Replied: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 22:22:56 EST Replied: "tbrann1@uic.edu (Timothy S. Brannan) " From news@piglet.cc.uic.edu Fri Nov 1 11:00:02 1996 Received: from MIT.EDU (PACIFIC-CARRIER-ANNEX.MIT.EDU [18.69.0.28]) by bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU (8.7.6/2.3JIK) with SMTP id LAA02602; Fri, 1 Nov 1996 11:00:00 -0500 Received: from relay7.UU.NET by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA23296; Fri, 1 Nov 96 10:58:23 EST Received: from piglet.cc.uic.edu by relay7.UU.NET with ESMTP (peer crosschecked as: PIGLET.CC.UIC.EDU [128.248.100.54]) id QQbnyt10189; Fri, 1 Nov 1996 10:58:19 -0500 (EST) Received: (from news@localhost) by piglet.cc.uic.edu (8.7.5/8.7.5) id JAA26118; Fri, 1 Nov 1996 09:58:13 -0600 To: alt-answers@uunet.uu.net Path: usenet From: tbrann1@uic.edu (Timothy S. Brannan) Newsgroups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 FAQ Part 1 of 3 Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 15:57:24 GMT Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago Lines: 474 Distribution: World Message-Id: <55d6ml$1so2@piglet.cc.uic.edu> Nntp-Posting-Host: d027.ed.uic.edu X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82 From: tbrann1@uic.edu (Timothy S. Brannan) Followup-To: tbrann1@uic.edu (Timothy S. Brannan) Newsgroups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 FAQ Part 1 of 3 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Summary: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 FAQ Keywords: FAQ Archive-name: pc-hardware-faq/gateway2000/part1 Last-modified: Novemberer 1, 1996 Last-Posted: October 1, 1996 Next-Posting: December 1, 1996 Posting-Frequency: the first of every month ========================================================================= alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) This is the FAQ (frequently asked questions) posting for the group alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000. This message is designed to be posted at regular intervals to the group in order to answer questions that come up frequently, and to provide a resource for new users. I'd like suggestions and comments about this FAQ, and input from people about what should/shouldn't be included. This is a continuously evolving document. To make it as good a tool as it can be, I need your help. I particularly welcome corrections of any inaccuracies! This FAQ is available HTTP at http://www2.uic.edu/~tbrann1/gateway.html. Questions about this FAQ can be sent to me, Timothy S. Brannan, the new FAQ maintainer. Thanks to the people on alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 who have contributed to this FAQ, to Gateway 2000 for having provided on-line support for this group and to David S. Eitelbach and Tod Pike for maintaining this FAQ up till now and for maintaining the Gateway list Questions marked with a "+" are new to this issue. Questions marked with a "|" are changed significantly with this issue. Disclaimer: The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author. No responsibility is taken for the accuracy of the information given in this article. Great care is taken to be accurate and complete, but you use the information herein AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! If you find something that is wrong in here, please let me know! Section 1: General Information _ |1.1) Where can I get a copy of this FAQ? _ 1.1.1) Does Gateway 2000 have a world wide web site? _ 1.1.2) Does Gateway 2000 have an FTP site? _ 1.2) How can I get in touch with Gateway 2000? _ 1.3) Does Gateway 2000 provide support on the Internet? _ 1.4) Where can I get current prices/specs? _ |1.4.1) Does Gateway charge sales tax in my state? _ 1.5) Where can I ask for help? _ 1.5.1) What are some other sources of information? _ 1.6) Why should I buy a Gateway 2000 system? _ 1.7) What other FAQ's should I read? _ 1.7.1) How can I get what's on a WWW page if I have no browser? _ 1.8) Where can I get cow spotted (and other) goodies? _ 1.9) Contact information for related companies _ 1.9.1) How to contact the 10th Anniversary Club Section 1: General Information 1.1) Where can I get a copy of this FAQ? The FAQ is now located at, http://www2.uic.edu/~tbrann1/gateway.html This FAQ is posted once each month (around the first) to the news groups alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 , alt.answers and news.answers. 1.1.1) Does Gateway 2000 have a world wide web site? Yes, at either of these URLs: _http://www.gw2k.com/ _http://www.gateway2000.com/ If you're having problems displaying the pages, the site may show up better in Netscape version 2.