Originally Posted by
PTravel
This is weird. I thought I'd go through the memory modules as the failure mode was consistent with bad memory. I tested each separately and each was okay. I put all four back in and the computer posted and then booted!
Perhaps it was only that one or more of the modules had worked loose, but the machine is back.
Needless to say, Mrs. PTravel is ecstatic -- no new computer purchase for me today.
I was going to suggest that you may have just fried the power supply, but glad you got it working. On all the systems I've had over the years, the power supply is usually the weak link and the first thing to go bad when there's a power problem.
If you feel like you want to replace/upgrade this system, I've priced out a very nice intel quad core system at newegg. The quad core processor is only about $100 more than the mainstream dual core processors right now.
Without a new case/PS and software, it comes in at around $600 - $800 depending on your choice of motherboard + the cost of a graphics card. There are definitely motherboards that include gigabit ethernet and 1394, so you don't need slots for those, and all the motherboards have x16 pci-e slots, even if they come with onboard graphics. I think you'd have a difficult time finding a modern motherboard that supports c2d or a quad core processor that doesn't support at least 4G memory. Most have 4 memory slots. You could easily do the entire thing for less that 1k including a very nice case and PS, plus OS software if you need windows.
I find the Asus motherboards the easiest ones to work with because they come with headers that make it very easy to make all the front panel and integrated device connections. That said, my last system was built on a Gigabyte motherboard. (an intel g33m based uATX board that included hdmi and dvi out. It was a great feature set and I can't find this board anymore unfortunately.)
That said, it's hard to beat the hw package of the Dell XPS 420 at $999, which comes with most everything you want. The base system includes 3G memory, so if you really need 4G, you would replace 2 of the DIMMs it comes with. It includes an intel quad core processor, a nice graphics card, gigabit ethernet and 1 1394 port. It also comes with Vista, so if you want XP Pro, you'd have to do some investigation to see if you can find all the drivers for it.
I don't have any 1394 devices, but I thought you could daisy chain them. I guess at least one of your devices has to have 2 ports on it to do that.
-David