I hope part of the flash process was to create a backup of the BIOS with 
a method to reinstall it. Locking up a BIOS flash can't be good, but it 
could have stopped before any damage was done. At worse you may need a 
new BIOS chip or a new compatible motherboard might be cheaper.

The continuous light on the floppy probably is an indication that the 
communication to and/or from the drive is not proper. Check the cable 
connections and orientation to the #1 pin.

You have now done so many changes/swaps/etc. on the computer, it might 
be best to go back to the bare essentials as if you were building the 
computer from scratch and test as you go. There are informative sites on 
the web on building computers that you might want to research. Start 
with only the motherboard, CPU/heat sink/fan (firmly attached), known 
good RAM (reseat the RAM securely), known good video card (reseat the 
card securely), keyboard and monitor. See if the computer will complete 
the POST. Set the BIOS to "safe defaults". Attach the mouse and the 
floppy drive and see if you can get your Windows 98 boot disk to work. 
Attach the CD drive and the hard drive and check if the BIOS properly 
identifies them. Add in other cards (modem, LAN, etc.) and see if 
everything works together. See if you can load XP in safe mode without 
having to again reinstall it. See if you can load XP in normal mode.

If you run into a problem along the way, you will have a better idea of 
the cause.

Overheating could be a problem, but with all the work you have done, I 
assume you cleaned away any excess dust and that you would have noticed 
any fans that were not working. Also, the computer was working before 
you changed its location.

Hope you are still having fun with this gift computer.

Tom Mayer

Russ Cox wrote:
> Thanks for the excellent analysis.  The machine locked up again, now 
> in a stock configuration with an LCD display. It hung with the floppy 
> read light steady on but not reading the floppy.
> I had flashed the BIOS earlier, but thought I'd do it again. Wrong! It 
> locked up during the flash process so now it won't do anything.  HDD 
> read light comes on for awhile, but won't read the floppy or CD.Looks 
> to me like it really is toast. But still don't know where the "locked" 
> problem comes from.
> In answer to your suggestions:
> Didn't get to turn off IR in BIOS because of above.  Don't think 
> there's an IR receiver on it anyway. The location where it first 
> started failing is only a few feet from the workbench. Yes there is a 
> wireless router nearby.
> Didn't have the wireless mouse connected during this last activity.
> Did have an LCD monitor connected when it last failed.
> Did replace the battery before flashing (and trashing) the BIOS.
>
>
>

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