A friend gave me we her old Gateway DX4300-003 for free because it wasnt working. I set it up and pressed the power button, the fans spins and it lights up but the cd rom doesnt open and i get no display at all and no beeps (I'm not even sure if these machine does beep). I cracked it open and the first thing i saw was the part that holds the heat-sink down was broken. Took out the heat sink, processor and the memory out and still no display or post. i did touch the processor while the power was on and it was hot. I've narrowed it down to either the processor or motherboard. Was looking for any input from anyone on this. I'm not looking one spending anymore then 100 bucks on this because it was free so if I order something i want to be right. thanks.
try another psu. cpu, heatsink & ram has to be installed to post. look at the pdf file & read page 29 for troubleshooting. http://global-download.gateway.com/...rid=634293780080238211&Step1=DESKTOP&Step2=DX SERIES&Step3=DX4300&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=GATEWAY&SC=PA_6G specs link http://support.gateway.com/s/desktop/2009/gateway/dx/dx4300/DX4300sp2.shtml http://support.gateway.com/us/en/s/desktop/2009/gateway/dx/dx4300/DX4300nv.shtml
Also check your power supply to see if it is still good.That may be why your CDrom drive isn't working.Gateways are good for the power supplies going bad. http://support.gateway.com/s/POWER/SHARED/function.shtml http://support.gateway.com/support/?cmpid=supportnav
Tried a new PSU with everything disconnected except the CPU, heatsink, fans and RAM. No go. I even tried it with and without the GPU as the MB has built in video. nothing. I'm going with my gut and I found the same motherboard on Ebay used for 15 bucks plus 10 bucks shipping. even if it doesnt work i could order an AM3 processor even though the board is AM2+ i found post saying they work minus triple channel RAM. going this route is cheaper then looking for AM2+ which have a high markup.
