[ale] OT: Diagnosing HW problem

[John Wells]

John Wells said:
<snip/>

Left the machine on overnight (it booted up fine again).  This morning,
the screen was black.  The hard drive led was on as if something was
accessing the drive, but no variance...it just stayed on.

Rebooted, but can't even get it to post now.  The hard drive leds come on
as if something is happening, but it doesn't send anything to screen. 
Thought perhaps this might indicate a video card problem, but can't ping
the box either so it doesn't seem to be booting up.  The video card
problem wouldn't explain the freezes, anyway.

Any thoughts from you hardware junkies on how to isolate the problem to
the motherboard?  I hate to be hit with a restocking fee if it turns out
not to be the problem.

Thanks for the help, as always.

John