do so. Currently, an "alt" newsgroup has also been created to discuss Gateway 2000 systems. Ask your news admin. to get "alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000" if he can! I expect this list to be similar in content to the Gateway news group. Many people do not receive netnews, and many other people prefer to receive groups such as this via e-mail. In any case, this list will hopefully be a good source of information for Gateway 2000 owners on the Internet. A few notes about this mailing list: IT IS NOT MODERATED! It is simply a mail reflector. This means that all messages sent to gateway2000@sei.cmu.edu are redirected to the entire list. I expect that this list will be primarily directed towards asking questions, with a summary of the responses to be sent in by the original questioner. Please direct replies to questions directly to the author, unless you feel that the answer will be of use to everyone on the list. Please keep personal attacks and flames to private mail! I would also like this list to be a good source of information about Gateway 2000 products. Feel free to send me current information about prices and products, and I will collect them and post a "current information" post periodically. Enjoy this list - only you can make it a success! You can subscribe to the list by sending a mail message to gateway2000-request@sei.cmu.edu. This is an automatic subscription system - a mail message with a subject of help will get you a list of recognized commands. Sending a message with a subject of subscribe will subscribe you to the list. Note that the address for the list itself and the address you need to use to subscribe and unsubscribe are not the same. To unsubscribe send unsubscribe in the subject of a message to gateway2000-request@sei.cmu.edu. 1.3.2) Gateway's own mailing lists. Gateway's mailing list is down. The old URL http://www.gw2k.com/interact/maillist/subscribe.htm, no longer works. 1.3.3) What other FAQ's should I read? This FAQ posting covers things that are specific to Gateway 2000 computers. Since many of the parts of the Gateway systems are common to other PC systems, you can also get information from the FAQs of other computer groups. For example, you can get the following FAQs from the machine RTFM.mit.edu in the directory /pub/Usenet/news.answers: - os2-faq - msdos-programmer-faq, Parts 1- 5 Below, in the directory pc-hardware-faq, you can get the PC hardware FAQ in five parts: - PC hardware FAQ, part 1 - PC hardware FAQ, part 2 - PC hardware FAQ, part 3 - PC hardware FAQ, part 4 - PC hardware FAQ, part 5 Many users on the Internet have run into the same problems. Sometimes they will even post their answers and suggestions. Some good places to check are, Other hardware FAQs are, - The Hardware Page - FAQs and Info, http://www.dfw.net/~sdw/index.html. - ComputerCraft's PC Hardware FAQ, http://www.computercraft.com. - Hardware Benchmark FAQs, http://hpwww.epfl.ch/bench/bench.FAQ.html. - Ben Myers' FAQs for Gateway motherboards are at http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/Motherboards.html. - Chris Biow's Monitor FAQ can now be found at http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/MonitorFAQ.html. - Mike Lewis' Telepath Modem FAQ also at http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/ModemFAQ.html. - Information on SDRAM, http://www.blvl.igs.net/~sysfix/sdram.htm. Windows 95 FAQs and information: - http://www.primenet.com/~markd/win95faq.html - http://http://www.kingsoft.com/qaid/ - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/qa/qa.htm - http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/ - http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/WinTips.html My Windows95 Tips page with Gateway2000 specific information. Windows NT FAQs: - Windows NT 3.5 FAQ, http://www.iea.com/~daler/nt/faq/toc.html - The Windows NT FAQ, http://www.ntfaq.com/ - Windows NT Fax Server solutions, http//www.ntfax-faq.com John Navas' excellent modem FAQ can be found at: http://web.aimnet.com/~jnavas/modem/faq.html For setting up and tuning a Winsock (great fun!), try these: - http://www.webcom.com/~llarrow/welcome.html - http://www.cerberus-sys.com/~belleisl/mtu_mss_rwin.html 1.3.4) Contact information for related companies. Here are some telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for companies that currently provide or have provided parts for Gateway 2000 systems. I have personally verified all of these numbers and web sites, but companies change so often, feel free to send corrections and/or additions! - 3Com Network cards at http://www.3com.com. - Adaptec SCSI cards at http://www.adaptec.com - ATI Technologies, http://www.atitech.ca/index.html. - Colorado Memory Systems, now a division of HP. - Colorado FTP site: ftp://col.hp.com. - Conner, http://www.conner.com/, now a division of Seagate. - Creative Labs, makers of SoundBlaster sound cards, - Creative Labs WWW site: http://www.sounblaster.com/ - Creative Labs FTP site: ftp.creaf.com or ftp://creative.creaf.com - Delrina WWW site: http://www.delrina.com/. Now a division of Symantec. - Diamond Multimedia - Diamond WWW site: http://www.diamondmm.com/ - Diamond FTP site: ftp.diamondmm.com - Ensoniq, makers of Soundscape sound cards. - Ensoniq (voice): 610-647-3930 - Ensoniq Faxback: 800-257-1439 - Ensoniq WWW site: http://www.ensoniq.com/ - Epson: http://www.epson.com/connects/support/index.html - Hewlett Packard: http://www.hp.com/ - Hitachi http://www.hitachi.com/ - Hitachi Download: http://www.hitachi.com/Specs/ - Hitachi Data Systems: http://www.hdshq.com/ - Intel WWW site: http://www.intel.com - MMX Processor site: http://www.mmx.com - Iomega Home Page: http://www.iomega.com/. - Matrox Video - Matrox WWW site: http://www.matrox.com/ - Matrox FTP site: ftp.matrox.com/pub/video/ - Maxtor's Home Page: http://www.maxtor.com/. - Micro Firmware BIOS: 800-767-5465 - http://www.firmware.com/ - http://www.firmware.com/gwfaq.htm - Micronics is now a division of Diamond Multimedia. Thier new website is, http://www.diamondmm.com/products/index-system.html - Micronics motherboard owners should also look at Dick Perron's hardware page http://www.gw.total-web.net/~dperr/pc_hdwe.htm. - Micropolis Corporation Home Page: http://www.microp.com/ - Mitsumi CD-ROMs - Mitsumi BBS: 408-970-0761 - Mitsumi WWW site: http://www.mitsumi.com/frmmai.htm - NEC - NEC BBS: 508-635-4706 - Number 9, video accellerator cards. - Website: http://www.nine.com/ - Drivers FTP site ftp://ftp.nine.com - Phoenix BIOS: http://www.ptltd.com. - Philips Computer Technologies - Philips BBS: 719-593-4081 - Philips WWW site: http://www.philips.com/ - Promise Technology - FAX: (408)-452-1534 - Voice: (800)-888-0245 - Tech Support: (408)-452-1180 - BBS: (408)-452-1267 (BBS) - WWW site: http://www.promise.com/ - Quantum Corporation WWW Server http://www.quantum.com/ - Seagate http://www.seagate.com. - Seagate Software, - Upgrade your Arcada Backup for Windows95 for free! ftp://sssmg.seagate.com/pub/arcada/buwin95/abwin95.exe. - Or upgrade your Conner Backup for Windows95 for free! ftp://sssmg.seagate.com/pub/arcada/buwin95/cbewin95.exe. - For other backup software at http://www.sssmg.seagate.com (formerly Arcada). - SONY - BBS: 1-800-955-5107 - Sony's CD-ROM Drivers, http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/support/storage/drivers.html - STB Systems - STB Systems (Rocket): 800-234-4334 (voice) - STB Systems: 214-437-9615 (BBS) - STB WWW site: http://www.stb.com/ - Tseng Labs, Manufactures of the ET6000 chip used in the STB Lightspeed. - WWW Page: http://www.tseng.com/ - Toshiba Technical Support: http://www.toshiba.com/tais/csd/support - Ultrastor BBS: 714-453-8174 - US Robotics: support@usr.com, now a division of 3COM. - 800-762-6163 (faxback) - 847-982-5092 (BBS) - 847-676-7323 (fax) - 847-982-5151 (tech support) - sales@usr.com (Sales support) - 800-DIAL-USR (Sales information) - USR WWW site: http://www.usr.com/ - Western Digital: - Phone: 714-753-1234 - Web site: http://www.wdc.com/support/ 1.3.5) Where can I get cow spotted (and other) goodies? Since the spotted cow is the official mascot of Gateway 2000, it be-hooves us to keep a few cow spotted items around to keep our systems happy. Here are a couple of items spotted (heh) by Nelia Lyda: Mouse pad with the required spots (712) 255-3667 $5 plus $3.75 s/h Gateway itself also offers a Microsoft mouse with Gateway's own cow-spotted mouse pad for $79; you can get this through their add-on service. GatewayCDI (formerly "The Spot Shop") also sells Gateway2000 related merchandise. They have cow spotted/Gateway2000 shirts, coffee mugs, ball caps, underwear(!), and the Gateway2000 spotted mouse pad. GatewayCDI 2701 Clark Ave. St. Louis, MO 63103 Phone: 1-800-536-4002 8am-5pm CST Fax: 1-314-535-3637 http://www.spotshop.com. I haven't ordered any of these items, but probably will someday. I *do* have a spotted cow from one of my three year old's farm sets sitting on my system, just to be on the safe side, however. [Tod Pike speaking here] There is also a company that sells dust covers for your Gateway system (among other things, of course): PC SOFTWARE & SUPPLY (VISA or MasterCard accepted) 2404 Dakota Ave. South Sioux City, NE 68776-0278 Phone: 1-800-728-5031 8am-5pm CST Fax: 1-402-494-8711 1.3.6) How do I contact the 10th Anniversary Club? The 10th Anniversary Club is no longer being updated. Craig Moseley ran the site. Owners of 10th Anniversary systems should check out the problem- and solution-oriented WWW site of the 10th Anniversary Club. This site, which deals with issues specific to 10th Anniversary systems, also has much valuable and clearly presented Gateway-specific information: http://www.angelfire.com/sd/10thclub. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this site, you may find that it contains a bunch of helpful information, hints and links to other web sites for owners of Gateway 10th Anniversary and similarly configured Pentium 133 systems. If your Gateway computer contains any of the following components, you may find useful information at this web site: Aladdin mother board, Matrox Millenium video card, Wearnes CDD-620 6X CD ROM drive, Sanyo CDR-S16 6X CD ROM Drive, Telepath IIv 28.8 Fax Modem & Faxworks software, Altec Lansing ACS 450 Speakers, Colorado Jumbo 1400 Internal Tape Backup Unit, Western Digital Caviar AC31600 (1.6GB) hard drive Craig Moseley, 10thclub@usa.net 1.3.7) Where are some personal Gateway2000 Homepages? Not only does Gateway produce fine computers, they also produce loyal customers. Some of these have created their own web pages. Here are some links to other Gateway2000 related pages. - The Gateway2000 Support Page (one of the first) is down, http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/p/prhaikal/Home/GW2K/gw2khome.html - Gateway Users International is down, http://www.mcs.com/~brooklyn/home.html. - The GUI E-zine is also down, http://www.pionet.net/~gui/. - Craig Moseley runs the 10th Anniversary Club, No Longer updated. http://www.angelfire.com/sd/10thclub - Dr. Jarik's Flaky PC Page, formerly the Flaky Gateway Page, http://execpc.com/~jarik/flakygw.html. - Ben Myers' FAQs for upgrading Gateway motherboards is at http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/Motherboards.html. - Glen M's Page for Gateway users, http://www.li.net/~glenn9. - Steve Lee's Gateway User's Site, http://www.hgea.org/~slee/Steve05.htm. - Chris Biow's Monitor FAQ can now be found at http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/MonitorFAQ.html. - Mike Lewis' Telepath Modem FAQ also at http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/ModemFAQ.html. - Takashi Shiga's Japanese Gateway 2000 Page. http://www.kyoto.xaxon-net.or.jp/~takashi/, is down. - Y. Kishino's Ushikai and Icon's Room. http://www.ushikai.com/. Home of the Japanesse Gateway FAQ. Sorry, no english version. "Ushikai" means GATEWAY2000 user in Japanesse. - Ryoichi's Gateway 2000 User's Page. http://www.threeweb.ad.jp/~ryoichi/index.shtml. Japanese only, but some very cool Java apps. - Dick Perron's Micronics Motherboard page, http://www.gw.total-web.net/~dperr/micindex.htm. - Tim Folker's computer page and Cow Pasture webring. http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/6986/ - Jim Payne's new Gateway page. Tips on the G6-400XL. http://start.at/Gateway2000 - John Toliver's Gateway Users Group website. http://www.compu-trek.com/gw/ And finally a recent Frequently Asked Question, why am I doing all of this! Check out the answer in my mini-FAQ, http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/MiniFAQ.html. 1.4) Rumors about Gateway2000. 