Same as wolfey really, if you have a PSU you could borrow i would try it just to test.

No it wasn't secondhand, it's a retail outlet called AAFES where I bought the computer, and while not chock full of computer specialists, they are reliable for the most part. As far as I know the PC was shipped from HP to the AAFES store, sold once to a consumer who evidentally tried to turn it on, found that the PC was quite resistant to the effort, and returned to the store for a full refund. This is all pure speculation, for it is indeed possible that said consumer could've been an over-inquisitive sort who tried to "fiddle" with the sensitive internal workings of the PC and mucked up the works, in which case it is also possible that I have paid $150 for a rather realistic stage prop :P I am hoping this is not the case, however should I try to borrow a PCU to test this afore-mentioned theory, I have questions...stop rolling your eyes...
1) Will any 300w power source do, or does it need to be specific?
2) The only power source I have on hand is 250w max, would that suffice in a pinch? (it is from another HP and from the same company)
3) Do you think that since this PC was purchase once before, and that since I have purchased said PC at a drastically reduced price that this would in fact invalidate the PC's packaged 1 year warranty, thus negating any hope of simply wrapping it up, shipping it off to it's creators and having them deal with the whole mess for me?

You also need to be careful with propriety Systems Dell hp etc. They like to have there own power supplies.

As for the onboard ati, yes it will slow down performance since the video memory is shared with your regular ram. So say you have 512 megs up to 256 megs can be taken when playing games. Leaving you with only 256 minus what windows is using which can be alot.

The computer came with 1GB of RAM, I'll more than likely upgrade with another 1GB when I can, but that should leave me with around 768 megs? Still not a whole lot but hopefully the system wont slow down too much until i can upgrade the card. I'm just glad it has an Xpress slot :P

Hello Gentlemen, and my warmest welcome to the forum to you Skuwulfe,

I have been away for a few months, and so most of you won't know me personally. However, in reading through this thread, it seems as if everyone is pulling our poor new member in too many directions.

I think that the best course of action is to take this one thing at a time, and not get side tracked.

OK, now Skuwulfe, when you purchased the PC, was it an AS IS sale, with no hope of recovery if it turns out that the original owner did in fact muck about in the interior? If not, I would definitely direct you to contact the AAFES store, and ask if any of their techs in fact looked at the PC prior to reselling it, or if they would be able to do a basic diagnostic with their own power supply, or to verify that the previous owner didn't try to "fix it".

Next, I would see if another power supply will work, a 250 will be fine to simply see if the PC can recieve power. You will be able to tell by the light turning on.

After you have done that, post back when you have some time to spend back and forth, and we can walk you through some basic diagnostics to see if the PC can power up.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

Alright will do, if the 250 will work to see if it will recieve power then I'll go ahead and attempt that, it might save me 30 bucks that way lol. I'll post back as soon as I know anything.

Hi Skuwulfe,

OK, we'll be looking for you. Don't forget to contact the AAFES techs. They may be willing to help.

TTFN

LGW