Joe, I have a new impression of your private life after that admission about remembering devices based upon which woman was warming your sheets. ;-D

A friend in New York City has excellent timing--he called this morning early (he NEVER calls, so I know this is a big deal). The power in his apartment building was off yesterday (they're renovating) and there must have been a power surge. His computer won't start.

My first thought, power supply. But I had him unplug everything and then turn it back on; there are a couple of the lights on the face of the computer that are on and are blinking rapidly. No light on the ON button, though. Sounds more like the motherboard?

I told him not to run out and buy a new computer (not that he can afford one anyway) but we'll speak later today. He doesn't have a surge protector (I've told him for years to get one) so I'm sure something got zapped. I also don't want him running down to the guy at the bakery across the street who does some part-time computer repair. It gets expensive and he could spend the repair money better.

bbc, I must say that great minds think alike. If he can't get this computer up and running I don't think it is worth the trouble to get a new mother board and pay someone to install it. It would be cheaper for him to pay for my airfare to NYC to do the work for him. I think he needs to get one of these web devices like the Acer bbc discussed. There are many people who simply don't use the power of the computer who would do fine with the smaller device. If we can get the big computer up and running again, I think he should use it as a secondary device and do most of his email and browsing on the small device. He can attach his big monitor and keyboard to it so he doesn't need to feel cramped.

Any thoughts?

SRS