Gateway Astro computer will not turn on
OK, the Gateway Astro is an older system - Windows '98, and usually I will tell people that something that old isn't worth putting any money into, but I'm looking at it...
Model Gateway Astro 1.2
Intel Celeron 500Mhz with a 10GB hard drive and 128MB memory and Windows '98 SE.
This was an all-in-one design with 15" monitor built-in. I attach the power and sure enough, the unit is dead. No lights or anything but the network adapter lights up when I plug in a network cable. I remove the case, 4 screws on the bottom and the unit comes apart with the power supply and monitor as one half and the motherboard and drives as the other half. I plug the power cable back in the unit and the monitor turns on, but if I attach the bottom half of the computer the power button doesn't do anything. Everything looks good, all cables connected and no add-on cards. The power button is working OK and I was told the computer was working and sat unused for awhile. I read somewhere that this can happen if the CMOS battery goes dead and simply replacing it will solve the power issue.
Now I have worked on computers that have dead motherboard batteries before and they all power on, just with the default date and settings, so I found this hard to believe but I had nothing to lose. I found the standard 2032 battery hiding under the memory chip and removed both. I replaced the battery and re-installed the memory chip and put the cover back together and believe it or not the dang thing powered on!