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. 1.1.2) Does Gateway 2000 have an FTP site? Yes, at ftp://ftp.gw2k.com. FTP to ftp.gw2k.com log in as anonymous or ftp send your e-mail address as password, for example, billg@aol.com. If you are unfamiliar with FTP, you can type help at the FTP prompt to get a list of available commands. You can then type the word help followed by the command you need help with. 1.2) How can I get in touch with Gateway 2000? Here are the telephone numbers for the various departments (from the manuals): USA Numbers: _Customer Service: 1-800-846-2000 Fax: 605-232-2023 _Technical Support: 1-800-846-2301 Fax: 605-232-2182 _Gold Premium Support: 1-800-555-3002 _Add-on Components: 1-800-846-2080 Fax: 605-232-2121 _Portable Tech Support: 1-800-846-2302 _Automated Tech Support: 1-800-846-2118 _FaxBack service: 1-800-846-4526 _Gateway 2000 BBS: 605-232-2224 (V.32 BIS/HST 300-38400 BPS) _Gateway 2000 BBS: 1-800-846-7562 (fixes and drivers only) _Technical Telecommunications Device for the Deaf: 1-800-846-2302 Overseas Offices: _International calls: +1-605-232-2000 _International Tech Support:+1-605-232-2191 _Dublin office: +353-1-797-2000 _Customer Service Fax: +353-1-848-2022 _European Faxback +353-1-867-0400 _European BBS: +353-1-867-0433 _European BBS: 0800-97-3140 (free-phone, from UK only) _UK Sales office: 0800-20-2000 _Ireland office: 1800-44-2000 _Ireland Tech Support: 1800-46-2000 _France Sales: 353-1-797-3040 _France Sales Fax: 353-1-797-3700 _France Showroom Fax: 331-1-45-63-4569 _Germany Sales: 353-1-797-4040 _Germany Sales Fax: 353-1-797-4700 _Japan Customer Service: 0120-54-2000 or 045-338-2000 _Japan Cust. Svc. Fax: 045-338-2046 _Australia Sales: 1800-648-096 _Australia Customer Service and Support: 1800-802-776 _Australia Fax: 844-8588 _Canada Sales: 800-846-3609 or 605-232-2191 _Canada Sales Fax: 605-232-2613 Internet: GATEWAY'S OFFICIAL WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW) SITE: _http://www.gw2k.com/ or _http://www.gateway2000.com/ Also check, _What's New at Gateway 2000 _The Destination FAQ, at Gateway2000 GATEWAY'S OFFICIAL FTP SITE: _ftp://ftp.gw2k.com Gateway support personnel: GATEWAY 2000 BBS SUPPORT PEOPLE: _KEVIN EHLERS - System administrator _GWVINCE - System administrator _GT_LANDRA - Technician _GWSCOTT - Technician _GATEWAY CS - Customer Service Here are Gateway accounts on various system: |COMPUSERVE (TO ACCESS THE FORUM, TYPE GO GATEWAY): _75300,1300 - Forum Administrator (Brian Kelly) _103505,222 - Technician (Shawn Watson) _72262,3510 - Technician (Tom Batcheler) _74774,3023 - Technician (Mark Rochester) _74774,3022 - Technician (Jerod Enstrom) _71154,1067 - Customer Service (Shawna Ploen) AMERICA ONLINE (TYPE KEYWORD GATEWAY): _G2KBrian - Forum Administrator (Brian Kelly) _G2KLori - Technician (Lori Seibold) _G2KShellie - Technician (Shellie Thelen) _G2KTech1 - Technician (Phill Ellis) _G2KCS - Customer Service (Suzi Taylor) SPACEWORKS: _Forum Administrator (Brian Kelly) _LORIS - Technician (Lori Seibold) _TERI-H - Customer Service (Teri Huygens) PRODIGY (JUMP COMPUTER SUPPORT): _GATE99A - Forum Administrator (Brian Kelly) _GATE99C - Technician (Chris Whalstrom) _GATE99E - Customer Service (Suzi Taylor) FIDO [1:288/17]: _Crash Mail (Mail Only) _D Liston - Node SYSOP (Dan Liston) These are addresses of contacts at Gateway, but the address to use for tech support is tech@gw2kbbs.com and for customer service it is custserv@gw2kbbs.com. It's understandably tempting to e-mail or CC a favorite technician at Gateway. A lot of people are doing this, which results in good technicians getting swamped. Please resist the temptation and instead just e-mail tech@gw2kbbs.com, allowing Gateway to fairly distribute the workload. _E-mail supervisor@gw2kbbs.com to get the boss. _kehlers@gw2kbbs.com - System administrator (Kevin Ehlers) _gwvince@gw2kbbs.com - System administrator (Vince Kub) _tech@gw2kbbs.com - Tech Support this is the one to use (NOTE: Please don't e-mail or CC individual technicians unless you are carrying on an already established e-mail dialog with them!) _custserv@gw2kbbs.com - Customer Service (James Goodier) Also, there is an "unofficial" WWW page devoted to Gateway 2000 at: http://www.mcs.com/~brooklyn/home.html 1.3) Does Gateway 2000 provide support on the Internet? By e-mail, yes; in the newsgroup alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000, not any more. Gateway did provide newsgroup support until late January of 1996, at which time it was withdrawn. Gateway does provide e-mail tech support at tech@gw2kbbs.com. The turnaround time is usually a day or two. For a while Gateway had had serious mail problems. This had resulted in customers not getting answers that Gateway had sent to them from tech@gw2kbbs.com. That problem has now been fixed by Gateway having changed to another Internet service provider (ISP). 