Hello all,
I have an older Gateway Solo 5300 that's been working pretty well for quite
a while. It's up to date for all BIOS, drivers, OS.

Three fairly minor issues I have with it:

- it always thinks it's running on battery, even when plugged in. I can't
make proper use of the separate settings in [Control Panel][Power Options].
I've checked the BIOS and OS settings over and over. It didn't used to have
this problem, I think it came up with one of the BIOS updates, but can't
remember.


- The sound card (ESS Maestro-3.COMM AudioDrive) sometimes just stops
working. If I then go in Hibernate mode, it screams in high-pitch larsen
when I turn it back on. Only option at this point is to turn the volume off
or reboot.


- There's a minor issue with the keyboard wich does not work during part of
the boot process. More precisely:
-- during the BIOS and Intel Boot Agent I can type, enter passwords, etc.
-- when there are boot options to enter, such as Linux LILO, GRUB or some
other variants (like Ultimate Boot CD), the keyboard does NOT work (the Caps
Lock LED won't even lit). This makes it impossible to boot into some Linux
options properly.
-- once the computer is booted (in Windows, Linux...) keyboard works fine

My guess is that the boot options are waiting for a very standard type of
keyboard (USBs don't work for instance, mine is seen as a Standard
101/102-Key or MS Natural PS/2 Keyboard) and the laptop doesn't fit the
bill. I tried plugging an external keyboard to no avail. Anyone knows what I
can do about it ?
--
Guillaume Dargaud
http://www.gdargaud.net/
"There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those that understand binary
and those that don't."