1.4.1) Gateway is owned/ has been bought by... Like many companies, rumors of buyouts and takeovers surround Gateway. Here are a few that have made their way into alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000. 1.4.1.1) Bill Gates. STATUS: FALSE Their is a certain amount of ignorance/paranoia of the computer industry to those on the outside. This rumor is a result of that. Some people feel that if it is computers and it has the name "Gate" in it somewhere then Bill Gates must own it. Also some people believe that Bill Gates owns or is trying to own everything. 1.4.1.2) Intel. STATUS: FALSE Another version of the Gateway buyout rumor. 1.4.1.3) Motorola. STATUS: FALSE This one has floated around the comp.sys.amiga.* newsgroups lately. They all seem to stem from one individual that seems convinced the only reason Gateway purchased Amiga is because Motorola bought Gateway. I can tell you this; anything Motorola does here in Chicago is big news. I would have heard this one. 1.4.1.4) Compaq. STATUS: FALSE, but almost true. Gateway CEO and founder Ted Wiatt did consider selling Gateway to Compaq, but changed his mind at the last minute. Ted stood to personally make millions of dollars in this deal but decided that Compaq's standards were not as high as Gateway's. It has also been said that he worried what would happen to the people who worked for him. A new verison of this rumor is that Compaq wants to buy the Gateway Country Stores or Radio Shack. Neither have been confirmed. 1.4.1.5) IBM. STATUS: FALSE. The latest rumor (end of December, 1997) is that Gateway will be bought or merge with IBM at the beginning of 1998. Both companies have denied this rumor. Currently the best source of information has been CMP Net's TechWeb. Check, http://www.techweb.com/investor/story/INV19971230S0001 and http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?CRN19980105S0127 1.4.2) Gateway is going out of business. STATUS: FALSE Various sources to this rumor. One points to Gateway's less than stellar 3Q97 earnings. Another points to the various problems with tech support, or customer service. And third has even stated because of Gateway's Midwest roots they couldn't handle business Silcon-Valley style. Gateway has posted strong 1Q98 earning. So strong that they were 22% above what industry analysts had expected. For full information check, - http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/contact/zdnn/0423/309526.html and - http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2141.html +1.4.3) Gateway (and/or Dell) will use AMD chips. STATUS: TRUE, but soon to be FALSE This rumor started on the Dell newsgroup in mid 1998 about Dell using AMD chips. It quickly morphed into Gateway, not Dell, chunking their Intel partner and going with AMD. Gateway has annouced they will begin using AMD K6-3 chips in March of 1999. They will continue to offer chips from Intel, including the new Pentium III chips. More can be read at, http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1013790,00.html. Gateway has announced (9/99) that they will no longer be using AMD chips in their computers. Check http://origin.msnbc.com/news/313613.asp?cp1=1 for details. 1.4.4) Gateway is moving to San Diego, Irvine, CA or New York. STATUS: TRUE. Gateway is moving some business to the coasts, but it's center of operations will still be in North Sioux City, SD. Here is the breakdown, - North Sioux City, SD - Operational headquarters. - San Diego, CA - New Administrative headquarters. Ted Waitt, will maintain offices in both locations. - Irvine, CA - the new site for Gateway Business in conjunction with ALR. - New York, NY - Web development headquarters. You can get the details at Gateway's site at, http://www.gateway.com/home/aboutgw/pressreleas/pr040798. And from ZiffDavis Net, http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/zdnn/0409/305973.html Section 2: Hardware Information 2.1) Motherboard - CPU Questions 2.1.1) What Motherboard do I have? 2.1.1.1) What Kind of Memory do I have? 2.1.2) How do I get into the CMOS setup? 2.1.3) How do I upgrade my BIOS? 2.1.4) My system doesn't recognize more than 16M of RAM 2.1.5) How can I upgrade my 486 to a Pentium? 2.1.5.1) I bought my 486 when it was advertised as Pentium ready. What does/did that mean? 2.1.6) How can I upgrade my Pentium to a Pentium Pro? 2.1.6.1) How can I upgrade my Pentium to a MMX Pentium? 2.1.6.2) How can I upgrade my Pentium or Pro to a Pentium II? +2.1.7) Is my Gw2k Y2k ready? 2.1.9) What are some other sources of information? 2.2) CD-ROM/DVD Questions 2.2.1) Why does my system "pause" when playing CDs? 2.2.2) How do I get Windows 95 to access all drives on the Sanyo 3-CD CD- ROM? 2.2.2.1) Is there support for the Sanyo 3-CD CD-ROM in Windows NT? 2.2.3) My CD-ROM light blinks every few seconds under Windows 95 - Why? 2.2.4) Why does the Mitsumi FX-400 CD-ROM make grinding noises? 2.2.4.1) Where can I get Mitsumi CD-ROM drivers and information? 2.2.4.2) Is there a problem with the Mitsumi 12x CD-ROM? 2.2.5) What can I do about the Wearnes CD-ROM pauses? 2.2.5.1) What other information is there about the Wearnes CD-ROM? 2.2.6) Will my NEC 260 CD-ROM run with Windows NT? 2.2.9) What are some other sources of information? 2.3) Keyboard and Mice Questions 2.3.1) How can I disable the programmability of the Anykey keyboard? 2.3.2) My Anykey keyboard produces incorrect characters. How can I fix it? 2.3.3) How can I program my AnyKey keyboard to act like a Windows95 Keyboard? 2.3.4) How can I change the repeat rate of my AnyKey keyboard? 2.4) Modem Questions 2.4.1) Why can't I connect with my (older) Telepath modem? 2.4.2) Why won't the 28.8 Telepath work with Delrina's Commsuite 95? 2.4.3) Why does my 28.8 Telepath insist on always answering? 2.4.4) Why can't I use a modem at COM4:? 2.4.5) How do I connect at 56k with my X2 Telepath? 2.4.6) Why I can't use my Telepath WinModem on NT/DOS/Linux? 2.4.9) What are some other sources of information? 2.5) Monitor and Video Questions 2.5.1) What about the missing 3 pixels on the left of my screen? 2.5.2) What are some common monitor problems? 2.5.3) Who makes the CrystalScan monitors? 2.5.4) What are the custom settings for the CS1572FS monitor? 2.5.5) Where can I get the latest drivers for my video card? 2.5.5.1) Can I use the regular Matrox drivers with Gateway's Matrox? 2.5.5.2) Where can I get Matrox BIOS and driver updates? 2.5.6) Who makes the Vivitron monitors? 2.5.6.1) What are the specs for the SONY Vivitron monitor made by SONY? 2.5.6.2) What's the right way to set up a Vivitron 21 under Windows 95? 2.5.6.3) What are those horizontal black lines on my Sony monitor? 2.5.7) How can I use the capture features on my STB TV Pro card? 2.5.8) Why do I have video problems with my tower system and not my desktop? 2.5.9) What are some other sources of information? 2.6) Soundcard and Speaker Questions 2.6.1) Why won't my SoundBlaster card work? 2.6.2) Why won't my Ensoniq card work with DOS games? 2.6.3) How do I setup my Aztech soundcard under Windows95? 2.6.4) Why can't I use two Sidewinder joysticks on my Ensoniq card? 2.6.5) Why do my Altec Lansing 450 speakers hiss so much? 2.6.9) What are some other sources of information? 2.7) Hard Drive Questions 2.7.1) How can I get my WD 540 hard drive to work correctly? 2.7.2) What is the problem with the Western Digital 1.6 Gig drive? 2.7.3) My Hard Drive/CD-ROM/IDE Controller is gone! 2.7.9) What are some other sources of information? 2.8) Other Hardware Questions 2.8.1) Why does my P5-60/P5-66/PCI486 machine lock up? (UART fix) 2.8.2) I can't access my COM 3 or COM 4 port? 2.8.3) How do I get my Bernoulli to work on the parallel port (P90 Tower)? 2.8.4) Why is there a 20-second delay during booting? Section 2: Hardware Questions 2.1) Motherboard - CPU Questions 2.1.1) What Motherboard do I have? Gateway has used a variety of motherboards over the years. Knowing what motherboard you have is helpfull when you are trying to upgrade things like memory, cache and CPUs or overdrives. The first thing to know is what CPU do you have now and what kind of socket it is set in. Gateway uses Intel CPU's exclusively, so this makes CPU identification easier. Here are the sockets for the 486 and Pentium motherboards. Socket Pins Layout Volts CPUs LIF 168 17x17 PGA 5 v SX, SX2, DX, DX2* ZIF 1 169 17x17 PGA 5 v SX, SX2, DX, DX2* ZIF 2 238 19x19 PGA 5 v SX, SX2, DX, DX2*, POD63 ZIF 3 237 19x19 PGA 5/3.3 SX, SX2, DX, DX2, DX4, POD 60/63 ZIF 4 273 21x21 PGA 5 v Pentium 60/66, POD60/66 ZIF 5 320 37x37 SPGA 3.3 v Pentium 75/90/100/120, POD90/100 ZIF 6 235 19x19 PGA 3.3 v DX4, DX4 Pentium Overdrive ZIF 7 321 21x21 SPGA VRM Pentium 75/90/100/120/133/150/166/200 *DX4 also can be supported by an aftermarket voltage regulator. PGA = Pin Grid Array SPGA = Staggered Pin Grid Array VRM = Voltage Regulator Module POD = Pentium Overdrive According to Ben Myers and to several posts to the newsgroup, all 486 motherboards made by Micronics are 5 volt only. This restricts them to LIF, ZIF 1, 2, and 3 sockets only. This rules out the 3.3 volt DX4 or Pentium overdrive for many users. Gateway has used the following 486 Micronics motherboards. (Thanks to Ben Myers for filling the blanks for me.) Micronics Other ID Typical Gw2k Phoenix BIOS TYPE 3 25/33 MHz Bus Board# Info Part# ID# ZIF? Switch? 