1.4) Where can I get current prices/specs? Well, prices change rapidly, as do the specs on the systems that Gateway 2000 offers. To get online copies from Gateway check , http://www.gw2k.com/. Online copies in this FAQ would be out of date too fast to do any good. If you call Gateway Customer Service at 1-800-846-2000, they will quote you information (or fax it to you). The FaxBack service is a good source of the same information, and you don't have to wait on hold! Also, you can send e-mail to the address gwfiles@gw2kbbs.com with the text get allconf.txt in the body of the message. The server will send you the current price and configuration files. Also, check the GUI WWW page for current prices. |1.4.1) Does Gateway charge sales tax in my state? Gateway charges tax in the following states: AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, HI, ID, IA, KS, KY, ME, MD, MN, MO, NE, NV, ND, NJ, NY, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, and DC. 1.5) Where can I ask for help? There are two different groups that are set up to answer questions from Gateway 2000 system owners. The first is the Netnews group alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000. This was created in the middle of 1993 and is enjoying increased propagation and participation from the Netnews community. If your site gets Netnews, but does not receive this group, you should ask your news administrator to add it. The second group is a mailing list for Gateway 2000 owners. You can subscribe to the list by sending a mail message to gateway2000-request@sei.cmu.edu. This is an automatic subscription system - a mail message with a subject of help will get you a list of recognized commands. Sending a message with a subject of subscribe will subscribe you to the list. Note that the address for the list itself and the address you need to use to subscribe and unsubscribe are not the same. The mailing list is not just a copy of the newsgroup, but is a forum for getting quick responses to problems and questions. There are many helpful people on the list, and Dave Grabowski deserves special mention as being especially helpful. The list has a higher ratio of technical information to commentary than does the newsgroup alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000. 1.5.1) What are some other sources of information? Many users on the Internet have run into the same problems. Sometimes they will even post their answers and suggestions. Some good places to check are, Gateway Users International, http://www.mcs.com/~brooklyn/home.html. The GUI E-zine, http://ELWOOD.pionet.net/~gui/. The Flaky PC Page, formerly the Flaky Gateway Page,http://execpc.com/~jarik/flakygw.html. Ben Myers' FAQ for upgrading 486 Gateways is currently at, http://www2.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/BenMyers.html. 1.6) Why should I buy a Gateway 2000 system? There are many different companies that make IBM PC clones; most of these are viable machines that will do the job for you. The real question that you need to ask yourself when thinking about purchasing a machine is "What do I want from this system, and what am I willing to put up with?" If you do not understand systems at all, and don't want to learn, you will probably be better off with a system from a large ("first tier") company such as IBM or Compaq. These companies put out computers that are more expensive, but they provide first rate support and documentation and are willing to hold your hand when you don't understand what is going on. On the other hand, if you are willing to do some work yourself, you can save considerable money by purchasing from a mail order house. At this point, you should be looking for a company that is stable, will be around for a while to provide support, and gives good value for the money. While there are quite a few companies that meet these criteria, many of the people in this group have chosen (surprise!) Gateway 2000. We feel that although there are some problems with Gateway as a company, the systems they produce are the best for the money around. Frequent problems reported with Gateway are difficulties