nope.
i'm
not getting any power to the board past a certain point, which is a
different problem than i dealt with the last time i did this. see, but
it's a bit deceptive, because the externals all take power from the psu.
so, the cd spins when you put something in it and the floppy lights up,
but neither are able to communicate with the cpu, so the emergency bit
doesn't come in.
one of the things that made me understand what's
happening a little bit better was plugging an mp3 player into usb. i
wasn't expecting power from the board, but i was hoping the power on the
key would be enough to get over the hurdle. unfortunately, the key is
programmed to turn off on the physical connection, rather than an
electronic one. so, no good.
that leaves me with three remaining options:
a) i can try and short the chip, but i think this is unlikely to work.
b)
a better idea is to try an externally powered usb connection. and,
thinking back, i think that might have been what i did last time, too. i
need an external usb drive for two other reasons now so it will be top
priority next monday...
c) i can try and use a jumper to replace
the bios. i'm going to have to wait until monday for this, too. it's an
excuse to get the soldering iron that i probably should have inherited
but, for whatever reason, didn't.
so, my gst money on the 5th is
basically going to computer repair. that's mildly irritating, but ok. i
don't budget that. it's all stuff i should have around, anyways.
i'm
not going to short the chip unless i can find a precise set of
instructions. see, i don't think the boot block isn't kicking in, i
think the board needs power to communicate with the devices. the short
might reset the power along with the force, which shouldn't be missing
in the first place, but it's not the intent of the process, so i'm a
little cautious about messing with it. as it is, i have no keyboard
commands, because there's no power. i have no video out because there's
no power. yet the fans are all spinning so it's clearly that the bios
crashed before that point...
if i can get some power to the
board, i think it should go into recovery and flash off of any media it
can read. but, i need to be careful with that.
i could do this
with a screwdriver, and conceivably have it up in a few hours. in the
back of my mind, though, i'm thinking that, if i wait, and the usb trick
works, it won't be necessary - and that the jumper is a safer way to
force it. it's simplicity v. safety...
if i can find exact instructions, i will do this. if not, i'll wait for at least the external usb.
there's always reading to catch up on.