09-00192 JX30WB (none) JX30WB-02 Y N 09-00189 JX30G MBDLOC001Ax US JX30G-12 Y Y 09-00189 JX30GP JX30GPS2 JX30GP-04 Y Y 09-00183 JX30 MLB-P24T JX30-06 Y Y 09-00169 GeminiVL/ZIF 486DXLBP24TR GLB05 Y Y 09-00144 GeminiVL/LIF 486DXLB GLB05 N Y 09-00054 80486ASICISA (unknown) G14 N 33 MHz fixed 09-00081 BabyGeminiISA (unknown) G22-2 N N (25 or 33 MHz) 09-00117 EISAASIC (none) 1.01.22.2 N N 09-00173 EISAVL EISA486LBW G24-2 Y Y For Pentium based computers Gateway has used Intel motherboards. The following Pentium boards can be checked against the BIOS revision number at boot-up. (Once again, thanks to Ben Myers.) The BIOS revision numbers listed are the LATEST ones available from Intel as of it's release date. Intel keeps revising and updating the various BIOSes. It is always best to check directly with Gateway or Intel. Note: All Gateway BIOS versions have the suffix of "T". For example, an Intel Plato BIOS from Gateway might be 1.00.12.AX1T. Bios Rev Official Intelname Codename/CPU Socket 1.00.19.R0 XpressServers 1.00.19.V0 XpressServers 1.00.19.AK0 XpressServers 1.00.19.AM0 XpressServers 1.00.07.S0 ProfessionalWorkstation 1.00.09.W0 ClassicS-Series 1.00.08.Y3 Professional/GX 1.00.05.AB0 ClassicE-Series 1.00.09.AC0 ClassicR/R-Plus (LPX486) 1.00.08.AF1 Premiere/PCIExpandableDesktop Batman(Baby-ATSocket4) 1.00.13.AF2 Premiere/PCIED Batman'sRevenge(Baby-ATSocket4) 1.00.10.AQ0 Classic/PCIExpandableDesktop Alfredo(Baby-AT486) 1.00.10.AU0 Premiere/PCILowProfile 1.00.16.AX1 Premiere/PCIIIExpandable Plato(Baby-ATSocket5) 1.00.08.AY0 Classic/PCIED Ninja 1.00.08.AZ0 Classic/PCILP Entrada 1.00.08.BB0 Premiere/PCILXLowProfile Socrates 1.00.05.BC0 Premiere/PCILCLowProfile RobinLC 1.00.07.BG0 XtendedXpressServers 1.00.18.BI0 ALTServer/CS Columbus(DualSocket5) 1.00.03.BJ0 LANDesk(r) ServerMonitorModule 1.00.06.BR0 Advanced/ZE Aladdin 1.00.04.BS0 Advanced/ZP Zappa(Baby-ATSocket5) 1.00.09.BT0 Advanced/MN Morrison(LPXSocket5) 1.00.07.BU0 Advanced/MA Monaco 1.00.05.CB0 Advanced/EV Endeavor(Baby-ATSocket5/7) 1.00.08.CG0 Performance/AU Aurora(ATXSocket8) 1.00.07.CL0 Advanced/AS Atlantis(Baby-ATSocket7) 1.00.06.CN0 Advanced/ATX Thor(ATXSocket7) 1.00.09.CS1 VS440FX Venus(ATXSocket8) 1.00.05.CT1 AP440FX Apollo/Krakatoa(LPXSocket8) 1.00.09.CV2 Advanced/RH Rhinestone(LPXSocket7) 1.00.07.DB0 Advanced/ML Marl(ATXSocket7) 1.00.04.DH0 TC430HX Tuscon(ATXSocket7) 1.00.02.DI0 PR440FX Providence(ATXSocket8) 1.00.0x.CY E430VX 1.00.0x.CW0 RU430H Ruby(LPXSocket7) 1.00.0x.DE0 NP430HX Newport(APXSocket7) 1.00.0x.DK0 CU430HX Cumberland(LPXSocket7) 1.00.0x.DD0 AG430HX Agate(ATXSocket7) ???? NV430VX Orlando/Tampa(LPXSocket7) 2.1.1.1) What Kind of Memory do I have? What memory you need to buy will be dependent on your motherboard. Gateway has a listing on their website by BIOS number at, http://www.gw2k.com/home/support/cs_techdocs/mbref/ Kingston Memory also has a site for finding what memory you need for your computer at, http://kyra.pcorder.com/Kepler/Asp/FrameKepler.asp Sky-Line Engineering also has parts, including memory for Gateway Computers. They are at http://skyline-eng.com/products.htm and http://skyline-eng.com/memory.htm for memory. Another good source is BuyingGuide.com. There memory section is at http://www.buyinguide.com/memory/. Most Gateway models are listed there as well. And finally, R&J Technology also has a memory finder for you Gateway computer, try http://www.rjtech.com/gw2000.htm. 2.1.2) How do I get into the CMOS Setup? After the system is booted to DOS, typing CTRL-ALT-ESC will bring up the CMOS screens for Micronics motherboards with the original Gateway or Micronics BIOS. On Anigma motherboards (some mini-desktops and all 486-PCI systems) use CTRL-ALT-S. What you see on the screens varies with the motherboard you have but most of the general settings are on the first page. You can use the "page up" and "page down" keys to move between CMOS pages. (Thanks to Albert Crosby and Ben Myers) One common problem with the CMOS setup is that if you are using the "highscan" option to emm386, you will not be able to enter the CMOS setup (you will lock up the system). If this happens, you should boot clean (i.e. hit F5 after you see the "starting MS-DOS" or "Starting Windows95" prompt). Then you can enter the CMOS setup normally. If you have a newer Phoenix or Microfirmware BIOS then pressing F2 will bring up the CMOS setup screens, but only prior to booting into the operating system. On Microfirmware BIOS, pressing F3 will also bring up extra information. American Megatrends, or AMI, BIOSes on older 486 computers may be entered by pressing DEL after booting. 2.1.3) How do I upgrade my BIOS? Generally speaking you will not be updating your BIOS very often. Usually it will be for a specific purpose, such as gaining access to larger hard drives or correcting a Year2000 problem. First you need to find out what motherboard you have. All older 286 and 386 and some 486 motherboards require you to replace the ROM BIOS chip. You will need to purchase the chip from MicroFirmware. Most 486es and all Pentiums (Normal, MMX, II, Pro) you can "flash" a new BIOS. The Flash BIOS can be downloaded from the net or purchased on disk. Either way you will follow the same steps. 1. Backup your computer! Very important. NOTE: If you received your BIOS on floppy you can ignore steps 2 to 4. 2. Create a bootable diskette. 3. Download BIOS and BIOS recovery program off web. 4. Unzip BIOS file and copy files to bootable diskette. 5. Shut down machine. 6. Put floppy in A drive, boot up, and BIOS upgrade will happen. Check the web site for updates to your BIOS. Gateway's page for BIOS updates: http://www.gw2k.com/home/support/hardware/8/ Micro FirmWare's Page for BIOS updates: http://www.firmware.com 2.1.4) My system doesn't recognize more than 16M of RAM. This is probably the most frequently asked question in the newsgroup! In order to use more than 16M of RAM, you need to disable shadowing in the BIOS. Go into your CMOS setup and disable the BIOS shadowing option. When you reboot, your system should see all the RAM. Note that disabling the shadow RAM may slow down your system somewhat. You may also notice that the initial "beep" at startup sounds funny. This is normal when shadowing is disabled. 2.1.5) How can I upgrade my 486 to a Pentium? I think this should qualify as the second most asked question in the newsgroup. Make sure you know which motherboard you have and which Pentium upgrade, or motherboard replacement will be needed. Gateway only supports the Intel Overdrive chips for their computers. These are the only ones they have tested. To get more information on the Intel Pentium Overdrives, see Intel's page, http://www.intel.com. There are also 5x86 CPUs out there that provide Pentium power for 486 users. Check out these companies, - AMD: http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/5x86/5x86.html, - Cyrix: http://www.cyrix.com/process/prodinfo/legacy/legacy.htm, - Evergreen: http://www.evertech.com, - ICS: http://www.interwb.com/memory.html (847) 823-2779 sells processors and complete upgrade kits featuring the Cyrix 5x86. - Kingston Turbo Chip: http://www.kingston.com/prod/procesor/tc133wpa.htm. Different Gateway users have also worked with this problem and have shared their results on the net. - John Navas has an information page for 5v motherboard users upgrading to a 5x86. - An article in PCWeek about two types of Cyrix 5x86s. - There are files and drivers that support the Cyrix 5x86. Courtesy of Peter Moss. - Other places to get the Cyrix driver files. - Cyrix 5x86 drivers for DOS. - Cyrix 5x86 drivers for Windows. - My Benchmarks after my Evergreen 586 upgrade. - To see some other benchmarks of 5x86 style chips click here, 486bench.txt. - Ben Myers' FAQs for Gateway Motherboards. 2.1.5.1) I bought my 486 when it was advertised as Pentium ready. What does/did that mean? This is also an issue with quite a few Gateway owners. Here is what I know. The design specifications vary between the various versions of the 486 chip. It mostly because of the design difference between the LIF, ZIF 1, ZIF 2 and ZIF 3 sockets. Check item 2.1.1. to find out which mother board and socket you have. The design changes resulted in changes in the proposed P24T chip that became the Pentium Overdrive. So if you have an older 486 with a LIF or ZIF 1 or 2 socket, then you are out of luck. The 83 MHz Pentium Overdrive, will not work. If you have a 25 or 50 MHz 486 with a ZIF 2, then you can upgrade to the 63 MHz Pentium Overdrive. Now if you have a 33/66 MHz 486 with a ZIF 3 Socket, then you can use the Pentium Overdrives. Of course the big question is, "Whose fault is this?" To receive Gateway's legal disclosure on the matter then call 1-800-555-2070. You can also write to Gateway's Legal Department at: Gateway Legal Department P.O. Box 2000 610 Gateway Dr. North Sioux City, SD 57049-2000 Don't call Technical Support, unless you enjoy exercises in futility. I personally believe the problem lies with Intel, for changing the design of the P24T Overdrive and not supporting the existing 486 design, AND to Gateway for advertising "Vapor-Ware", when no such product existed. Here is what happened according to Ben Myers, One of Intel's dirty little secrets is the Pentium OverDrive (POD) for the Type 3 ZIF socket. The story goes as follows, more or less, confirmed by several unofficial sources inside Intel and at least one motherboard manufacturer that I can remember... Chapter I. Intel issues a preliminary spec for the POD and makes up sample prototype chips for motherboard manufacturers. The manufacturers design and manufacture millions of boards with Type 3 ZIF sockets required for the POD. And the boards adhere to the preliminary spec, and run just fine with the proto chips. Chapter II. Intel decides to change the POD spec, issues a final one, and begins manufacturing PODs that meet the FINAL spec. The final spec adds a write-back internal cache for better performance, and maybe some other things. Chapter III. All heck breaks loose because the POD is incompatible with millions of boards, very few consumers know which boards are and aren't compatible. So lots of PODs don't work right, or don't work at all. Chapter IV. Motherboard manufacturers revise designs to be compatible with final POD specification, and produce more boards. In the meantime, the POD has gotten a bad rep. It's amazing that Intel continues to use the name for other Pentium-class chips! 2.1.6) How can I upgrade my Pentium to a Pentium Pro? In a word or two, you can't. Neither Gateway nor Intel has ever made this claim. But don't let that stop you. Now you can upgrade your Pentium to a 6x86. This is similar to the above procedures for 486 owners, save I know less about it. Currently the only 6x86's on the market are by Cyrix, http://www.cyrix.com and AMD, http://www.amd.com. Gandalf's upgrading your Pentium to a 6x86 page, http://www.together.net/~gandalf/index.htm. Keep in mind that Gateway does support any other CPU than Intel. Cyrix, in fact, is now in direct competition with Gateway for the home PC market. If this is something you decide on doing, you could find yourself without any tech support from Gateway. 2.1.6.1) How can I upgrade my Pentium to a MMX Pentium? I got this information from some tech support people at Intel. Intel plans to introduce a family of Pentium(R) OverDrive(R) processors with MMX(TM) technology in 1997 for upgradiale Pentium processor-based systems. There will be Pentium OverDrive processors with MMX technology available for Pentium processor based - systems with Socket 5 or 7 available in speeds up to 166 MHz in the first half of 1997. There will be Pentium OverDrive processors with MMX technology available for Pentium processor based - systems with Socket 7 available in speeds up to 200 MHz in the second half of 1997. There will not be a Pentium OverDrive processor with MMX technology for 60 or 66 MHz Pentium processor - based systems. More specific product detail or compatibility information is not available until product introduction. For now, see Intel's website at http://www.intel.com/overdrive/mmx.htm or http://cs.intel.com/Intel/microprocessors/overdrive_processors/ Also a company called Powerleap sells upgrades for Gateway (an other) Pentium computers. Their URL is http://www.powerleap.com/gateway.htm. 2.1.6.2) How can I upgrade my Pentium or Pro to a Pentium II? This one is going to be a real pain in the neck. The motherboards for the new Pentium II are completely different. The Pentium II uses a slot configuration instead of the Pentium's socket style. Currently you can only do a motherboard swap. Although it is much more desirable to get a new Pentium II system. +2.1.7) Is my Gw2k Y2k ready? To check if you computer's BIOS and motherboard is Year 2000 ready go through these steps. 