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Gateway Solo 1450 not booting after removing CMOS battery

The laptop booted fine, no power problems. Of course, it booted to the BIOS password screen (no access to a: drive before this). Password I had written on a piece of paper some time ago did not work (I think that was probably the windows XP pass). Tried several passwords, nothing worked. So, decided to remove the CMOS battery. Did that, left it out for about a week. Put it back in, pushed the power button, the power led stayed on for about 4 seconds, ...the caps lock, scroll lock, and diskette light came on after that for about 1 sec, then all LED's off; no power; no booting. Took out the CMOS and tried it that way. Same situation.

Took the laptop apart. No cracks, nothing noticeably wrong, nothing wrong with ac plug, no jumper blocks, nothing that I could see that would help me. I searched the net in vain.

I believe it's a security measure set in the bios (after removal of the CMOS battery); maybe it's going into hibernation mode. Manual says if BIOS password is lost, to send laptop in for service --no warranty anymore. Searching the net enlightened me that there may be a way to wire jumper something on the motherboard to reset bios, or the chip itself, but had no luck finding further info on this.

I saw a chip on the board which I think it is the flash bios (eeprom) --MPF 39SF040 --  I can unsolder it from the board if I have to, but where do I go from there?

Anyone has had an experience like this?
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SkyvanMan

I don't know exactly what to do but I suspect that there is some kind of security measure as you stated that will not let it boot. When you are dealing with things that would obviously void the warranty or that involve anything to do with the BIOS I think that you should ALWAYS check the net and the company about any security features or problems. Also usually to reset the BIOS you just have to change a jumper or connect a wire between two spots. Also there are some lists of master BIOS passwords that you can use if the BIOS Password is still there if and when you do get it back up.
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ASKER

Thank you for your answer. Yes, initially tried backdoor passwords listed on a few sites on the net, to no avail. Like you said, there may be the solution of connecting a wire between two spots or more, but the problem is knowing which ones those are. I have checked the whole motherboard on both sides (DA0EA3MB8D2) and I couldn't see any chip that could be moved (that is not soldered to the motherboard).  This is a Phoenix Bios, by the way (don't know the version).
Okay I found some stuff for phoenix bios for Gateway Solos specifically let me see if I cand find it again. Do you want it?
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ASKER

Sure SkyvanMan. Thank you again. Anyone with an answer that works, I will give 3000 points, if that is possible.
Nope 500 points is max. Anyways I couldnt find what I saw before but I did find this http://www.cgsecurity.org/index.html?cmospwd.html and it works with your model (I think)
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ASKER

I have seen that website as well. Problem is, I can't boot to A: drive (now or before), let alone, power only stays on now for about 4 seconds.
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ASKER

Further, I realize I could try to unsolder and take out the Flash Chip (if the one mentioned above is the only one I would need to worry about) and send it in to a company who could re-flash it.  Still hoping tho there is a solution with 'the jumper wire between two spots'.
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Maybe just replace everything use a new cmos battery, and let it just sit there (powersupply connected). Periodically try booting. Could be it'll come up again. Also check the seating of you RAM. My Dell has sometimes had a similar fault, and removing the ram, then replacing it acouple of times, helped!
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SkyvanMan

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ASKER

I will have to order the CMOS battery. Will try that too,...still, don't see how the CMOS battery would stop the computer power from coming on (but for the 4 seconds now). Still looking on the net to see if there is any wire jumping on the bios chip that can be done, without having to unsolder it, send it in somewhere to be flashed, ...  The more I think of it the more I am convinced that it has to be the bios chip not letting the computer power come on.  
It takes a while to load but here's the specs and pinout for various flavors (packaging) of your BIOS chip.
You can use it to determine which pins to ground to clear the CMOS.

http://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/SST/SST39SF040-45-4I-PH.html

.
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ASKER

Yes, the CMOS battery was part of the problem. Ordered a new CPU, and it still didn't work. Then, after re-seating and re-seating a new CMOS battery, it finally booted. So, put in the original CPU in, and had the same problem. So, in part, the CPU itself holds some kind of security barrier which puts it in hybernation mode. I suspect the CPU itself would have to be re-programmed or something in order for the cpu itself to work again normally. In summary, the CPU was one problem which was fixed by replacing it. The second, was the CMOS battery.