Not content with being a golden god, I’m now apparently eligible for sainthood. Just ask Randy. The only thing I couldn’t get going was his onboard soundcard chip, and let me tell you, I did NOT want to quit with the sound not working, but a $30 soundcard from a reputable company fixes that problem. Voila.

Partly my fault, anyway: should have checked a hardware compatibility list before suggesting Win2k for his reinstall on a Compaq P.O.S. Should have known that crap like that only runs a crappy OS like Millenium.

The HCL is mostly a joke. The sound card he put in that works probably isn't on the HCL either.

Home systems (which I'm assuming this is) are pretty generally flaky, esp. the low-end ones with cheap chips. That's true across the manufacturers, I'd say, esp. among manufacturers (IBM, Sony, Compaq) who like to "tweak" things.

If I didn't keep finding Open Box specials for a song, I'd switch over to a "generic" system next time.