May 31st, 2008 1 min to read

Trouble with Gateway GT5220 and a short review

Category : Computing, Desktop PC

My friend Nic22 recently posted this as a comment, but I thought it would be more convenient for people who actually have this pc or consider purchasing it to read his review and problems.

“Yup its official, my computer (Gateway GT5220) is fried as far as I can tell. Now even without the aftermarket ram modules installed my computer will not even boot up, the fan just stays on constantly like it is in some kind of safe mode or something. I brought it to a local computer repair shop to see if it is worth fixing or if I should start looking for a new machine, I’m leaning towards hp or Lenovo if need be. Never again will I buy gateway. Just after the one year factory warranty expired my DVD-ROMs drive decides to kick the bucket. So I buy a new drive from newegg.com and $40 and 3 days later the problem is solved because of their incredibly fast shipping. Then, after I decide to actually use the NIC card instead of an unstable wireless connection the computer decides to shut completely off when ever I try to disable the LAN connection in network properties for some configuring, I thought it was weird but it worked fine with everything else. Now about 6 months later it decides to crap out on me after the power going out, could have been a power surge I dunno but I do have 2 apc surge protectors. Also, I try to call gateway and all I can get are reps that I can barely understand, no offense to foreign people but I’m sure it is an aggravation for the both of us. After speaking with someone I am informed that Gateway no longer offers support on that model because of its age and they could gladly connect me to someone who would be more than happy to help me for only $8.99 per hour. So, I just said forget it. All in all my experience with gateway has been a little on the negative side and a part of me hopes that I have to get a whole new system.”

Comments (3)

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    nic22 June 5th, 2008

    Well it is official, my MB is fried somewhere along the line. The power surge entered the pc through the ethernet connection. This would also explain why the tv in my living room is fried as well, atleast that is what a local electronic repair shop has told me. I am just waiting to see if my insurance will give me anything as for the current value. As for my pc situation, I went out and spoiled myself. A few days ago I bought a HP Pavilion a6430f. It is the triple core AMD Phenom 8400 2.1GHZ processor. I did not like the idea of windows vista but after a few days it doesn't seem to much different than XP. But wait, this is only true after the countless Microsoft updates for security and bios system stability. After a few hours of constantly downloading then installing then re-booting the operating system seems to be pretty stable. All in all, I think my computer got trashed for a good reason: my excuse to buy a new one.

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    Marlon T June 7th, 2008

    lol nic, I think that might be an issue with those Phenom processesors. I'm thinking about getting one, but, that'll be when they unlock the multiplier and provide the masses with one that is equal to the OC performance as the 5000+ Black Edition. Glad you got a new one, keep us posted on how well the performance is of the Tricore processors that AMD has on the market, I'm thinking about using one for a HTPC that's going to be built if I ever make it back home. And the other Phenom will be Quad unlocked Black Edition for my power gaming PC.

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    Matt R June 8th, 2008

    your gaming pc huh..still into games huh..good ole counterstrike/half-life days...frag time! ha