If I seem to have been a bit quiet in here lately it's because I killed my computer, absolutely stone dead.

The story is that someone gave me the insides of their computer after they'd upgraded everything. It was all a bit better than mine so I took as many parts as I could off the donated motherboard for use in my computer. The entire innards wouldn't swap as the shape of it was incompatible with the case I have. The USB and PS/2 sockets on the board didn't line up with the holes in the back.

Anyway, once the bits were installed I kept getting the 'blue screen of death'. After much playing about, reinstallations etc, I figured the trouble might be that my motherboard's BIOS needed updating to cater for the newer parts. BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is what makes a computer start up. It gives all those boot-up screens at switch on. If something doesn't work properly a BIOS update might provide a cure.

Updating BIOS is not something to be undertaken lightly though. This is because of the dire consequences that can occur if the upgrade goes wrong.

Guess what ...the upgrade went wrong! I ran the what I thought to be the correct BIOS update file. Ususally you get the chance to back up the original BIOS before the update takes place. Not so with this one. As soon as I booted up from the floppy drive, the update sprang into life and did its thing. The computer then went dead and stayed that way. No start-up screens, no floppy drive no anything! There is no coming back from a situation like that. Without the correct BIOS update file and a working floppy drive to run it, the computer is totally useless. It needs either a BIOS chip that hasn't been 'done in' or a BIOS flasher to re-program the chip (I.C). I thought I'd be without a computer for a good while.

The only immediate answer was to make the other motherboard fit. I spent into the night and early the next morning 'making' the donated motherboard fit into my case and rebuilding the computer. To my surprise nothing blew up when I plugged it in ...but then nothing worked either. After much experimentation I finally have it running OK. There's a bit more to do yet but what a relief to get it going.

The BIOS commands are held in one chip. This can be unplugged from the motherboard and sent away for re-flashing. It would cost around £15-00. I may do this and use the motherboard to build another computer for our daughter. On the other hand I might not because it is a bit on the aged side.

My presence here will be a bit patchy for a while I expect while I optimise everything. Lots of messing around to do and not much time to do it.

Dear TW , the whole story just left me gobsmacked!! To think of even opening the inside of my PC gives me nightmares. You are so knowledgeable and brave!! I would have spent the night in the rubber room, or gone out to get a new one and starved for a year! Good luck with it all. Can I help (ROFLOL!!!).

My am I ever impressed TW. But then being the genuis you are I am not surprised in the least.
I get nervous just booting up my pc at times!
BTW a friendly word of advice! If Ren is offering to "Help" RUN !LOL LOL LOL!
Glad your up and running again as I would be nervous if you weren't here to help us all.
PF

Telly,,I feel your pain,, I been there.
I go through the process of computer building every few years And everything has changed since the last one. Like the board and the case. I have always managed to get one to work, but it take several tries some times.
The last really bad experience I had was on my old computer, when I decide to up grade my modem to a 56k. I always used recognizable parts and programs and had only use USR and Cardinal modems, always non win modems, but I found a good price on a Sound Blaster brand. Well got to good,, right? I have installed modems in the first try and take five minutes.
In the process of loading the program it managed to lock the hard drive where it would not boot up again.
This was several years ago, win95 and I did not have anything backed up including my Access which had all of my business books on it for the last 5 years. So off to get a hard drive to replace the once fast leading edge capacity of 2.1. Well now about the smallest available was a 10gig and at the same price I had paid for the 2.1. Problem was my BIOS would not handle a disk larger that 2.1 so I had to format it as 5,, 2.1 disk. But the bios was only designed to handle 4 disk. I even call in a so called expert to make it work and he gave up. I finally made it work after several days of trying, tho it would lock up some times when switching between the HD and a floppy or a Zip. I did manage to retrieve all the info off of the old disk.
And I exchanged the HD in the machine to try to format and reuse the old HD. It would format but it would not it would not take the /s. I tried absolutely every trick I could think of but it would not.
Just an expense lesson that loading even the most common device can crash your machine.
Jax

I don't know that the 'improvisation' used to get a working computer was all that clever. In fact, killing the computer in the first place wasn't very clever at all!

The whole upgrade was a 'slippery slope' job, just like Jax's modem change. This is a very good example of how one thing can lead to another. I allowed myself a smile when reading about it because the incident is well in the past now. Also, anyone who has tried to repair or improve anything can identify with a story like that.

TW - I shall keep on trying to ignore No1 son's advice to upgrade, what I have suits me at the moment, might try adding a bit more memory for the hell of it.
Isn't it amazing what you learn when it doesn't go according to plan!

My knees go weak at the thought of opening my computer case, it's the equivalent of the car bonnet in any case.... Just to load something new which crashes and deletes its way through your computer system is quite enough for me. I once got stuck in a delete,crash and reboot cycle which scared me to death.

I wondered how much others mind when their computer is sick - it makes me feel really low - how sad is that? I hope your computer is better soon TW!

I have had just about every computer failure that can happen over the years. Lost power supply, main mother board, lost one HD to crack that just kept spreading etc. I have gambled and lost some files, but I have never lost every thing. Luckily there was always warning or the info was recoverable. But It can happen. Back it up.
CD and DVD are just too cheap to not use to protect you inportant stuff.

Jax

Ah well ...a motherboard nailed to a plank of wood, a reel-to-reel tape deck and an accumulator were also necessary. Plus a cat's whisker of course. The carrier pigeon was tethered to the plank and used as a cooling fan .

I also have heard that you used Two paper clips and a rubber band to make a pc? Bill Gates is so jealous of you as well he should be.
PF