Friday, August 13, 2010

Gateway LT3103u How to Remove the Wireless Lan Card

Gateway LT3103 Wireless card How To

DIY Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Network adapter removal Gateway LT31 series NetBook for the review click here

If you need to Upgrade the Hard Drive on the LT3103u check this post

If you need to put Windows 7 on the LT31 series NetBook check out this post

If you need to remove the memory check this post.

Gateway has made it incredibly easy to get to the Memory, Hard Drive, and other components on the LT31 series NetBook.


But to show you how easy it is... You will only need to do this if the chip goes bad for some reason or ... if you are trying to make a Hackintosh out of the Gateway LT31 series netbook which by the way would be a nifty platform to put OS X on ... But as has been written in quite a few places that the Atheros cards do not play nice with Mac OS X

Flip the Gateway LT3103u over so you are looking at the underside.



Remove the battery. Just push the 2 slides out and pull the battery loose.



The two screws on the lower left side are the ones we will be removing, they are attached to the cover so no need to remove them entirely.



Remove the screw holding the Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Network adapter in the Gateway LT3103u, and pop the white and black wires off ... just make sure they go back in the same position when replacing the card... the card will pop up and you can pull it out.


Good Luck in all of your endeavors, and remember digital is bliss, but cheap is priceless.... Donate to day...




Gateway LT3103u How to get to the Memory

Gateway LT3103 Memory How To

DIY Memory removal Gateway LT31 series NetBook for the review click here

If you need to Upgrade the Hard Drive on the LT3103u check this post

If you need to put Windows 7 on the LT31 series NetBook check out this post

Gateway has made it incredibly easy to get to the Memory, Hard Drive, and other components on the LT31 series NetBook.


But to show you how easy it is... You will only need to do this if the chip goes bad for some reason or ... if you got a model that only shipped with 1GB of ram. The one I have shipped with the maximum amount of ram which is 2GB's

Flip the Gateway LT3103u over so you are looking at the underside.



Remove the battery. Just push the 2 slides out and pull the battery loose.



The two screws on the lower right side are the ones we will be removing, they are attached to the cover so no need to remove them entirely.



Loosen the screws and pry the cover up ... pull outward on each of the silver keepers and the memory will pop loose ... replace with ddr2 5300 or the like memory ... and you are ready to rock and roll..

Good luck in all your endeavors, and remember Digital is bliss, but cheap is priceless....

Donate today..

Gateway LT3103 Hard Drive Upgrade How To

Gateway LT3103 Hard Drive Upgrade How To

DIY Hard Drive removal Gateway LT31 series NetBook for the review click here

If you need to put Windows 7 on the LT31 series NetBook check out this post

Gateway has made it incredibly easy to get to the Hard Drive and other components on the LT31 series NetBook.

But here is a quick tutorial / DIY how to.



***Before you Change out your Hard Drive always back up your data even if you are planning a clean install. If you need to make an image of your disk or duplicate it my suggestion is to use one of the Software Products from EASEUS (click here) these guys have saved my butt numerous times. Their software is just Fantastic.. nuf said ***

Flip the Gateway LT3103u over so you are looking at the underside.



Remove the battery. Just push the 2 slides out and pull the battery loose.



The three screws on the top left side are the ones we will be removing, they are attached to the cover so no need to remove them entirely.

From CE's Geekbook


Pry the cover off and you will see the 2 screws holding the hard drive and hard drive chassis in the Gateway LT3103u



Remove the screws Pull back on the tab to release the hard drive from the connector.

From CE's Geekbook


Once you have it out remove the screws on the Hard drive chassis and you can replace your hard drive with either a solid state drive for performance or a 500GB or larger 7200 rpm drive for performance and space *** If you do go with a faster drive than what is in the Gateway LT31 series already .. expect a degraded performance from the battery it definitely will shorten the battery life ****





Good Luck in all of your endeavors... Remember Digital is bliss, but cheap is priceless.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Windows 7 on a Gateway LT31 series NetBook, Drivers

The Gateway LT31 series NetBook shipped with Windows Vista Home basic and you want to put Windows 7 on it so that it runs faster. But Gateway has neglected Windows 7 and the drivers are not on the Gateway support website for the LT31 series NetBook.

