Hello, Charles.

What's with these Fidonet datestamps?  Can it be that you either stayed
up really late, or got up really early at something like 4AM to post - -

-=> CHARLES ANGELICH wrote to MATT MC_CARTHY <=-

 MM> Allow me to start from the beginning with what I think I
 MM> know:
 MM> You have a Dell Celeron basically 'found on your doorstep',
 CA> AFAIK it's an HP machine at 433mhz, not 'Dell'. ;-)

Whoopee! That's a good 'un, Charles, and I guess you can carve another
notch on your trusty six-shooter - - Wayne's balky machine is an HP
Pavilion 4483, or something like that. PS for Dell are another matter,
and I think Dell somehow changed around the wiring on their ATX power
connectors for at least some of their machines..

 CA> --8<--cut

Maybe not such a good "cut", Charles,   - - see below

 MM> You may well have MORE than one problem, and from all of
 MM> what you have posted, you could have bad HD, RAM, Cache,
 MM> and PS, as well as thermal problems all at the same time.
 MM> :-((

What Matt actually wrote is per the below - -

 MM> Step 7)  
 
 MM> END OF TEST!

 MM> If you follow this, the object it to have as little as possible
 MM> running, try to identify any possible problems at their earliest
 MM> stage to reduce confusion, and keep in mind the history of this
 MM> machine.  You may well have MORE than one problem, and from all of
 MM> what you have posted, you could have bad HD, RAM, Cache, and PS, as
 MM> well as thermal problems all at the same time.  :-((

 CA> While what you say is within the realm of reality it seems a
 CA> bit unkind to cause Wayne this much stress all at once. Any of
 CA> us could have multiple problems 'all at once' on any given day.

Oh, yes, and some of us have multiple problems _everyday_.
But, as to Matt's msg somehow being "unkind", I disagree with you,
Charles. (I know, I know, what else is new?)

Au contraire, seems to me that Matt's post was _extremely_ kind, in that
he obviously spent a good bit of time to think through and set out a
logical 7-step troubleshooting procedure which Wayne could use when he
can.  And I don't see much of any stressful part in all that, since
Wayne has posted here about how he has apparently given up on it, and
set the machine aside.

In Matt's suggested procedure there were multi-stop and wait steps in
there to see how the system was responding. BIR, each step was set up to
focus in on a particular potential problem-causer, so what's your beef,
and where's your worried-about high level of stress for Wayne with that?

I know you've been suggesting PS all along, and that may very well end
up being Wayne's central (or only) problem with this system, but I think
Wayne would be well advised if he were to go through Matt's suggested
testing steps.

 - - -  JimH.

... "Bother!" said Pooh, as his 'puter started acting flakey as Wheaties.
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