No I am a troubled PC owner who only posts for help as a last resort after trying everything I can. Is there a limit to the posts I can make? I determined the problem and decided to ask a different question i.e. about swapping out a board so as no to confuse the issue. The fact that you take pleasure in playing sleuth and linking the poster to the problem is your business. I had to start another thread because I felt that 'you bought a crap PC' and 'buy another one' was not really helping me with the problem I had. I thought these forums were for help rather than criticism? Sorry I asked, this used to be a place where you could get a sensible answer, and for those who have tried to help-thank you. All I needed to know was if I could swap the mobo, reinstall without problems, or install a fresh copy using my serial code. A combination if YES/NO would do the trick. Surely it takes more of your time and effort to make critical replies and judge the quality of my PC against your own standards??

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I've often been able to swap out a faulty motherboard for another without having to reactivate, but since you bought a crappy Acer Microsoft won't help you activate it if XP gets suspicious with the new motherboard. You'll have to plead your case to Acer, and they'll kindly tell you to sod off. Now with the Vista upgrade coming, you'll probably be receiving your license directly from MS... this would be a good time to ditch the crappy Acer motherboard and install a non-crappy motherboard to run your mediocre components. "If it ain't broke, upgrade anyway."

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splinters, I know your story all too well. I also know that you started posting back in January & although many of us have tried to help you, you still haven't figured out the problem yet. Only so much can be done thru a forum. You said that you've built several PCs in the past & I have no reason to doubt you, but I would think that if you're as knowledgeable about hardware as you claim to be, you'd have taken one look at the Acer T180 specs & just kept on walking. Obviously your purchase was based on price, not on components. You said you need the 7900GT "for my work"...what kind of work do you do that requires a high end gaming card? Here's another idea...sell the video card & buy a different one. Since your planning on installing Vista anyway (yuck), why not get a card that will support DX10?

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Yes Jam, I must admit greed (and laziness)got the better of me when I saw this PC. I won the card and would probably have bought something a little lower specced. I am an illustrator using CGI for my graphics and I am beta testing trueSpace 3D software which uses a realtime DX9 3D environment. My NDA stops me from discussing exact details but it involves particle systems and fur as well as next gen renderers which require some serious graphic power to run in realtime. I also use a lot of photoshop (which really chugs on a 6100 chipset)and really need Dual DVI monitors which the card gives (gave!) me. I also work for Caligari designing their user interface and the release of the software is a few weeks away. I am supposd to be testing it in a Vista environment (hence I don't mind upgrading)and I also have a distribution deal for the children's books I write and illustrate. So as you can see, I wanted a PC with a reasonable CPU and a couple of Gb of Ram to put the card in...nothing more, no overclocking...odd FPS game but not a priority...and plenty of graphics horsepower for the CAD stuff. As you can imagine, a PC running like a dog (onboard graphics) at least let's me meet my contractual work, albeit slowly, which is why I am reluctant to send the PC off to Acer for several weeks...but it is really slowing me down. The card could be RMA'd just to be on the safe side but if a new mobo would get me back to speed (quickly)then that is the best option for me. So, you see I know what I am doing but my 'work' needs stop me from taking some of the advice given...I am not being stubborn or a serial poster. More than my sanity depends on this...the relase of a major piece of software (and my paycheck for completing the contract) mean I need to fix this PC quickly. To be honest, I would lose more than the price of a new mobo if I sold it anyway and it would come with a 3 year warranty which, frankly, I don't have with Acer anymore. You say you don't think the Mobo is at fault but the card no longer works in it so it must be a failing component from the card or mobo. £30 would get me a diagnostic at my local PC shop and then I may still have to buy a mobo. If I am wrong then I wasted £45 but the card goes off to xFx and at least I know the problems. I am just concerned about losing my OS and Vista upgrade via a mobo swap. That is why I started this thread. Thanks for all your help and advice though, I really do appreciate it.

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