> was it doing this before, then after replacing this stuff, it still does it...or is this something that has come to be after changing all this?
Yep, it was doing this before (and worse because of the failing cd-rom
> could be something else like bad ram stick
hmm good thought there
> thermal on the CPU causing it to overheat
I did repaste the CPU as well, but the paste on it was still in good shape
> id suspect the power supply as well.
thought of this, but it doesn't seem to have any issues. i'd swap it out if i had a spare AT power supply, but I don't have one around any more.
> coming up with no boot device is certainly strange...since you replaced the drive... but it could also still be a bad cd rom drive or cable. (i throw away probably 8 out of every 10 I come across.) but could also be a dying motherboard causing issues with the superIO chip/southbridge that has the IDE controller built in. usually caps will fix this...but sometimes the chips themselves get sketchy.
definitely will be doing caps soon
> see if you can boot it into the BIOS and let it sit and see if it's software related...or hardware related. if it sits in the BIOS for hours and hours, it could be software/cdrom/IDE cable/power.
good suggestion, thanks!