Well, just got back from the hospital, computer hospital I mean, did replace the cmos battery, turned the machine on, and got a blank screen, a beep, pause, beep, pause, beep, etc. Not having the internet to research beep tones, I called my buddy who fixes machines, he suggested I move the jumper on the pins by the battery, turn the machine on, off, on, off, and reset the pin to it's original place. He thought that shorting out the cmos this might fix the problem. It didn't, so this afternoon I visited him with the computer. He plugs it in, check for burnt cookies smell (funny, I never eat cookies over the open computer - he said it can be a sign that things are going wrong - I thought cookies of any smell was always a sign something is right, oh well). When he turns it on, it comes up bright and beautiful. His idea that it was a memory problems, and tested the sticks (a 256 and a 128) and swapped their places, suggesting I might consider replacing the 256 one, when I can afford to buy one (he didn't have one in stock). So the machine is up and running. k3b, still can only see one writer and not both. So, for the mean time, I'm leaving it alone. I had a terrible night watching TV, what a tool of the devil, so fun like the internet and our forum.
Thanks to everyone who offered help.
