>> Larry  Fisk  wrote:
>>
>>  A client reinserted a AMD Dx4-120 cpu possibly the wrong
>>  direction in the motherboard slot. Now the machine won't
>>  even boot.


Larry:

An AMD K5-133 costs the SAME as a AMD 486DX4-100,
$35.

A cheap, decent Pentium motherboard costs $50. A cheap
or remaindered 486 Motherboard costs $35.

What is your time worth? The upgrade takes less time
than a diagnostic and a swap (of course, I don't want
to take bread out of the mouths of your children).

I submit to you it's time to tell the customer he fried
both parts and he is forced to replace them both.

Tell your client he might as well upgrade. Assuming he
has a pair of 72-pin SIMMS and a PCI video card in that
486, you're looking at a $15 differential. The client will
feel less stupid paying for the upgrade than for fixing his
blunder. He'll remember that longer than the amount of
your bill.

Regards,

John Chin