i was initially hoping to do some testing, to see if i could narrow the issue down to some other thing. so, i've got this machine down to the minimum i can get it to - wired usb keyboard & mouse and one stick of ram and that's it. no battery, even.

but, the fact that i just connected to microsoft's servers on a computer with no working and connected network card is making me realize the pointlessness of this, if i didn't already know it.

i've convinced myself the drive is fine. there was an off chance there was an issue with ram or a short in the board. but, this backdoor is more consistent with all of the evidence...

i don't know what they want or why they're doing this but this machine has no long term future. sadly.