contacting the Technical Support staff, late delivery on systems, problems with the CD-ROMs, and some problems with the monitors. The first two are prevalent with companies that are growing too fast; Gateway is now shipping more than 4000 systems *per day*. Trying to contact Gateway's toll-free telephone tech support is difficult now, according to most reports. It had improved for a while but has slipped again. Gateway has introduced a premium support alternative. Gateway is now getting their modems from US Robotics, which has a good reputation in the field. Also, the quality of the monitors (made by MAG) has also improved. Some of the larger monitors have Sony tubes, which are considered one of the best in the market. On the plus side of Gateway, they do produce very nicely configured systems at close to the best cost around. They put some first-rate parts into their systems (the ATI GUP board was very good, and their hard disks and motherboards are made by top notch companies) and often upgrade their systems with newer and better components. In short, if you are willing to put up with a few problems and are willing to spend some time diagnosing any system problems, Gateway will give you a good system for the money. 1.7) What other FAQs should I read? This FAQ posting covers things that are specific to Gateway 2000 computers. Since many of the parts of the Gateway systems are common to other PC systems, you can also get information from the FAQs of other computer groups. For example, you can get the following FAQs from the machine rtfm.mit.edu in the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers: _os2-faq _msdos-programmer-faq Below, in the directory pc-hardware-faq, you can get the PC hardware FAQ in five parts: _PC hardware FAQ, part 1 _PC hardware FAQ, part 2 _PC hardware FAQ, part 3 _PC hardware FAQ, part 4 _PC hardware FAQ, part 5 or the complete FAQ can be found at, _http://www.dfw.net/~sdw/compfaq.html. Other hardware FAQs are, _The Hardware Page - FAQs and Info, http://www.dfw.net/~sdw/index.html. _ComputerCraft's PC Hardware FAQ, http://www.computercraft.com. _Hardware Benchmark FAQs, http://hpwww.epfl.ch/bench/bench.FAQ.html. _Ben Myers' FAQ for upgrading 486 Gateways is currently at http://www2.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/BenMyers.html. _Chris Biow's Monitor FAQ can now be found at http://www2.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000//monitor.faq. _An article on RAM terms, http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/vax/ram.html. _Information on SDRAM, http://www.blvl.igs.net/~sysfix/sdram.htm. and in /pub/usenet/comp.os.ms-windows.misc: Windows_FAQ:_How_to_get_it Windows 95 FAQs and information: _http://www.primenet.com/~markd/win95faq.html _http://http://www.kingsoft.com/qaid/ _http://www.microsoft.com/windows/qa/qa.htm _The Windows95 Tips page with Gateway2000 specific information. Windows NT FAQs: _http://www.iea.com/~daler/nt/faq/toc.html _http://www.ahoynet.com/~scanman _http://www.iftech.com/classes/admin/admin.htm _http://www.mcs.com/~sculptor/NTFAX-FAQ.HTML _http://www.mcs.com/~thomas/www/ntfaq An excellent modem FAQ is found at: http://web.aimnet.com/~jnavas/modem/faq.html For setting up and tuning a winsock (great fun!), try these: _http://www.webcom.com/~llarrow/welcome.html _http://www.cerberus-sys.com/~belleisl/mtu_mss_rwin.html Gateway also has two pages that provide new information. _What's New at Gateway 2000 _The Destination FAQ, at Gateway2000 While not a FAQ per se, information about Micronics motherboards can be found at: http://www.randomc.com/~dperr/micronics/. (Thanks to Richard Iverson!) 1.7.1) How can I get what's on a WWW page if I have no browser? You can get the text part via e-mail. To find out how, send an e-mail message with only the word HELP to one of these e-mail addresses: _web-mail@ebay.com _webmail@www.ucc.ie _agora@kamakura.mss.co.jp Remember to turn off any automatic adding of a signature file! Don't abuse these services. For more about such things, see this URL: gopher://nisp.ncl.ac.uk/00/lists-k-o/lis-iis/files/e-access-inet.txt 1.8) Where can I get cow spotted (and other) goodies? Since the spotted cow is the official mascot of Gateway 2000, it be-hooves us to keep a few cow spotted items around to keep our systems happy. Here are a couple of items spotted (heh) by Nelia Lyda: Mouse pad with the required spots (712) 255-3667 $5 plus $3.75 s/h Other goodies such as tee shirts, coffee mugs, etc. (708) 676-5263 Gateway itself also offers a Microsoft mouse with Gateway's