The new DVD player for the MythTV box turned up on Friday… and turned out to exhibit the same problem: blinking lights, but no action. After disconnecting the SATA cable and the power cable a hundred times, swapping those cables with those of the hard drive, and disconnecting and reconnecting random leads from the motherboard, I did get the DVD drive tray to slide open once. I put in the FC4 installer, rebooted and got a single line of the boot display to show up, after which the boot failed, citing the DVD drive once again.
A couple more attempts at booting the machine ensued, then the video card started to scream at me that its power cord wasn’t connected. This was accompanied by a subtle, yet distinct air of electrical burning. Somehow — I really have no idea why — the video card has now decided to ally itself with the other rebellious hardware and turn to shit in my hands. It thinks it has no power, even though the cord is properly connected. A new cord and a different socket on the power supply fail to remedy the situation.
At this point, I have to suspect the motherboard after all. Things are breaking in such strange and unpredictable ways, and I’m really not that clumsy that I can realistically blame myself for each new problem that arises. But what next? Order a replacement motherboard and hope that everything magically just works? I’ve poured so much time, energy and money into this project already. It looks like I now need a new video card, too.
No, that’s it for me, I think. The whole project has worn out my patience, so I’m shelving it for now. The working pieces of hardware will become spares for some future computer (since they’re all either incompatible with or superfluous for my other machines), but essentially it’s a lot of money down the drain at the moment.
The whole exercise has left a nasty taste in my mouth. This is the very last time I attempt to build a new PC from the ground up. Unless one has multiple spares of every part on hand with which to test and rule out causes, it’s just not worth the potential grief.
I’m sticking to software from now on; it’s what I’m good at.