[conspire] This is how the era ends, with a fried motherboard

[Rick Moen]

Yesterday, my last VA Linux Systems rackmount server died, of a probable
motherboard fault.  I spent about four hours attempting to isolate the
cause to either motherboard or PSU or power distribution board or
front-panel switch, finally concluding that it's probably something
intermittent on the motherboard -- and that was my final Intel L440GX+
'Lancewood' classic PIII motherboard.  

So, bye-bye, VA Linux Systems gear.  (I do still have a hilariously
ancient and still functional VA Research StartX MP workstation with a
PII-based Intel N440BX 'Nightshade' motherboard.  I've been pondering
swapping in a modern ATX motherboard just for amusement value.)

One moral:  Computing gear that's been in almost constant operation for
1 1/2 decades should be assumed unreliable and retired.  14 years is a
_very_ good run, but I was tempting fate.

I've temporarily moved the server's three 68-pin SCSI hard drives to an 
inadequate but functional PIII box.  I probably should migrate next to
one of the spare P4 boxen.