Hello everyone,
Here's the latest news on the Desktop Story:
Replaced the CMOS Battery with a new one...
No luck.
Reseated everything connected to the Motherboard...
No luck.
Tried to get to POST with items removed...
No luck.
Looks like it's time for that Machine to become either a large Paperweight, or very extravagant boat anchor!
johno12345:
On the back of your PC there are 4 status lights, A, B, C, D. These indicate component failures like the memory or CMOS battery. Turn it on and see what lights you get and post back.
All Four (4) of these LED Indicator Lamps are dark (no status), as are the activity indicator lamps next to the NIC, which normally shows pings and such even when the machine was powered down.
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There was a Dell optiplex G260 at work - which I thought was laying around because someone upgraded their workstation, but it apparently had some issues with random rebooting and possibly a loss of smoke scenario, so that board, CPU or PSU are not on my frankenstein parts list!
Just kills me - every time I shut off a machine for +48 hours, they either commit suicide, or induce long-term brain damage (fixed disk drive failure).
Nothing funny about getting dumped at IRQ 80! (although if I could even get to that point after POST, I would find it enjoyable...)
So it's time to toss the old, and purchase the new.
On this subject, all the pre-built packages come with Vista and no options for XP (I haven't dug too deep, so maybe there are XP options I just haven't seen).
Has Vista gone through its "Public Domain Beta Testing Period" yet, or is this O.S. still on its first release?
What I am referring to is:
Has Microsoft collected enough data on known issues with the Vista Operating System, since its first public release, in order to compile a somewhat stable SER through an OEM vendor (like Dell), or is it still in the "Try These Patches, And Cross Your Fingers" state?
Simply stated: Is it stable, or will I see lots of "BSOD" (Blue Screens with White Text - AKA "Blue Screen Of Death), &/or GPF error messages?
Sorry, old habits never die...
Don't buy the first production of a new CPU,Wait for second releases on Operating Systems so the bugs are more worked out,Wait for "version 2.2x.xxx" of software applications before investing,etc.Scott