Ultimate DAW PC. Cheap, quiet, stable, robust.

[mrc]

Why can't you just replace the mobo?
mrc

[Phiz]

Non-standard motherboard mounting points I believe.

[Mr. Dipity]

YMMV, I'm sure there are plenty of other happy Dell users out there, and the other 400SC is sitting next to it still quietly humming along, but you can put me for a thumbs down on these boxes from now on :<

Yeah, that's a bummer. But you'd give thumbs down on these boxes because of one incident out of how many out there? This sort of thing happens with all PC manufacturers. You just happen to be one of the unlucky few to experience this.

It's a thumbs down on the boxes because of one incident in my experience with a decade of motherboards.

However, slap and several kicks later and everything seems fine. I'm still leery, but WTF? I had taken it apart and examined everything (all the connections, etc, etc), tried it (no good), gave it a couple of whallops in frustration, and it's booting fine now.

[mrc]

When the thump wears off, if non-standard mounts are the problem, perhaps a blank case and nice mobo would do the trick
mrc