1. Change your system clock to 11:50 pm, December 31, 1999. Use the DATE command or Right-Click on the system tray. 2. Shut down and turn off your computer. 3. Wait about 15 minutes. 4. Turn on your computer and check the system date and time. 5. If it says anything besides Sunday, Jan 1, 2000, you will have Y2K problems. Also you should created a new file, doesn't matter what, and save it. Check it's properties. It should read "Last Modified Sunday, Jan 1, 2000." Remember this only checks your system's BIOS and the Operating System's Y2k compliance. You will need to test other software as well. Check the companies web pages for details; check Microsoft for Access or Excel problems. You can also test your PC's Y2K compliance and get more information from, - http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/special/y2k/index.html - http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/download/swcol.y2k.html - http://www.y2k.com/ - http://www.zdnet.com/vlabs/y2k/testy2k.html - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/topics/year2k/default.htm - - http://www.gateway.com/frameset2.asp?s=corp&p=support&a=&url=/corp/y2k/y2k/default.html - http://www.runser.com/2000/compliance.htm *Remember, 2000 is a LEAP year. Normally years that are divisible by 100 are not, but 2000 is an exception. * You also need to check 1/1/11 and 9/9/99. Some programmers used 1111 and 9999 as place holders for anything. You can also get Microsoft's Y2k tester at http//microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/wurecommended/s_wufeatured/win95y2k/default.asp Another important site for Y2k concerns is http//www.microsoft.com/y2k/hoax/y2khoax.htm 2.1.9) What are some other sources of information? There are plenty sources of information for motherboards, chips and their problems. Try the following resources. Newsgroups, - news://comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips - news://comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems - news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.motherboards Web pages, - http://www.computercraft.com/docs/old486.html - http://www.intel.com/ - http://www.randomc.com/~dperr/pc_hdwe.htm - http://www.sysopt.com/ 2.2) CD-ROM/DVD Questions 2.2.1) Why does my system "pause" when playing CDs? Some people have noticed that when they are playing CD's there system will pause every time the HD light blinks. This is usually found on P5-90 systems with the NEC IDE CD-ROM drives. The answer is: The NEC is connected to the IDE interface and this will cause the drive light to blink. If you are doing any hard drive accesses or reads at the same time as the NEC is being accessed, this can cause the "jumps." What you can do to check this is to make sure the CD drive and the hard drive are on separate interfaces. With your system, the hard drives should be connected to the PCI IDE interface which is the farthest toward the back of the system. The CD drive should be on the ISA IDE interface which is just behind the floppy drive interface on the motherboard. Also, some people have noted that the AudioStation CD audio player that comes with the Ensoniq sound card can cause these kinds of system problems -- you can try the CD audio player from the Corel CD-ROM sampler or get one of the shareware players from one of the many anonymous FTP sites and try it. (Thanks to Seth Tisue for this additional note!) 2.2.2) How do I get Windows 95 to access all drives on the Sanyo 3-CD CD- ROM? >From Lori Nagel, Gateway tech support: Here's the steps you need to get access to all three drives with the 3-disk changer under Windows 95: 1. Right click on the MY COMPUTER icon. Then on PROPERTIES. 2. Click on the DEVICE MANAGER tab. 3. Double-click on HARD DISK CONTROLLERS. 4. Then double-click on the SECOND listing for "Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller." 5. Uncheck Original Configuration (current). 6. Click OK until it closes and then restart Win 95. You should now be able to use all three of the drives. The Sanyo 3-CD Changer driver for Windows95 can be found on Frank's Driver Page, http://windows.rust.net/sanyo.zip. 2.2.2.1) Is there support for the Sanyo 3-CD CD-ROM in Windows NT? Using atapi.sys, you can use it as a single drive. Windows NT 4.0 does support the drive also using atapi.sys. 2.2.3) My CD-ROM light blinks every few seconds under Windows 95 - Why? This is due to the Windows 95 automatic CD-ROM detection. This allows you to put in a CD and Windows 95 will automatically mount it (if it is a data CD) or start the music player (if it is an audio CD). If the blinking annoys you (or causes your system to pause or stutter) you can turn it off by opening the System control panel. Open the Device Manager tab and select your CD-ROM device. Click Properties and under the Settings tab turn off Auto insert notification. That will take care of it! 2.2.4) Why does the Mitsumi FX-400 CD-ROM make grinding noises? There have been reports of this drive making grinding noises while accessing CDs. Some users have also reported that several key presses were needed to eject the disks and that they sometimes came out spinning. The fix is to contact Gateway and ask for a replacement model FX-400D. There have been several postings that this replacement drive does not have these problems. (Thanks to Alan Briggs!) 2.2.4.1) Where can I get Mitsumi CD-ROM drivers and information? http://www.eciusa.com/cdrom.html has drivers for Mitsumi CD-ROMs, a FAQ, jumper settings, tech support (via a form) and guidance on determining what driver you need. (Thanks to Ken Salerno!) Here are some other sites, - Mitsumi's official site, ECI,http://www.eciusa.com/mitsumiproducts.html. - David Elfstrom excellent site on Mitsumi information, http://qlink.queensu.ca/~3dre/mitsumi.html. - The OS/2 fix at ftp://ftp.sei.cmu.edu/pub/gateway2000/Mitsumi/MITFIX.EXE. - and a Windows NT 3.x fix, ftp://ftp.sei.cmu.edu/pub/gateway2000/Mitsumi/MITSU.EXE. 2.2.4.2) Is there a problem with the Mitsumi 12x CD-ROM? There has been some discussion of late of problems with the Mitsumi 12x CD-ROM drive. The drives do make a loud vibrating sound. The Gateway tech person I spoke to said that while the drives are loud (she compared it to a blow dryer) they have not had any reported problems. Any more information on this subject would be very helpful. 2.2.5) What can I do about the Wearnes CD-ROM pauses? Many have reported irritating pauses with this CD-ROM. There have been three models vended by Gateway, AAWW, ABWW, and ACWW. The last one will show a great deal of improvement but will not eliminate the problem for everybody. Call tech support at Gateway and get a replacement and be sure to specify the ACWW. There is no ADWW -- that's just a rumor at this time, per Lori Nagel of Gateway. The whole part number for the ACWW is CDRIDE011ACWW. 2.2.5.1) What other information is there about the Wearnes CD-ROM? If you have problems with the Wearnes CD-ROM drive then contact Gateway 2000. Customers that call in for problems with a Wearnes CD ROM will receive a replacement Toshiba. The Wearnes are not shipped due to multiple replacement issues. 2.2.6) Will my NEC 260 CD-ROM run with Windows NT? The 260 is not compatible; the 260R is. The 260, which was sold by Gateway for a while, ended up not compliant with the emerging ATAPI 1.2 standard. For a while, Gateway replaced the 260s with 260Rs for those customers using Windows NT. You can install NT from an unsupported CD (use winnt.exe from the install disk, type winnt /? for the list of options). Or you can install NT from your hard drive (see the NT installation documentation for details). (Thanks to Walter Arnold and Edmond Underwood!) 2.2.9) What are some other sources of information? There are plenty sources of information for CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs. Try the following resources. Newsgroups, - news://alt.video.dvd - news://comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.cd-rom - news://rec.video.dvd.* - news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.multimedia Web pages, - Hitachi Download, http://www.hitachi.com/Specs/Cdrom/Docs/download.html. - Hitachi Data Systems, http://www.hdshq.com/. - Sony's web page, http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/support/storage/drivers.html. - DVD FAQ, http://www.videodiscovery.com/vdyweb/dvd/dvdfaq.html. 2.3) Keyboard and Mice Questions 2.3.1) How can I disable the programmability of the Anykey keyboard? Sometimes (especially if you have young children who like to play with your computer) you can get the Anykey keyboard programmed into a strange state. While you can reset the keyboard to the default configuration by pressing the Control and Alt keys and the pressing Suspend Macro, a better way to "fix" the problem is by disabling the program feature. You can do this by using the command ANYKEY T ANYKEY in your autoexec.bat, adding the path if needed. (Thanks to Dave Grabowski for this information!) 2.3.2) My Anykey keyboard produces incorrect characters. How can I fix it? It may have been accidentally remapped. First try the key combination: [Ctrl-Alt-SuspndMacro]. If that doesn't work, try this, which will destroy all macros you have stored: [Remap] - [Ctrl] - [Ctrl] - [Alt] - [Alt] - [Remap] then, as before, [Ctrl-Alt-SuspndMacro]. Note: on newer models, it may be [Ctrl-Remap] in the above sequence instead of just [Remap]. 2.3.3) How can I program my AnyKey keyboard to act like a Windows95 Keyboard? To make your Anykey Keyboard into a Windows95 keyboard. Program a blank key as the Windows logo key. The windows logo key is " " and e to run explorer " " and r for run " " and f for find The other key is rightclick. Which can be programmed as 2.3.4) How can I change the repeat rate of my AnyKey keyboard? To change the refesh rate of your Gateway Anykey keyboard do the following in DOS mode or a DOS shell. 1. Press the Repeat Rate Key (found in the upper-right corner of the keyboard). The Program LED should begin to flash. 