It Has Been Good Working With You

[skou]

Dusty, I just looked at your specs, and have a few ideas.

See if you can get a running motherboard/CPU/memory setup, with only an optical (CD or DVD) drive. It needs to boot into BIOS. (OK, keyboard, mouse power supply and monitor, too.) Don't assemble it in a case, but on a clean kitchen towel. (Just the mobo.)

Now, you've got a test-bed. Put a copy of Windows in the optical drive, and hook up one of your questionable HDDs. See if you can install Windows.

A bad HDD (hard disk drive, for those that aren't computer hardware aware) won't ruin a computer. At the most, it will prevent it from booting up. Usually, a Windows install just won't see it.

Oh, most people don't know, but the power supply (PSU) is a VERY CRITICAL component. In a pre-assembled (Gateway, E-machines, or white-box generic) computer, these are the cheapest available! Unfortunately, unlike a HDD, when a PSU goes bad, it can take EVERYTHING with it. You can find good PSUs, reasonably, and BAD PSUs at Caddy prices. (Just like the ER and the MkII)

steve