Guess what? It died again. This time I took a look at BIOS stuff. Fan rpms (approximately, two of them changed): Processor region: 3000 Rear: 1500 Front: 0 Perhaps that is my problem. I do have more fans lying around somewhere. The last even the BIOS logged was from 2008. In case it matters, the BIOS version is BF86510A.86A.0038P08 . On boot I got a message saying that the CPU was being throttled because it was over the temperature threshold. IIRC the BIOS said that the CPU area temperature was about 80 C. -- Michael hennebry at web.cs.ndsu.NoDak.edu "On Monday, I'm gonna have to tell my kindergarten class, whom I teach not to run with scissors, that my fiance ran me through with a broadsword." -- Lily