2. Function keys F1 through F8 produce the following repeat rates: Press Characters per Second (CPS) F1 2 F2 3 F3 5 F4 7 F5 10 F6 15 F7 20 F8 30 3. Press the function key that produces the rate you want, then press the Repeat Rate key again. The Program LED stops flashing and the new repeat rate is set. This setting overides anything in the Control Panel or the DOS MODE setting. Note: This will also work for the MaxiSwitch MaxiKey keyboard. I have tested this on both. 2.4) Modem Questions 2.4.1) Why can't I connect with my (older) Telepath modem? There have been many reported problems with the older Telepath modems shipped with Gateway systems. So many, in fact, that Gateway is now shipping modems made by US Robotics which are much better than the old ones. These modems are still called Telepath (the new ones are model 550), so you have to check the exact model numbers to see if your model is a problem one. In general, the older Telepath modems have problems in connecting. Some people have few problems, while other people have lots. The problem doesn't have an easy fix, but you can often connect by fiddling with the modem init strings. One set of strings that has been successful in connecting to many systems is this: AT&FW1&C1&D2S7=60S11=55S95=3 (This string was provided by Tom Grelinger.) If this doesn't work, turn off compression using AT%C0 and if the connection still fails, turn off both error correction and compression using AT&Q6. If the modems still fail to connect, try reducing the speed of the connection by setting the N code to 0 (ATN0) and setting S37 to one of the following values: Speed S37 value 12000 10 9600 9 7200 12 4800 8 2400 6 1200 5 300 3 Obviously, you want to start at the highest speed and work down until you find a value that allows you to connect. If you are forced to connect at slower speeds, this indicates that you may have a noisy phone line. You may want to contact your local telephone company to have them check your line. One good hint to try when using Crosstalk for Windows (the software shipped with the modems from Gateway 2000) is to set the box to show modem commands, and also set the S95 value to 44 on the modem (ATS95=44). This will display the DCE speed (the actual speed the modem connected at), the protocol (either LAPM or alt), compression (v.42bis or MNP5) and the DTE speed (speed between the modem and computer). Gateway also recommends that you check the voltage between your neutral and ground wires on the outlet you plug the system into. Apparently the older Telepath modems need a very good ground to work correctly. (If anyone has more ideas, I'll include them in the FAQ - editor) 2.4.2) Why won't the 28.8 Telepath work with Delrina's Commsuite? The 28.8 Telepath is an OEM version of the US Robotics Sportster and as such uses the TI chipset. Delrina's Commsuite supports only with the Rockwell chipset. Also, the 28.8 Telepath uses fax class 2.0 (different from just "2") and this is also not supported by WinFax 7.0. Talkworks will not work reliably with the Telepath, although there is now a patch at http://www.delrina.com/ for modems manufactured by US Robotics (USR). Note: Delrina has been purchased by Symantec. This link is still active though. 2.4.3) Why does my 28.8 Telepath insist on picking up the phone? Some of the earlier ones wouldn't accept an S0=0 command (two zeroes there). The workaround is to type these two lines to the modem: ATS0=255 then [Enter] (that's a zero after the "s") AT&W then [Enter] The first line tells the modem to answer on the 255th ring, the second to write the new setting to non- volatile RAM (NVRAM). 2.4.4) Why can't I use a modem at COM4:? Most video boards, including the ATI, use the address space for COM4:. You can't get around it, sorry. 2.4.5) How do I connect at 56k with my X2 Telepath? Some users have reported problems connecting or maintaining a 56k connection. This of course is dependent on your phone lines. John Navas, of the Navas Group, suggests turning off V.42. For more information please see his FAQ, http://web.aimnet.com/~jnavas/modem/faq.html. 2.4.6) Why I can't use my Telepath WinModem on NT/DOS/Linux? The Telepath WinModem (or any USR/3Com Winmodem) cannot be used under operating systems other than Windows. This means Windows NT, DOS, OS/2 or Linux cannot use the Winmodem. The modem works by moving what had been hardware components to software, namely to Windows virtural device drivers, VxDs. The advantages are upgradebilty of the modems and cheaper hardware costs. There have been some patches to use Winmodems under Windows NT. I have not used any of these files myself. Gateway's pages of drivers for Telepath winmodems is at, http://www.gateway.com/support/product/drivers/modem/ and for V90 upgrades, http://www.gateway.com/support/product/drivers/modem/v90.html. 2.4.9) What are some other sources of information? There are plenty sources of information for Modems. Try the following resources. Newsgroups, - news://comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.comm - news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.telecomm Web Pages, - Modem information about Gateway modems in Mike Lewis' most helpful Telepath-IIv and Windows 95 FAQ http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/ModemFAQ.html. - General modem information in John Navas' excellent 28800 Modem FAQ, http://web.aimnet.com/~jnavas/modem/faq.html. 2.5) Monitor and Video Questions 2.5.1) What about the missing 3 pixels on the left of my screen? (This is the Georgh Mah memorial question) Several people have reported that with certain versions of the ATI Graphics Ultra Pro video board they are experiencing a condition where 3 pixels are missing from the left side of their screen. The conditions appear to be: ATI GUP boards with 1MB of video memory and a certain BIOS Windows 640x480 video mode with 65K colors. Any applications run at full screen will be missing the three pixels from the left side of the screen. If you have this configuration and experience this problem, you can request a fix for your ATI board at no cost (regardless of the age of your system) through Gateway. The best bet is to send an e-mail message to gwjohn@gw2kbbs.com with the request - he is handling most of these reports on the Internet. ATI has admitted this condition exists on versions of their GUP board, and is providing support through Gateway 2000. 2.5.2) What are some common monitor problems? This is a common problem reported with ATI boards and many different monitors. It usually shows up as a bright line or band running along the left side of the monitor -- if you have a light or white background it is most visible. This problem is often caused by the monitor overscanning on the left side of the screen. The fix is to remove the overscanning. First you should use your normal monitor controls to try to center the image on the screen as best as you can. This will often help some, but not completely remove the problem. Next, you should use the ATI setup programs to center the board's idea of the screen. To do this, exit to DOS and cd to your ATI driver directory. Now run install and select Set Power-up configuration. Select your monitor type and the resolution you normally run at. Now you should be in the monitor adjustment mode, and should notice that the screen is (apparently) shifted way to the left. Use the controls to center the screen, and save the settings. This should fix the problem. Other people have stated that the video extension cable provided with the Gateway tower systems have caused this problem. You can test this by running the monitor with just the short cable provided with the monitor. If the bright line goes away, you've found the problem. You can either get a new cable from Gateway, or just run the system on the shorter one if it reaches. There are also reports that problems with wavy displays can be caused by the power supply of the computer. In this case, the user had replaced everything in the system without correcting the problem, and replacing the power supply fixed it. One way to isolate this would be to move the monitor away from the system as far as the video cable will allow and see if the problem goes away or changes. You can also try to put some shielding between the system and monitor to see if the problem is reduced. 2.5.3) Who makes the CrystalScan monitors? Gateway gets the CrystalScan monitors from Samsung. Gateway did get them from Mag Innovison. Look on the back for the letters "SAM" in the part number. The CrystalScan 1572 DG model, however, is made by GoldStar and has digital controls. Some of the larger (i.e., 17") CrystalScan monitors now have tubes made by Sony. Thanks to Rich Rauch! 2.5.4) What are the custom settings for the CS1572FS monitor? If you want to adjust the screen position and size, you can use the following settings in the ATI setup program: 640x480 72 Hz 800x600 72 Hz 1024x768 60 Hz 1280x1024 87 Hz 2.5.5) Where can I get the latest drivers for my video card? ATI Video Cards The best location for ATI drivers is ATI itself. You can connect to their internet sites or bulletin board system for drivers. You can also call ATI and the will send you floppies. WWW: http://www.atitech.ca/drivers/drivers.html FTP: ftp://ftp.atitech.ca/pub/support/ BBS: 905-764-9404 Fax: 905-882-2620 Sales: 905-882-2600 Tech Support: 905-882-2626 Diamond Video Cards ftp://ftp.diamondmm.com/pub/display/viper/ - Diamond BBS 2400/14400 baud: 408-325-7080 - Diamond BBS 9600/28800 baud: 408-325-7175 - Diamond Main number: 408-325-7000 - Diamond Tech Support: 408-325-7100 Also, if you have Internet access, the larger FTP sites such as ftp.winsite.com (formerly CICA) and wuarchive.wustl.edu generally have current drivers for many of the popular boards. For example, on ftp.winsite.com, you can look in /pub/pc/win3/drivers/video. The Diamond Viper is unsupported under Windows95. Diamond is offering a trade in program for Viper owners. 2.5.5.1) Can I use the regular Matrox drivers with Gateway's Matrox? According to Eanna Lennon, GW2k Sysop, Europe: "The Drivers are Exactly the same, there is no difference whatsoever." 2.5.5.2) Where can I get Matrox BIOS and driver updates? >From the Matrox WWW site: http://www.matrox.com/mgaweb/ftp_mill.htm 2.5.6) Who makes Vivitron monitors? MAG Innovision and Sony. MAGs are made in Taiwan by MAG Innovision (of CrystalScan fame) using Sony Trinitron tubes Sonys are assembled by Sony and tested by Sony and the back panel says "Made by Sony" . You should also find a back-panel plate with something like "Model CPD - xxxxxx", in Sony tradition. Both the MAG and Sony products use a Trinitron tube, which has horizontal curvature -- but no vertical curvature. And the damper wires are visible with some backgrounds (see 2.5.9, below). (Thanks to John Lewis and Martin Basil for making this clear!) 2.5.6.1) What are the specs for the SONY Vivitron monitor made by SONY? >From the SONY Vivitron 1776 CPD-17F13 user's guide: CRT - 17-inch diagonal (16 inches visual), 0.25mm aperture grille pitch, 90 deg deflection Resolution - 1280 dots max horizontal; 1024 lines max vertical Display colors - Unlimited Scanning frequency - Horizontal 31.5 to 64 kHz; Vertical 50 to 120 Hz. Display area - 328 x 242 mm (w/h) typical Standard picture size - Approx. 300 x 225 mm (w/h) Power input - 100 to 120 VAC, 50/60 Hz 1.8 A; 220 to 240 VAC, 50-60 Hz 1 A Dimensions - Approx. 406 x 426.5 x 453 mm (w/h/d) Weight - Approx. 19 Kg [about 42 pounds] Certifications - UL, CSA, DHHS, TUV, FCC Class B, BZT, MPR-II, VCCI Power Management - Meets Energy Star requirements. (Thanks to Bev =^.^= Parks!) 2.5.6.2) What's the right way to set up a Vivitron 21 under Windows 95? The Vivitron 21, under Windows 95, should be set up as a Mitsubishi DiamondScan Pro 21. So, under your Display, and Settings, click on Change Display Type, and then on Change under the monitor settings. Click on Show all devices and then choose Mitsubishi on the left, and DiamondScan Pro 21 on the right. (Thanks to Lori Nagel of Gateway 2000.) 