own cow-spotted mouse pad for $79; you can get this through their add-on service. I haven't ordered any of these items, but probably will someday. I *do* have a spotted cow from one of my three year old's farm sets sitting on my system, just to be on the safe side, however. [Tod Pike speaking here] There is also a company that sells dust covers for your Gateway 2000 system (among other things, of course): PC SOFTWARE & SUPPLY (VISA or MasterCard accepted) 2404 Dakota Ave. South Sioux City, NE 68776-0278 Phone: 1-800-728-5031 8am-5pm CST Fax: 1-402-494-8711 1.9) Contact information for related companies _Here are some telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for companies that currently provide or have provided parts for Gateway 2000 systems. I haven't personally verified all of these numbers or web sites, so feel free to send corrections and additions! _3Com Network cards at http://www.3com.com. _Adaptec SCSI cards at http://www.adaptec.com _ATI Technologies, http://www.atitech.ca/index.html. _Colorado Memory Systems, now a division of HP. _Colorado Backup FAQ, http://hpcc80.external.hp.com/Publish/isg/cms/cms_faq.html. _Colorado FTP site, ftp://col.hp.com. _ _Conner, http://www.conner.com/s&s.html. _Creative WWW site: http://creaf.com/ _Creative Labs FTP: ftp.creaf.com or creative.creaf.com _Delrina WWW site: http://www.delrina.com/ _Diamond WWW site: http://www.diamondmm.com/ _Diamond FTP site: ftp.diamondmm.com _The Disgruntled Diamond Users page, http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~trenton/diamond/ _ _Ensoniq (voice): 610-647-3930 _Ensoniq Faxback: 800-257-1439 _Ensoniq WWW site: http://www.ensoniq.com/ _Epson :http://www.epson.com/connects/support/index.html _Hewlett Packard :http://www.hp.com/ _Intel WWW site: http://www.intel.com _Iomega Home Page http://www.iomega.com/. _Matrox WWW site: http://www.matrox.com/ _Matrox FTP site: ftp.matrox.com/pub/video/ _Maxtor's Home Page: http://www.maxtor.com/. _Micro Firmware BIOS: 800-767-5465 _http://www.firmware.com/ _http://www.firmware.com/gwfaq.htm _Micronics web site http://www.micronics.com/. _Micronics motherboard owners should also look at Dick Perron's hardware page http://www.randomc.com/~dperr/pc_hdwe.htm. _Micronics JX30 users should also look at http://www.marshall.com/pub/mcr/about/mcrabout.htm. _Micropolis Corporation Home Page http://www.microp.com/ _Mitsumi BBS: 408-970-0761 _Mitsumi WWW site: http://www.eciusa.com/support.html _NEC BBS: 508-635-4706 _NEC Technical Support, http://www.webserver.nectech.com/support/svconlin.htm/. _Phoenix BIOS, http://www.ptltd.com. _Philips BBS: 719-593-4081 _Philips WWW site: http://www.philips.com/ _Promise Technology: 408-452-1534 (fax) _Promise Technology: 800-888-0245 (voice) _Promise Technology: 408-452-1180 (tech support) _Promise Technology: 408-452-1267 (BBS) _Promise WWW site: http://www.promise.com/ _Quantum Corporation WWW Server http://www.quantum.com/ _Seagate http://www.seagate.com. _Seagate Software, _Upgrade your Arcada Backup for Windows95 for free! ftp://sssmg.seagate.com/pub/arcada/buwin95/abwin95.exe. _Or upgrade your Conner Backup for Windows95 for free! ftp://sssmg.seagate.com/pub/arcada/buwin95/cbewin95.exe. _For other backup software at http://www.sssmg.seagate.com (formerly Arcada). _ _SONY CD-ROM BBS: 8-955-5107 _STB Systems (Rocket): 800-234-4334 (voice) _STB Systems: 214-437-9615 (BBS) _STB WWW site: http://www.stb.com/ _Toshiba Technical Support: http://www.toshiba.com/tais/csd/support _Ultrastor BBS: 714-453-8174 _US Robotics: support@usr.com _800-762-6163 (faxback) _847-982-5092 (BBS) _847-676-7323 (fax) _847-982-5151 (tech support) _sales@usr.com (Sales support) _800-DIAL-USR (Sales information) _USR WWW site: http://www.usr.com/ _Western Digital: _Phone: 714-753-1234 _Web site: http://www.wdc.com/support/ 1.9.1) How to contact the 10th Anniversary Club Owners of 10th Anniversary systems should check out the problem- and solution-oriented WWW site of the 10th Anniversary Club. This site, which deals with issues specific to 10th Anniversary systems, also has much valuable and clearly presented Gateway-specific information: http:/www.penn.com/tenthclub --- Timothy S. Brannan tbrann1@uic.edu Dept. of Educational Psychology College of Education University of Illinois at Chicago Listowner Educational Psychology Ph.D. List, EdPsych@Listserv.uic.edu http://icarus.uic.edu/~tbrann1/index.html -- College of Education, http://www2.uic.edu/depts/educ/oss/ossofec.html Gateway2000 Faq Page, http://icarus.uic.edu/~tbrann1/gateway.html