How does a gate know to light up?

[supersoldier34]

It has a element called "Plototnim" that tells when and when not to light up.

[Col.Ads]

Another plot hole, TPTB always stated the SGC gate was the money shot so maybe it gets little extras to make it more dramatic or something

[AvatarIII]

it's because stargate travel isn't instantaneous, the lights don't start lighting up until the outgoing wormhole is finished being dialed. the length of time it takes for the lights to all light up is approximately the same as travel time between gates.

[Jaffa-master]

The ancients are powerfull u never know.............

[starshineRoxie]

Often times when the SGC dials another planet, the destination gate would start to light up. How does a destination gate on another planet know when to light up when the entire number hasn't been dialed yet to that gate? And visa versa, Earths gate starts to light up even when they haven't been completely dialed yet.

Because it's probably like the green light that goes on every time you boot up your computer. It still goes on, even though not all of the software had been uploaded yet (Ultimate question: How long can one actually wait for Windows? ). I'll bet it's a programmed default into the hardware of the whole gate network so that it activates the chips that contain the "software", if you want to call it that, that will upload the transportation wormhole that will be completely finished when it gets an address.