2.5.6.3) What are those horizontal black lines on my Sony monitor? This is becoming a frequent question now that Gateway is using monitors with Sony tubes in them. Sony monitors (and OEM monitors that use Sony tubes) have a different way of setting up their phosphor masks. While most monitors use a metal sheet with holes in it, Sony uses a sheet with thin vertical slots. This allows Sony tubes to have a brighter and sharper picture, but this design forces them to put one (or two, depending on the size of the tube) reinforcing wires that run horizontally across the mask. The shadow from these wires are what you see as black lines across the screen. This behavior is most noticeable when you have a light background, and is totally normal for Sony monitors and tubes. 2.5.7) How can I use the capture features on my STB TV Pro card? OK, this program is not the best thing for capturing still images, but with a little work it can be done. If you bring up the remote and click the "capture" button, it will bring up an option to capture video or audio. Choose "video" and it should open an image of the screen. Then if you click "options" then "preview", the image will update and start moving the frames again. When you get to the frame you want, click the "capture a single frame" button, which is the 5th button from the left, or the 1st button in the group of four buttons. After that, click on "file" then "save single frame", which will pop up a box to allow you to give the frame a name and a location to save it to. The program will only save the file as a .dib file. You can then convert the .dib file to a .bmp file with the Windows Imaging program (simply open Windows Imaging, then open the .dib file, then click on "file" and "save as" and choose to save it as a .bmp file). Anyone with Windows can view a .bmp image, but it's not the best format around. If you want to convert the file to a .jpg, I don't know of anything in Windows that will do that, but there are several decent shareware programs available to convert images from almost any format to almost any other. Now, if you got all that and you happen to have the Intel Intercast Software (which came with my system and I imagine comes with all the systems with the TV card), capturing images with it is VERY EASY. If you just open the Intercast program it will have an icon of a camera to the left of the picture. To capture single frames, simply click that camera icon and it will get the frame, assign it a name (based on the channel and the time) and save it as a .bmp in an Intercast subdirectory. MUCH easier. Thanks to Darren for writing the bulk of this information. 2.5.8) Why do I have video problems with my tower system and not my desktop? Users have reported that the extension video cable provided by Gateway with their tower systems can sometimes cause video problems such as a wavy display. If your system is close enough to your monitor, just take out the extension cable and use the regular one provided with the monitor. If this fixes the problem, call Gateway for a new cable. 2.5.9) What are some other sources of information? There are plenty sources of information for monitors and their problems. Try the following resources. First, a warning: There are potentially lethal voltages inside a monitor, even after it's been turned off for sometime. So, I am certainly not recommending anyone open up their monitor. Newsgroups, - news://comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video - news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.video Web pages, - There is a monitor repair FAQ written by Chris Biow that is posted to the newsgroup from time to time and a permanent copy of which is available at http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/MonitorFAQ.html (Thanks to Chris Biow!) - A more general but very thorough one is found at http://www.paranoia.com/~filipg/HTML/REPAIR/F_mon_repair.html (Thanks to Clint Winstead!) 2.6) Soundcard Questions 2.6.1) Why won't my SoundBlaster card work? The Gateway CD-ROM uses IRQ5 (interrupt 5) by default, and so does the SoundBlaster card. Thus, you need to configure your SoundBlaster card to use a different interrupt. Most people have had success using IRQ7 for their SoundBlaster card even though that is supposedly reserved for the printer. Set the jumpers on the card as shown in the SB manual, then use the sequence [Ctrl-Alt-Esc] to go into the CMOS setup and disable the LPT1 IRQ. Make sure you use interrupt 7 in your AUTOEXEC.BAT driver setup line for the SoundBlaster also. (Thanks to Mike Doel for this information!) Also note that if you are using a program such as LapLink, using IRQ7 for the SoundBlaster will force LapLink into polling mode. You can get around this problem by turning the IRQ on just before using LapLink and then turning it back off when you are done. Since you probably won't be using LapLink and the SoundBlaster at the same time, this shouldn't cause problems, but it is inconvenient. (Thanks to Chaim Frenkel for the information on disabling IRQ7 and LapLink!) Creative Labs also has an FTP site on the Internet which has information about SoundBlaster Cards and other Creative Labs products. The address is - ftp://ftp.creaf.com/ - ftp://creative.creaf.com/ There are also Web sites at, - http://www.creaf.com/. - http://www.soundblaster.com/. 2.6.2 Why won't my Ensoniq card work with DOS games? Win95 set up will REM the lines for the sound card in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Open the file with a text editor or Notepad and delete REM to activate them again. Thanks to Ed Pawlowski! 2.6.3) How do I setup my Aztech soundcard under Windows95? After you install the support software for a Gateway Aztech sound card, the installation program displays a message stating that it is restarting Windows 95. The installation program then reports that it can be installed only in Windows 3.1, and restarts the computer. You may also receive an error message concerning the DMA channel used by the sound card. The support software for this sound card was designed for Windows 3.1 and fails to correctly identify Windows 95. The drivers for the sound card should be installed correctly, even though you received the error message stated above. If you received an error message concerning the DMA channel, follow these steps to verify or adjust the DMA setting: 1. In Control Panel, double-click the System icon. 2. On the Device Manager tab, double-click the Sound, Video, And Game Controllers branch. 3. Click the Aztech sound card, and then click Properties. 4. On the Resources tab, check the DMA setting. If you think the setting may be incorrect for the sound card, consult the sound card's documentation for the correct setting. 2.6.4) Why can't I use two Sidewinder joysticks on my Ensoniq card? If you have a Gateway computer with an Ensoniq Soundscape VIVO sound card, and you're trying to connect two Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro joysticks with a Y-cable, you might have problems. Specifically, when you try to calibrate the joysticks, you may get the message in the Control Panel, Joystick Properties that the second joystick is not connected properly. Gateway says to change the Joystick 1 selection to 2-axis, 2-button joystick, and calibrate. Then do the same for Joystick 2. 2.6.5) Why do my Altec Lansing 450 speakers hiss so much? There is a known defect with some of the 450s. You can call Altec Lansing at 1-800-258-3288 and make arrangements for them to add more shielding which will help some or you can call Gateway and get a downgrade to other speakers plus a small rebate or get an RMA to return the speakers. 2.6.9) What are some other sources of information? There are plenty sources of information for sound cards and their problems. Try the following resources. Newsgroups, - comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc - news://comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech - news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.multimedia Web pages, - http://www.soundblaster.com/ - http://www.ensoniq.com/ - http://www.faqs.org/faqs/games/incompatibility/cirrus-soundblaster/ 2.6) Hard Drive Questions 2.7.1) How can I get my WD 540 hard drive to work correctly? (This section mainly refers to people who have older (i.e., 486) systems with a BIOS that does not allow for disks with more than 1023 cylinders. If you have a later system (i.e. Pentium) you probably want to look into the section on setting up 32-bit disk access.) Many people with the new WD 540 Meg hard drives are experiencing problems when configuring their drives. The basic problem is that almost all pre-1994 BIOSs do not allow drives with a number of cylinders >= 1024. If you use the auto configure BIOS settings for a WD 540 drive, it will autoconfigure to a value > 1023 cylinders, which will cause format and other DOS programs to fail. The "solution" is to manually configure your drive as follows: Cyl = 1023 Hd = 16 Sec = 63 You will not be able to use the entire 540 meg capacity of your drive, but it will be usable under DOS and Windows. Note that OS/2 versions before Warp 3.0 probably ARE affected by this problem as well. Also, you probably won't run into this problem if your drive is preformatted and pre-configured (i.e., you don't need to run fdisk or format on the drive). You will, however, not be able to have 32bit disk and file access enabled in Windows if your drive is > 1023 Cylinders. Thanks to Richard Leonetti of Micro Firmware for pointing out that the problematic limitation is in the older BIOSs, not DOS itself! 