Gateway LX6810-01 Desktop PC Reviews

I’ve owned Sony desktops for many years. But now that Sony is only offering all-in-one machines, I had to choose a different brand now that I’m ready to replace my Sony 110G.

The first 6810 was a problem right out of the box - it wouldn’t recognize the DVD and the card readers - after the first reboot. I actually had to restore the machine the first day. After that restore the machine once again started to fail to recognize the DVD drive every so often, and after some online investigating I found it to be a registry entry causing the problem - of which Gateway is aware of. I couldn’t get the card readers to stay recognized though. When the machine was finally running Adobe Premeire Pro would freeze constantly. So just as a test I ran MS Movie Maker and that froze too. After a week of constantly working with problems I brought the machine back to BB. The Geek Squad immediately determined the machine to be bad and exchanged it. I downloaded the first set of Windows updates on the second machine, and when the machine rebooted it went into Windows Repair mode and hasn’t come out since. The second machine will be returned and I’ll have find something different… I’m only giving this model 2 chances.

As I said, the specs of this machine would make you think you’re getting a powerhouse, but the fact is that this machine is riddled with problems. I’d STRONGLY suggest looking at a different model.

Bought this PC on January 16th. 6 weeks later the machine started randomly shutting down on me. I brought it back to BestBuy, the geeksquad took well over a week to run their diagnostics and determine that the hard drive on the machine was bad - a fluke, so they issued me a brand new one. That was 4 weeks and 2 days ago and now THIS one is also doing it as well. I am bringing it back to BB and the GS tomorrow and demanding a refund. I am a photographer and DO NOT have time to be running around dropping off faulty machines and picking up new ones only to have them crash within a month. Not to mention not having a PC for a week while tests are being run! BAD BAD product Gateway!!!

My husband and I purchased these identical computers to replace our older ones at tax time. Initially they worked great. Now 3 months later and practically on the same day, they began randomly shutting down.

UNFORTUNATELY I was not smart enough to get the Best Buy service plan…so after several calls to support (and several very different solutions) I am going to have to ship BOTH of these pieces of junk to TEXAS to be looked at. It is absolutely unacceptable that two identical products should fail at exactly the same time.

I will never buy a gateway computer again.

I am having the same problem–worked fine for 3 months and now crashes after 30 minutes–continually! Not sure if it is running too hot…now they want me to do a system restore when I know full well it is a hardware issue. Do NOT buy this PC!!! Also compared to HP I have to say Gateway support is much less efficient.

JUNK! BB and GS are incompetent morons.We’ve had the computer for ten weeks, and it been with GS for five. It keeps shutting down,it has a new hard drive,and a new video card now,but it’s still shuts down. We have to drive forty miles one way to get to BB and the teenagers at GS are just waiting for the warranty to run out.Don’t buy this thing or you will regret it.

Bought the Lx6810-01 March 15th from Best Buy, as soon as we took it out of the box I couldn’t get any games to work and DVD’s wouldn’t play. Within the first week the computer completely shut down. Every 20 to 30 minutes like clock work. I finally took it back. So I Drove the 40 miles back to the Jackson, Mi Best Buy and they said they would have to send it out for repair They said it sounds like the mother board.(My brand new computer !!!) Two and a half weeks later it was ready, they said I needed to bring in the recovery disc’s so they can reboot it. So another 80 mile round trip back to Bust Buy got there and they said it would be tomorrow before they could reboot it. So back home without the computer and the next day, another 80 mile round trip to Best Buy Got there the next day and and they told us it was the hard drive and that it was replaced,it should be fine. I took it home and right out of the box again it was shutting down, just like the first time. Yet another 80 mile round trip back to Jackson to the Best Buy. This time they said it sounds like the video card and that again it would need to be sent out for repair (are you kidding me !!!) Three weeks later it is ready again, by this time I have owned the computer for 10 weeks and have not even gotten to use it yet! I again drive the 80 mile round trip back to bust buy and pick it up. They assured me this was a fluke and that all should be well this time. As you can now guess I took the computer home and right out of the box it is still shutting down. I have been very nice up to this point, But tomorrow Bust Buy better look out. I am furious and finding this web-site shows me that they knew there was something wrong the whole time. I want my money back and I will never buy a Gateway again.

Purchased this computer roughly 4 1/2 months ago. Worked like a dream until recently I began experiencing random shutdowns. It will work for roughly 10-15mins, shutdown, if I hit the power button right when it shuts down, it will run for 3-4 seconds before shutting down again. After reading reviews, I happen to be young(ish) and fortunate enough to have some money to play with.

First Mission: I went to newegg.com and purchased 8 GB’s of Kingston HyperX ram. 212$ later, and I still have a computer shutting down randomly.

Second Mission: I researched all parts of the desktop, and the power consumption of each. Nvidia GT 120 needs 350W of power to itself. Windows Vista 64bit SP 1 requires 97W when running 50% of its power. Right now, we are at 447W of power required before getting into the 8GB of Ram, HDD, Fans, and other items. Funny thing is, this desktop comes with a 400W PSU (Power Supply Unit)…….Hmm…this sounds like a problem.

