hi
yes - sort of - thanks (many many thanks to Hal9000) who gave me the url of the Intel page with the updated bios file for my board. Flashing the bios (which was 2 years newer than the one on the board!) brought back the machine but only temporarilly.
I have to reflash the bios and reconfigure everything before it will boot and then it's hit or miss. About one out of 10 times it will boot.
It has stayed on since then but I can't access the dvd/cd drives because it would require a reboot which I cannot do without haveing to reflash the bios!
My assumption is that the bios chip is faulty (or the section of whatever chip contains the bios) and it won't hold settings when shut off - even with a good cmos battery. Once booted, it is shadowed into RAM so we're good until next time. Gives new meaning to the need for UPS!
I'm fed up and am going to replace the mobo with a newer Asus model (should be arriving today). At least I got an up to date backup! It will be a pain reinstalling XP and updating everything only to have to call MS to get an activation code to activate XP just because I had to change the mobo.
If I could play a few favorite DX8 and DX9 games on Umbuntu - I'd be off the MS wagon immediately!
Interestingly, when the bios was reflashed, I got a different splash screen for a couple of seconds - not Windows or Intel but OS2 WARP ! No explanation for that especially since it was before boot began to run!!
Unfortunately, this all is not good news for you as your i865 based board is probably toast too! (And to think that I bought Intel branded board because of concerns for reliability!!!).
Anyhow, thanks again HAL9000!
gramnpop