2.7.2) What is the problem with the Western Digital 1.6 Gig drive? Western Digital has announced that there is a problem with some of the WDC AC31600H 1.6 Gig EIDE hard drives. They provide a test utility, WD31600.EXE, to test your drive, but it is currently not availible at their site. It still is (was) on AOL's Western Digital site and it can be found on David S. Eitelbach's FTP site. Just FTP to ftp.crl.com/users/ds/dseitel/gateway/wd_diag.exe, use at your own risk of course! It can also be found in England, courtesy of Michael Humberston at http://www.philomel.demon.co.uk/Diagnostic/wd31600.exe The official information can be found at http://www.wdc.com/products/ac31600-quality.html The technical specs for this drive are at http://www.wdc.com/products/drives/drive- specs/AC31600.html 2.7.3) My Hard Drive/CD-ROM/IDE Controller is gone! Many on the newsgroup will remember that this happened to me recently! This problem manifests itself in various ways, all of which end up with you IDE controller "disapearing" from your Windows system properties. Any IDE device such as a Hard Drive or CD-ROM attached to this device will also disappear. Common errors will occur, like a "blue-screen-of-death" saying, "An exception 0E has occurred at 0028:C100824C in VxD ---. This was called from 0028:C557D9DA in VxD CDVSD(01)+000001C6." Common solutions are a bad controller card, a bad hard drive, or even a bad IDE cable. In my case this was an on board IDE controller. The solution that worked came from (no surprise) Ben Myers. If your system has a MicroFirmware BIOS, then it's a PnP BIOS, no? As such, it is susceptible to incorrect updating of the ESCD by Windows 95. The Extended System Configuration Data is where all the PnP info is stored for use by an operating system. I don't recall whether the MFI BIOS has a function to clear the ESCD, but, if it does, use it. Things will get remarkably better real quick. If your version of BIOS does not have a function to clear the ESCD, then you need to download CLRESCSD.EXE from the gw2k website, and follow the instructions inside to make up a bootable diskette that executes the program that actually clears the ESCD. In any event, after clearing the ESCD and getting your Windows 95 hardware configuration stable again, go into Windows 95 Device Mangler (oops! That's Manager) and check the box that stops Win 95 from updating the ESCD. The Gateway website is at http://www.gateway2000.se/support/techsupt/fb/3100/3124.htm Thanks again to Ben Myers and Carol Horton (who sent me pretty much the same information a few minutes later.) Another solution can be found on Intel's site at http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/ideinfup.htm 2.7.9) What are some other sources of information? There are plenty sources of information for hard drives and their problems. Try the following resources. Newsgroups, - comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage - news://customernews.gateway.com/gw.desktop-tower.storage-devices Web pages, Peter den Haan maintains the official Enhanced IDE/Fast ATA/ATA2 FAQ. It answers several questions about IDE drives, including IDE vs. SCSI and installing a hard drive in Windows95. This is a very useful resource. Information can be read online or downloaded in text, html, or Adobe format. It is located at, - http://come.to/eide or - http://thef-nym.sci.kun.nl/~pieterh/storage.html le of Contents 2.8) Other Hardware Questions 2.8.1) Why does my P5-60/P5-66/PCI486 machine lock up? (UART fix) Several people have reported this condition when using communications programs on their P5-60 or P5-66 machines (I have also received reports that this has happened on PCI bus 486 machines). This problem is caused by a defective chip provided by Intel on their motherboards. There is a software "fix" that works with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (available from Microsoft and Gateway on their BBS), but this works only with WfWG. Bob Nick (bnick@HiWAAY.NET) has written a program (uart.com) which will prevent the machine from locking up under DOS, Windows, and OS/2, but it must be run between each communications session to be effective. This program is available from the Gateway BBS as uartfix.exe or by FTP on ftp.sei.cmu.edu along with an accompanying text file. Intel and SMC have admitted the problem exists and that it is generic to many P5 machines. Recent machines (after August, 1994) probably do not exhibit the problem. 2.8.2) I can't access my COM 3 or COM 4 port? Some Gateway computers do not release the IRQ when they are finished using COM1 or COM2. This prevents Windows95 from using COM3 or COM4. To fix this Microsoft suggests that you change the IRQ on the extended COM ports to 2, 5, or 7. In Windows95 use the Device Manager to change the COM port settings. 2.8.3) How do I get my Bernoulli to work on the parallel port (P90 Tower)? This applies to the Gateway P90 Tower and the Bernoulli 90 -- it may give clues to other systems. Go into CMOS at boot-up and change the parallel address to 378 under peripherals -- then go into System and change STARTUP CPU SPEED to Low. After you are finished return both settings to the original. (This hint is from Marilyn Shea - Thanks!) 2.8.4) Why is there a 20-second delay during booting? This is caused by a conflict between your hard drive and CD-ROM drive. Check the jumpers on your CD-ROM drive - your CD-ROM drive should be configured in CS (cable select) mode, rather than Master. Changing the jumper to CS should get rid of the delay. A couple other things to try as well: Reboot the computer and press F1 to enter setup. 1. Highlight Hard Disk C (the model number should be in the box). Choose it and see if the delay options for boot-up are there. It may be under "Boot Options", then "Hard Disk Pre-delay". If so, set to 5 seconds. 2. Go to boot options. Hit enter and you can now set parameters for boot-up of the machine. Make sure that boot options are set to Turbo. (Thanks to Ted Northrop and Bob Mitchell!) Section 3: Software Information 3.1) Windows Questions 3.1.1) Windows 3.1x & Windows for Workgroups. 3.1.1.1) How can I enable the 32 bit features of hard drives? 3.1.1.2) Why can't I install Windows for Workgroups with ATI drivers? 3.1.1.5) Why do I have a long delay when exiting Windows? 3.1.2) Windows 95. 3.1.2.1) Why does the Windows 95 installation abort on the second diskette? 3.1.2.2) Any Windows 95 tips? 3.1.2.3) My System freezes after I disconnect from Dial-Up Networking. 3.1.2.4) How can I transfer my Win95 system from one hard drive to another? 3.1.2.5) How do I format and (re)install Windows95? 3.1.3) OSR2 / Windows 98. 3.1.3.1) What is FAT32 (OSR2)? 3.1.3.2) How do I get a copy of OSR2? 3.1.3.3) When will Gateway ship Windows98? 3.1.4) Windows NT. 3.1.4.1) Do Gateway systems work with Windows NT? 3.1.4.2) Where can I get WindowsNT information? 3.1.4.3) Will Gateway support Windows2000 (NT5)? 3.1.5) Windows 2000 3.1.5.1) How big is Windows2000 (NT5)? 3.1.6) How can I network two (or more) computers together? 3.1.7) Do you know of any good True Type Fonts? 3.1.8) Dual Booting. 3.2) Other Operating Systems 3.2.1) OS/2. 3.2.1.1) How do I install the CD-ROM version of OS/2? 3.2.1.2) Where can I get help installing OS/2 on a Gateway Handbook? 3.2.1.3) Where can I find more OS/2 information? 3.2.2) Unix & Linux. 3.2.2.1) Do Gateway systems work with Linux or other UNIX systems? 3.2.2.2) What about other system hardware and Linux? 3.2.2.3) Can I use Linux with a Promise UltraDMA 33 card? 3.2.2.4) Dual Booting Linux. 3.2.2.5) Where can I get a copy of Linux? *3.2.2.6) Can I get Linux pre-installed? *3.2.2.7) Where can I get an office suite for Linux? 3.3) Internet Software Questions 3.3.1) What do I need to get on to the Internet? 3.3.2) Where can I find good shareware? 3.3.3) Where can I find technical support? 3.3.4) How can I read a WWW page if I don't have a browser? 3.3.5) Can I get a Computer Virus through email? 3.4) General Software Questions 3.4.1) Why doesn't Borland's Turbo Debugger work right? 3.4.1.1) Why does Borland's BRIEF hang or crash? 3.4.2) What is the hidden file "quality.com" for? 3.4.3) Why do I get a GPF at MACX.DRV? 3.4.4) Why doesn't MYST work? Section 3: Software Questions 3.1) Windows Questions 3.1.1) Windows 3.1x & Windows for Workgroups. 3.1.1.1) How can I enable the 32 bit features of hard drives? The following is a repost of a message sent by Pat Thornburg of Gateway: "There have been many questions about the 32-bit features in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and enabling them with systems having 540MB or larger drives. The features can be enabled in different ways in most systems, though some setups do require a loss of drive space to use them. With all of the features, make sure you have the following line in the Config.sys file: device=c:\windows\ifshlp.sys "The systems which can use the full drive size and the features have Logical Block Addressing (LBA) settings in their BIOS'. Currently, only those systems with the PCI buses, Pentium and P486 systems, have these LBA settings. All other systems have to lose some hard drive space to use the features. BIOS IDE LIMITATION ------------------------------------------------------- Max Sectors/Track 63 255 63 Max Number of Heads 255 16 16 Max Number of Cylinders 1024 65536 1024 --------------------------------- Maximum Capacity 8.4G 136.9G 528M "Does this mean that you won't have problems with the features if you have LBA settings? Not quite true. Drivers for the 32-bit features were originally developed for the smaller drives. When you try to enable the 32-bit Disk Access feature, you will get a WDCTRL error. What can be done then? "Western Digital has written an updated Fast Disk driver which allows 32-bit Disk Access with the larger drives and LBA translations. Gateway does have a BETA version of this file available on its BBS. Western Digital does have two released versions of the file. You can also upload the drivers from Western Digitals WWW site at http://www.wdc.com. "If you have the P486 systems, you may have problems as well with the 32-bit Disk Access feature. This is because the driver for the PCI interface uses the same software interrupt the Windows Fast Disk driver uses as well. You can remark out the PCI driver in the Config.sys file or not use 32-bit Disk Access. At this time, there is no other option. "If you have the NEC IDE CD drive in your system and it is installed on the same controller, you cannot enable 32-bit Disk Access. This is because the file structures for the CD and hard drives are different and the Fast Disk driver won't recognize the CD file structure. "If you have a Pentium system with two controllers, make sure you have the most updated CD drivers and connect the CD to the ISA controller and leave the hard drive connected to the PCI controller. You do have to change the CD driver line to show its movement from the primary to the secondary controller. With this setup, you can enable 32-bit Disk Access. "What do you do if you don't have a system which has the LBA settings in the BIOS? You have to lose some of the hard drive space to set the drive to the parameters the operating system can work with. Here are the steps to follow: 1) Backup all of the information on your hard drive. 2) You have to delete the original partition by typing FDISK and using STEP 3 from the main menu to delete all partitions. 3) Get into the BIOS on booting and go to the hard drive setup. 4) Change the hard drive from Auto Config to User Defined and use the following parameters: Cylinders - 1023 Heads - 16 Sectors -63 5) Save these settings and boot onto the first DOS disk. Press F3 twice to exit the setup program. 6) Type FDISK to repartition the drive to the new parameters. Create it with the new settings. 7) When this is done, press Escape to reboot the system and load DOS on it. Have the software format the drive for you automatically. 8) When the format is complete, reload your backup software, then restore your system. 9) Before going into Windows, make sure this line is in the Config.sys file: device=c:\windows\ifshlp.sys "You should now be able to enable both the 32-bit file and disk accesses. "The 32-bit File Access feature has some incompatibilities as well. It won't work with some disk compression programs like Stacker 4.0 and DOS 6.0 DoubleSpace. It will work with DOS 6.2 DoubleSpace. Just remember you may have problems with it on compressed drives. "Other problems can be found with trying to use the Windows MS Undelete program. Since the 32-bit File Access changes the file reads, you cannot use this program to recover files. If you delete a file, you cannot get it back. "What benefits does 32-bit disk access provide? There are a couple of benefits. If you are running DOS based applications through Windows you will notice a slight performance increase. This may not be as much of an increase as actually running your DOS based application in DOS. "The largest benefit will be for those people running multiple Windows applications concurrently. 