Never fear .. we have found drivers for the ATI Radeon X1270 GPU for Windows 7, as well as drivers for the Card Reader, The Atheros and Broadcom Windows 7 Drivers for the Gateway LT31 series NetBook.


The install of Windows 7 on the Gateway was relatively painless. You either need to attach a USB CD/DVD drive and install from there or put the install on a USB thumb drive of no less that 4GB

But when Windows 7 actually booted in to the GUI the Video drivers for the ATI Radeon X1270 GPU where no where to be found and windows update was absolutely no help either. Gateways support site for the LT31 series showed no support for the NetBook and Windows 7 ... (that is if you can get in there at all) There FTP site sucks BTW have never seen so many issues in getting drivers.

BTW these drivers have only been tested with Windows 7 32 bit version on the Gateway LT31 series Netbook.

Well after a lot of research I have found that these drivers for the ATI Radeon X1270 GPU will work just fine. ATI has not updated these drivers and this may not be the most updated depending on when you are reading this ... but it should get you up and running

Also the WLan drivers for the Gateway LT31 series netbook were MIA as well but the link is here to Atheros LT31 Wi-Fi

as well as other drivers for Windows 7 and the Gateway LT31 series NetBook that may help you out.

Card Reader Realtek

Synaptics Touch Pad drvier
Broadcom Network adapter.

Good luck and let me know if this helps.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Gateway LT31 NetBook Review

Gateway LT3103u Review.


Gateway has hit some great points on the LT31 Series NetBook, but in my opinion has all so missed on some items with this NetBook.

If you want see how to remove or upgrade the Hard Drive in the LT31 Series NetBook click here

LT3103u Spec's:


AMD Athalon Processor L110 running at 1.20 GHZ (64 single-core processor)
2 GB of Ram standard.
250 GB hard drive standard.
ATI Radeon X1270 GPU with 256MB dedicated memory with the capability of sharing system memory
Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Network adapter
11.6" inch HD screen with a resolution of 1366X768
Integrated 0.3 megapixel webcam (standard on most netbooks)
Media card reader supporting:
* Secure Digital™ (SD) Card
* MultiMediaCard (MMC)
* Memory Stick® (MS)
* Memory Stick PRO™ (MS PRO)
* xD-Picture Card™ (xD)
Built-in microphone
Three USB 2.0 ports
External display (VGA) port
Headphone/speaker/line-out jack
Microphone-in jack
Ethernet (RJ-45) port

NO BLUETOOTH ..... sorry with all of the toys they could put in for cheap ... why miss on this one all cell phones come with Bluetooth. Stick it in ... all manufacturers should not even think twice about this communication device.



As with most NetBooks out in the wild Gateway has decided that the LT31 series NetBook should have the glossy cover with the classic chrome band with the Gateway logo. As you can see from the picture this glossy finish will accumulate finger prints and smudges very easily. As well the finish on the LT31 series will not hold up very well to sliding in and out of a bag. Scratches are very apparent and will show up very quickly even with careful use.



Gateway hit the mark with the 1366X768 11.6 inch screen size it is a wonderful relief after using the HP2140 and the HP Mini 1000 series with only the 1024X576 screen resolution. But Gateway did miss the boat on the display not using an edge to edge glass to finish out the fit and finish of the NetBook. I really like the resolution and the screen clarity every thing is crisp and clear. Web browsing is fantastic on the LT31 series with out having to constantly scroll down. Watching videos and even Hulu is much better due to the fact that the pages and videos fit with in this resolution.




