i've had this problem since the 3rd of july, but never messed with it.

my laptop will no longer power on with the charger. i thought it was the charger, so I bought a new one. Still, no power. I have a gateway mx3215, since february 18th, it hasn't been too long. do you know whats going on?

If the charger is putting out the proper voltage and current and the battery isn't shorting things out, then you have a defective charging circuit on the mainboard. Try removing the battery and then running it from the AC adapter. If it still fails to power on then you have a bad mainboard (a handful of notebooks have a separate charging board that can be replaced).

I don't believe any Gateways have a seperate charging board(called the DC board), those are usually found in Sony's and maybe a high end Toshiba.

If the charger is putting out the proper voltage and current and the battery isn't shorting things out, then you have a defective charging circuit on the mainboard. Try removing the battery and then running it from the AC adapter. If it still fails to power on then you have a bad mainboard (a handful of notebooks have a separate charging board that can be replaced).
Well that must be the case, I'm using the charger that came with it so it is the right kind. I bought an aftermarket that also is the same voltage, and has a green light, and when I plug it in, it doesn't dim, so it isn't a short circuit. Should I take it to a repair shop, or can it be fixed?

If I read your post correctly, your purchased this 2-18, so I assume it has a one year warranty. If that's the case call gateway and find out where to send it for warranty repair. If it's not under warranty be prepared for a major case of sticker shock.

Contact gateway, send it in for repair. It'll be about one month, but they're pretty good at making sure things work for you. Be sure to talk to the support online and tell them to give you their shipping account and a RMA number. They'll pay for shipping BOTH WAYS once they confirm that it is a hardware issue.

Make sure you back up any important data before sending it in. I sent one in once for a backlight issue and they replaced the drive for no apparent reason. Would've lost it all.

Compare your old Adapter voltage specs(on the back) with the one that you've bought, it must have the same specs, otherwise it won't help. And if all specs are the same, you might want to give this a try, take out the battery, and plug in the adapter, see whether it can power up?

Make sure you back up any important data before sending it in. I sent one in once for a backlight issue and they replaced the drive for no apparent reason. Would've lost it all.I don't really have a way to do so. It doesn't power on.

Thanks for telling me Andy.

I don't really have a way to do so. It doesn't power on.

Thanks for telling me Andy.

If you have important data on the drive you don't want to risk losing you can remove the drive from the notebook and use an adaptor/external enclosure to access the drive with another PC.

Could be your charger port in your labtop or your labtop is just old.

Contact gateway, send it in for repair. It'll be about one month, but they're pretty good at making sure things work for you. Be sure to talk to the support online and tell them to give you their shipping account and a RMA number. They'll pay for shipping BOTH WAYS once they confirm that it is a hardware issue.I just thought about this today.. does this still apply even if I have no warranty? (except 12 month limited gateway warranty)

Thanks I finally had the time to talk to them.. and.. its getting repaired. :)

Shipping paid also, just like NE-Andy said