32-bit disk speeds up the paging to and from your swapfile, as well as to any file accessed on the hard drive while in enhanced mode. If you only run 2 or 3 applications at a time you may not notice any difference in switching since your background applications will be in memory and will not have been swapped to your swapfile. "But, if you do have a lot of applications running at the same time you will be able to switch from your current application to a background application faster if you have 32-bit disk access. The program will not run any faster, but you can switch to it faster. Performance is improved only for those who must do a lot of switching between multiple applications. "What benefit does 32-bit file access provide? Basically, this feature tries to keep all of the calls for files from the hard drive in 32-bit protected mode which allows faster processing. This is the VFAT driver. The VCACHE driver replaces the SmartDrive disk caching scheme in Windows and allows faster caching routines for files." Those with the JX30G motherboards (not the JX30), can get an updated BIOS from Gateway that will support the larger drives: ftp://ftp.gw2k.com/pub/hardware_support/bios/486/desktop/jx3012.exe (Thanks to Jarrod Smith!) 3.1.1.2) Why can't I install Windows for Workgroups with ATI drivers? Several people have reported that when you install Windows for Workgroups over Windows 3.1, you need to be running a plain VGA driver prior to upgrading. If you are running one of the ATI drivers, you will need to switch to regular VGA (using the Windows setup program) before doing the WfWG installation. 3.1.1.5) Why do I have a long delay when exiting Windows? This problem has been experienced by people with newer Gateway systems that have the PS/2 style mouse connectors (i.e. the round, plug in type rather than the type that looks like a small RS-232 connector). If you experience this problem, you can put this line into your SYSTEM.INI file in the [386enh] section: InitPS2MouseAtExit=False and you will see significantly faster exit time. 3.1.2) Windows 95. 3.1.2.1) Why does the Windows 95 installation abort on the second diskette? Because you have a virus on your machine and it is trying to install itself on the second diskette which is written to by the Windows 95 setup program in order to store your registration information. The diskette has a unique high-density format. You need to replace the diskette which will no longer work and to get rid of the virus. If you want to keep the virus, when you get your new diskettes, flip the write-protect tab on the diskettes. There will be a warning, but the Windows 95 setup program should finish with no problem. 3.1.2.2) Any Windows 95 tips? - Just as with Windows for Workgroups, you need to switch over to the plain VGA driver from the ATI when upgrading from Windows. - Sometimes when installing Windows 95 it may not recognize the CMS tape backup unit. Either select "Redetect Tape Drive" in the options of Microsoft Backup OR download the Colorado patch from HP, at ftp://col.hp.com. - Programs that had been in autoexec.bat that are needed only for DOS (such as mouse drivers and real mode CD-ROM drivers) can be moved to the DOSSTART.BAT file in the C:\WINDOWS directory. If it is not there, create one. Windows 95 may still need some real mode drivers, depending on the situations. - MS Office 95 comes with new proofing tools. However, it does not delete the old ones in the C:\windows\msapps directory, nor does it remove the embedding features from the system.ini file. You can do so manually if you need the space. More Windows 95 tips can be found at, - The BEST source of information is from Bill himself. Check out Microsoft's page. - An upgrade to HyperTerminal for Windows95 is available from Hilgrave, http://www.hilgraeve.com. - My Windows95 Tips page, http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/WinTips.html. - See Bob Cerelli's Win95 Page, http://www.halcyon.com/cerelli. - Get a Win95 tip-of-day from http://www.tipworld.com/wintip.html. - Don't like Windows 95, but not sure why? Go here to find out: http://www.creativelement.com/win95ann/ 3.1.2.3) My System freezes after I disconnect from Dial-Up Networking. How can I fix this? Go into windows/system, locate vnbt.386; rename it vnbt386.bak (or anything you like). This 'fix' was found within one of the Microsoft newsgroups. Thanks to Vince Kub. 3.1.2.4) How can I transfer my Win95 system from one hard drive to another? To transfer your Windows95 installation from one hard drive to another, follow these steps: 1. Make a Win95 bootable floppy (FORMAT A: /S), and throw FDISK on it. Put disk aside. 2. Install new drive as a slave 3. FDISK and FORMAT the drive (you may need to set up two partitions on the new drive, if it's >2GB) 4. XCOPY C:\*.* D: /S/E (this will copy everything over) (do this in Win95, since you want to make sure you've copied LFN's) 5. Take note of any files that DON'T copy. Should be just the swapfile, and maybe some temp files. 6. Pull out old drive, and set new drive as "single" 7. Boot from the floppy you made in Step #1, and run FDISK. Make the first partition on the new disk "active" 8. Reboot (Thanks, as always, to Dave Grabowski) I might add: 1. Make backups of your system. 2. Backup your registry to a floppy or floppies. You should also check Microsoft's knowledge base at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q166/1/72.asp 3.1.2.5) How do I format and (re)install Windows95? Read these over before trying to reinstall windows. 1. Make complete backups of everything. This is so important that it is also step 2. 2. Make complete backups of everything. See step 1. You make complete backups because someday (and I can tell you from experience) there may be a file you need and you might think you have it somewhere else, but it is only on your hard drive. Things I like to back up are my Documents folders, system files, Visual Basic run time files (VBRUN*.DLL), CDPLAYER.INI (so you don't have to re-enter songs) Internet Shortcuts and cookies. A full back up usually takes care of all of this. 3. Printout all system related files. Run SYSEDIT.EXE and printout your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and SYSTEM.INI. Bring up your system properties (right click on "My Computer" click "Properties" click the "Print" button). This is good when you have to re- configure hardware. 4. Make a bootable system disk. Make sure it has your CD-ROM drivers on it, as well as FDISK and FORMAT.COM. If you are upgrading to Windows95B (OSR2) or Windows98 make sure you have FDISK32 as well. 5. Reboot your system with the floppy. Make sure it works and you can access your hard drive and CD ROM Drive. 6. Get all of the necessary disks such as: A. Your Windows95 CD B. Any upgrades (Service releases, patches, Power Toys) C. Disk #1 of Windows 3.1x IF you have the Windows 95 upgrade. 7. Say a small prayer to Codex, the Roman god of Computers. ...just kidding ;) 8. Reboot using your system floppy. 9. FDISK (partition) and FORMAT your hard drive. Use FDISK if you want to change your partion size or upgrade from FAT16 to FAT32. I should note at this point that Gateway had been partitioning hard drives larger than 2 GIG in TWO separate partitions, C and D. (for older computers) Your computer (and you) see them as two separate drives. But you only have one physical drive. When you FDISK C you are also erasing D. Reparation (using FDISK) the drives any way you like. I personally like 1 to 2 GIG partitions. FDISK will let you do 2 GIG partitions (Depending on your BIOS) FDISK32 (Windows98) will let you do larger ones. Make sure you set the partition to PRIMARY and ACTIVE. 10. Rebooting from your now clean hard disk reinstall Win95 from the CD. If you got Windows95 from Gateway then this will be no problem. If you bought Win95 as an upgrade then you will Disk #1 of Win 3.1x, put it into your A drive. When the installation asks for the location of your Windows files, direct it to the A drive. If you run into hardware problems (e.g.: sound cards note working) then refer to your printouts on their original set ups. 11. Reinstall any upgrades, patches or Service Releases. I'll include Microsoft Plus! in this category as well. Make sure you have your upgrades on a disk and not your hard drive! 12. If you plan on DriveSpacing (compressing) your hard drive, now is the time to do it. 13. Reinstall everything else. Reinstall your application software and move files from you back ups you might need. 14. If everything is working, back up again to a different tape/disk/whatever. A good FAQ for this is the excellent Windows95 FAQ. It's web page is http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/faq2.htm. It can also be found at any of the archive mirrors, like RTFM. (Thanks to Natalie Brannan for writing the bulk of this article and to Tracy Sudak for checking it out for me!) 3.1.3) OSR2 / Windows 98 3.1.3.1) What is FAT32 (OSR2)? FAT32 is the upgrade to the Windows/DOS file system, FAT16. Currently it is only available as part of OSR2. FAT32 allows Windows95/98 to access hard drives of up to 2 Terabytes in size and uses a smaller clusters for more efficient use of space. FAT32 is currently incompatible with Windows95/DOS FAT16 files, WindowsNT NTFS, and OS/2. It is believed that WindowsNT 5.0 will support FAT32 to NTFS conversion. . Useful websites for FAT32 and OSR2 are, - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pr/fat32.htm - http://www.compuclinic.com/osr2faq/ - http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/faq2.htm 3.1.3.2) How do I get a copy of OSR2? Currently the only way to get OSR2 (Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2) is with a new computer. Windows98 will include all of the elements in OSR2, possibly as OSR2.1. 3.1.3.3) When will Gateway ship Windows98? Gateway plans to start shipping Windows98 on NEW computers at the end of June. Users with Windows95 and an upgrade coupon should expect their Windows98 in July. 3.1.4) Windows NT 3.1.4.1) Do Gateway systems work with Windows NT? I can definitely state that Gateway systems work with Windows NT -- I have one running NT here at work. [Tod Pike speaking.] The only problem is that the Windows NT 3.x installer wants to have a SCSI-based CD-ROM drive to install from, and the internal (Sony or LMSI) drives are not supported. If you have a drive run from the SoundBlaster board, you can get a driver from Microsoft via ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/MKECR.EXE or http://www.microsoft.com/kb/softlib/mslfiles/mkecr.exe. I have received reports that the current version of the SoundBlaster drivers for Windows NT 3.x do not work correctly. According to information posted on the NT news groups, a new version is expected soon. I will update the FAQ information when I hear more news. Drivers for the Mitsumi CD-ROM drive are available on the Gateway BBS system in the file MITSU.EXE. These drivers are *not* supported by Gateway, but they do work and should allow you to use the Mitsumi CD-ROM under NT. Tod Pike has also put the mitsu.exe file at ftp.sei.cmu.edu. I would like to solicit m