hi everyone,
my FutureTech FM88XLP2 arrived a couple of weeks ago. i was pretty
pleased with its looks and construction. the 15.1 inch display was
very nice and the whole machine worked well under windo$
it came with CD-ROM and LS-120 doubling up as 3.5 floppy. 450 Mhz
and 128 MB, 10GB disk
a week later, i loaded RH 6.1 linux. first i repartitioned the
disk, using FIPS 2.0. that was quite a breeze, in spite of the fact
that the FIPS docs said to do it from DOS. well, pardon me, but i did
not know how to make it boot as DOS. decided to take my chances, but
the re-partitioning was a success.
i had run scandisk before repartitioning, of course, and i run it
again AFTER the repartitioning, and no errors of anykind. rebooted
the machine, and windo$ 98 was running just fine.
then i installed RH 6.1 -- quite a breeze. pretty fast
installation. the X windows too (which i usually find the most
challenging part) my only problem was the UTC time selection. it made
the linux clock come up 5 hours behind. (i am at a time zone 5 hours
behind Greenwinch)
i tested the machine under linux, and then rebooted under windo$. no
problem. the thing said it was low on battery power, and i thought i
would connect the AC adapter and do a power down, and reboot again
linux from power off mode. but i had an urgent errand to run. so i
just told windo$ to shut the machine down.
well, 5 hours later, i tried to power the baby up, but no response.
at all. not even BIOS self test. not a single beep.
any pointers ? could the BIOS chip have gotten toasted somehow ? i
am in lima, peru and to be honest, i was not using safe sex, meaning
no current isolator for the AC adapter. but it would be a funny
coincidence that it would hace happened just when i had installed
linux. i had used the thing for a whole week in lima.
too bad, because i was pretty happy with this baby so far. any
ideas, clues, slaps in the wrist, etc. will be appreciated.
i sent email to futuretech, but no answer yet. it is a small
outfit, and a rough time of the year. i would call, but it is
expensive from here. i am due back in the US in jan. anyways.
thanks - josin
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In Heaven there will be no DOS, no Intel, and above all, no Bill.
