Ok, some may remember my previous thread on my PC's new nonbooting status. I bet on the problem being in the cpu and ordered a new one(because of availability, a 2200+ t-bred). Put it in today and the only change is that I now sometimes get a no ram error with one DIMM when I didn't before(but it's not consistent). That rules out the CPU. Realized my sister's Dell is a DDR-using P4 system, and ruled out both DIMMs as both were good(I expected as much). For the heck of it I also pulled out my old 350W power supply, ruled that out too. That only leaves two possibilities: the presence of heatsink mounts on the mobo, or the mobo itself. The former isn't likely, because washers block the screws from shorting anything and they were screwed to a minimally compressing fit.
So anyway, I hate shopping for a motherboard because while one can easily compare price and features... what I care for most is stability and reliability. I want it to work and continue working, and judging this from reviews and anecdotes is tough. I don't necessarily care about Serial ATA, dual channel, onboard sound, or firewire, but I do need an ATX form Socket A board that'll do 400/333/266 FSB, and I don't really know what's up with nvidia or via northbridges. Many thanks in advance.
So anyway, I hate shopping for a motherboard because while one can easily compare price and features... what I care for most is stability and reliability. I want it to work and continue working, and judging this from reviews and anecdotes is tough. I don't necessarily care about Serial ATA, dual channel, onboard sound, or firewire, but I do need an ATX form Socket A board that'll do 400/333/266 FSB, and I don't really know what's up with nvidia or via northbridges. Many thanks in advance.