The keyboard is a good size and the shift keys are all the right size and in the right place. This is a relief due to the EEE Pc NetBooks decided to make the right shift key very small on the 1000 series making it impossible to type on. Even though the keyboard is much better than most, it still feels cheap and gives in the center. The keys travel like they should but (My opinion only) it is still difficult to type on. I guess I am just spoiled and very use to typing on the HP 2140 keyboard which feels like the Cadillac of NetBooks.

The track pad is almost the perfect size Gateway could have make it just a bit taller and a bit wider there is plenty of space in the top case for a bit more. But the mulit-function touch pad more than makes up for this. It is almost like using a Mac track pad . Two finger scrolling is just the bomb.

The Track Pad Button leaves a bit to be desired as its a solid toggle not two separate buttons you need to be sure of exactly where you are pushing.. they could have easily separated the bar and placed two buttons.



On the left side you have the Network adapter port

Power Port right next to the heat exhaust vents.
My opinion here this is a very bad placement of these two items. The netbook runs very hot and when plugged in if you have the power cable running across the vent it will get very hot as well.. Maybe not hot enough to melt but its a pretty extream temp.

and 1 USB port.




On the right side you have
VGA port
Security port
The remaining 2 USB ports
Head Phone and mic jacks
and the memory card reader

all placed very well.

The Gateway LT31 series shipped with Vista Basic ... (bad choice) but runs Windows 7 very well see the post here for the Drivers.

Gateway needs to push ATI for better drivers for Windows Vista and 7 due to the fact that ATI conciders the X1200 series Radeon as an obsolete chip.. It will run HD content of 720P with out a hitch but still as with any NetBook I have tested .. 1080p is still a problem. Flash is still an issue with the LT31 as well Flash 10.1 and the Drivers from ATI are just not up to the task of Hi-Def.

Over all the Gateway LT31 is a pleasure to use it is very snappy, programs load very quickly as well as web pages. Reading email is much easier on the larger screen you don't have to squint as much ... BTW I do have bi-focal's ... and this screen makes things much easier to read.

If you are looking for a power house .. this is not it, but if you are looking for a road warrior light NetBook with a good battery life and the multi-media capabilities. This could be your NetBook

What is inside Apple's iPod Touch 32GB

A look inside an Apple iPod Touch 32GB. Have you ever wondered what the insides of your Touch looks like, but did not want to actually take it apart because of how expensive that little marvel of technology is. Well so you don't have to.... I have disassembled the 32GB iPod Touch for you.




Here you can see all 4 major parts the Digitizer, Screen, the base Logic Board, and the battery.



This image shows the back side of the screen and the connector



here you can see the connection for the battery to the logic board. And the front side of the iPod Touch 32GB logic board.




The back side of the logic board




and the circuit board for on/off and the connection for the digitizer and volume buttons.

Now you Know whats in the iPod Touch and don't have to take yours apart.

iMac G5 Logic Board bad capacitors

Apple's iMac G5 Logic Board, iMac G5 will not start up, iMac G5 apple ding but no video, iMac G5 will intermittently start up, iMac G5 only starts up sometimes.

All of these problems can be contributed to Apple using substandard capacitors on the G5 version of the iMac. And will not always require the Logic Board to be replaced.

This week I was able to pick up an 17" iMac G5 with 2GB's of ram and a one Terabyte hard drive. Unfortunately there are a few issues with the iMac.

The first issue was that the iMac would only start up every other time that I turned it on well after a bit of research and pulling the back off I found the issue that plagues quite a few folks.





I have outlined the offending capacitors on the logic board.

and have taken multiple shots of the issue..






On this last image you can see the part number for the larger cap's they are T0442 originals are 1,800 uf 6.3v close to the actual G5 processor. And 1,000 uf 16v shown here ...



Unfortunately, I am good with repairing a lot of issues but soldering is not one of my best suits so I will send this out to a friend at www.tektrenz.net for the actual repair of the 7 capacitors. Will let you know how the repair went ...

and the other problem I have found is the One Terabyte hard drive is toast as well... Darn .. well you can't win them all.. I will have to replace that as well..


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