I've been working like hell, trying to get a computer ready for an impoverished friend of mine. I can't get the beastie to boot from the DVD drive, and therefore can't install Windows on it. I went and bought the identical motherboard, removed the other one and installed the new one. It still won't boot.

About the only thing, and I doubt very much if it would matter, is changing out the video card. If I can find a spare, I'll try that next. And if that doesn't work, I'll take it to the computer show at the fairgrounds this weekend, and see if there's a roving repairman who can come up with a solution.

This is the first time this has ever happened. It is more frustrating than my sex life...because, after all, that's nearly nil anyway, and I'm used to rejection and depresson there. But I could USUALLY get a hacked-together computer to work!