Third Mission: I run to Staples and pick up their new 750W Antec 80+ PSU. (172$) I scramble home, uninstall the original 400W PSU and install the 750W PSU. And guess what?! No luck, computer shut down randomly after 11 minutes, 53 seconds.

Fourth Mission: I downloaded PC Wizard, RivaTuner. I use PC Wizard to monitor my hardware temperatures. I notice that my cores run at a normal rate of 120 F. While, my GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is running at an alarming 162 F. I use RivaTuner to alter my GPU and……It is only allowed to run at 25% Fan speed at max. I alter that and have it run at 100% fan speed from start up to shut down. Now, my GPU runs at a constant 109.4 F. Computer ran for 19 minutes, 23 seconds before shut down.

Fifth Mission: I removed every single hardware part, including motherboard, and using model car paint brushes, knocked off every inch of dust. I then check all wires for consistency, then route them correctly in which they do not bind, chaff, nor get pinched when closing the case. Still no luck.

Sixth Mission: This evening, I will be using a Voltmeter. I plan on checking the consistency of every piece of hardware for electrical integrity. I plan on finding the problem with my Gateway Lx: 6810-01, because I feel sorry for the people whom are less fortunate whom get screwed by Best Buy. I have the means of finding the problem, and when I do. I will post it here under solutions. I will not post a solution unless it ‘FIXES’ the current shut down issue at hand.

Feel free to send me any emails containing a fix you might have found, or to see how my current task is going.

Jesse E
(Task 78- Gateway Lx:6810-01)
(Random Shut Downs)
Contact: Pcpowerhouseinc@

Random shutdowns solved!

After weeks of troubleshooting, the geeksquad finally determined that the random shutdowns I was suffering with the LX-6810 (as it appears was everyone else) was an engineering defect that these machines RUN TOO HOT and not enough ventilation was designed in the box. For example, the MPC unit was 102 degrees Celsius after running virus searches, and other intensive programs. I have since INSTALLED 2 EXTRA INTERNAL FANS including one pointing directly at the MPC, and so far so good…. Thanks geek squad. Booo Gateway.

I purchased the Gateway LX6810-01 and am also experiencing the same issue of it shutting off. Very Sad.

It’s the processor guys. Friend of mine has one of these, the shutdowns are caused by a processor overheat. Most HDD’s will fail extensive testing, even brand new ones. Gateway is blaming the vid cards for the overheat, but it’s not them. To drop temps to acceptable ranges-

Add a 120mm case fan to the slot on the bakc of the unit
if you or a friend KNOW HOW, replace the thermal compound on the CPU with something better, I reccomend Arctic Silver 5 from Antec. Once these fixes were applied, I dropped her STANDARD operating temp from 78 (unit shuts down at 80, btw) to 55.

Seems I’m having the same problem as a lot of people. Random shut downs during any kind of graphics usage. After installing speedfan I’ve nailed it down to temp. on the graphics card. The machine has been sent into gateway 3 times and of course they say there’s nothing wrong with it..someone has suggested a class action suit since the company is not only NOT willing to fix the problem but also is denying there is a problem at all.

I have been curious to know why so many people have been having trouble with this model and why I have had no problems at all. In fact, I run Crysis on very high/ high all the time, as I immediately upgraded all the key things that seemed weak to me.

I swapped the crappy 400W PSU for a 650W model from Tuniq.

I think the crappy standard graphics card is generating the heat that’s causing this model to overheat so badly. I swapped that for an exponentially more powerful card from HIS (overclocked 4850) that included a great exhaust fan that removes heat from the case.

I was disgusted that there were no internal case fans and added a 120mm fan from Silverstone on the back (recommend a model with it’s own speed controller) and a 80mm Silverstone fan on the side vent (wired it on the bottom right corner of the vent). This has helped a great deal in lowering the temperature even further.

Those modifications seemed to have done the trick for me. I have had no shutdowns or problems and have a respectable device for gaming and multimedia.

I give the device I’ve turned it into a 4/5 given it’s low price and good specs, but I’d probably give a very low rating as it was out of the box. The upgrades (all from newegg) were very cheap and relatively easy to do in my opinion, but it would suck if you aren’t able to do any of these upgrades yourself or have a friend who could do it for you. Definitely don’t buy this computer for the grandparents. But it’s great for someone who doesn’t mind doing a few tweaks to fix some questionable design choices from Gateway.

Hey Alan, your review was very helpful. Would you be so kind as to provide links for the new components you installed? I think it would be helpful to know what exactly myself and others should purchase or as to what specs we can use as a guide. Thank you

I bought the LX6810 a few months ago and also went through the random reboots. I troubleshot this and finally found out that the NVIDIA storage manager software was the root cause. I disabled the storage manager portion within the NVIDIA and the problem disappeared. I just wanted to post this so you all know.