[dsbear97]

I have a M305 Gateway laptop. Two years old and out of warranty. My laptop used to immediately boot after pressing the power button but about a month ago, I pressed the power button and nothing happened, so I continued to press it and then it turned on, it took about 15 seconds or so to turn on. This has been happening ever since then. I noticed that the longer the laptop has been off the longer it takes to turn on. I have to press the power button sometimes for up to a minute then it finally turns on. It shuts down normal and if I try to turn it on right after I've shutdown it turns on perfectly, no waiting or anything. The computer seems to work perfectly fine once it is on. Althouth, I have been having overheating problems, where it shuts down, but most of the time I can avoid it by making sure the vent is clear and I'm in an air-conditioned room. I have tried taking out the battery and just have the AC adapter connected when I try to turn it on but it doesn't make a difference. Someone once suggested to try system restore but I haven't done so because I would have to back up a lot of files (pictures and videos mainly) since I've had this problem for a while now. Sometimes it seems to turn on faster if I press the power button a bunch of times instead of just one long press. I have searched everywhere online and I've had no help. Please help me, I would hate to just trash this laptop since it is fast (2.56 Ghz) and works great when it is on (except for the overheating, of course). I have also replaced the AC adapter already.

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When your saying overheating. How hot are we talking about? Also when the laptop is in stand by will the mode what happens when you press the power button? Is the battery good? Will it power on in battery power?

[Hawaiantom]

When your saying overheating. How hot are we talking about? Also when the laptop is in stand by will the mode what happens when you press the power button? Is the battery good? Will it power on in battery power?

[dsbear97]

It gets really hot to the touch and it just shuts down. When the laptop is in stand by it will shut down properly when I press the power button. The laptop will power on in battery power. I don't know how good the battery is for sure but it does turn on with just battery.

[Hawaiantom]

I would have to say that its switch is going bad. Have you taken your laptop apart and cleaned it out. Made sure that the switch is clean? Also you need to figure out what is causeing the overheating issue! if the fan is bad you need to replace that asap. Hot to touch is not good for a laptop. You can get cooling pads for laptops for around $50.00. If it keeps getting hot your going to start having problems. As long as you have replaced the power cord I would defentily stay its the switch. Also have you checked the power settings under the control panel?

[dsbear97]

When you say switch do you mean the power button because I have opened it up and I really didn't see any dirt underneath the power button. I don't know what is causing the overheating. When I put my hand underneath the fan I can feel it and it turns on normal. I've thought of cooling pad, I think I will get one. I have checked the contorl panel settings, everything seems fine. I have also checked the bios (as someone suggested) to see if it said anything about a power delay but I didn't see anything. I notice that when the the laptop is cold (after being off overnight) it takes a long time to turn on but when it is warm it turns on quicker???

[Hawaiantom]

Yes I do mean the power button. I dont think there is a voltage problem because a cold boot is drawing more power then a hot boot (fresh restart or from standby). So it would take more time to start up. It should not be anoticeable differnence. Why did you replace the Power cord? Also I understand the machine is out of warrenty. Have you checked gatway fourms for power related issues. Also I dont think the button should be that much it might be worth it to replace it. Also open the case and make sure where the cord plugs in make sure its clean also. After this I'm pretty much at a loss. I will make a note to send a hardware tech to come and look at this thread.

Tom

[dsbear97]

There is a big difference from attempting to turn on when it is cold though. I replaced the power cord because the adapter box seemed to have been getting really hot and it had dented cord (like I smashed it at some point). I have extensively looked at the gateway forum and found nothing. As far as replacing the button, I would have no idea where to start with that, I have opened up as much as I could which is just the keyboard and the casing above it and I tried cleaning out as much as I could. Thank you so much for your help and a note to hardware tech would be greatly appreciated.