New box does not load BIOS

[sweetser at theworld.com]

Hello:

It was not clear to me on Friday what was wrong the system.  It could
have been the motherboard, it could have been the CPU, it could have
been the memory.  The memory did work in a system that was flaky, so
that was a partial endorsement.  Both the motherboard and CPU came
from the same company in retail boxes.  I didn't want to risk money on
either.  So I went to Micro Center to ponder a cheap test...

All the motherboards were $60 and up.  I just wanted to know if I
should get an RMA number for the board or the chip, so that was too
much.  Wandering near the front of the store, I saw a Soyo board which
after the rebate, would cost $10.  That was the ticket!

Swapped out the old new motherboard with the Soyo, and it booted the
first time.  Installed Debian with a few minor headaches.  Rebooted it
a few times.  Then had to reboot on last time before bedtime, and
ooof, no BIOS.  I had been working installing for a few hours, so the
CPU couldn't be that bad.

Saturday morning, it was the same deal, no BIOS.  I was going to go to
Micro Center and get a new CPU, but thought I would first reset the
BIOS memory, get back to the good old times on Friday when it worked.
And it did work!  Since that time, I have rebooted maybe 20 times, and
it has worked every time except when I left a non-bootable floppy in
the drive.  The machine is quiet, and will see over the upcoming
months how reliable it is.

Makes me wonder if my first board is flawed after all.  Maybe the CPU
just needed to be run a few times.  All new machines can be picky,
perhaps even CPUs.  I have decided not to return the first board,
since it may not be broken after all, so would cost both a mailing and
restocking fee.

If anyone wants a Socket A motherboard for half price ($35 payable
only after it is proven to work), email me.  I will probably just keep
it as a backup.


doug