>Soren: Examine the six hole pedestal, is there anything inside the holes?
Almost looks like a 6 prong port of some kind. Which means someone has probably stolen the control panel that plugs into it.

A closer look to the device reveals that it is in fact some sort of plug for something else, probably a control panel. Someone took it, or maybe it was just lost or broken. You'll have to find another way to activate the portal.
Zap it with your cattle prod and see if you can JumpStart it.

Zapping the plugs causes the portal frame to light up, but a portal isn't formed. Maybe it needs more power.
This is obviously the solution:
>Menen: Create a large novelty Lego brick out of red imagination ingots with six pegs on top.
>Place the brick on the pedestal upside down.

You conjure a Red Lego Brick and attempt to plug it into the port. Nothing happens
>Twain: Ponder the differences between this portal and the other one.

You've noticed various obvious differences between the two gates. This new gate is a trapezoid, has strange runes on the inside of the frame, and is controlled by the small hexagonal box nearby. You don't see an open panel that contains those strange metal wires like the last gate, however it could be concealed better. You could not say, as you don't know much about these gates. Technology and electronics are Tesla's
forte, not yours.
The most obvious thing about these gates is that they feel like stone, but their color is not like that of the stone nearby. They must have been brought in from somewhere else in the Ethereal, but you haven't heard of a place with gray stone. Perhaps it exists in the more hallowed regions