I think I've seen some "stuff" at the lumber yards...that you dip your pliers handles in to give them that rubbery grip. Maybe you could pour it into a can and dip the ladder legs in it. Anything that you would slip over the ends will catch and hold water when it rains causing the legs to rot. Unless maybe you use silicon glue around the top to make it waterproof. patti

In your initial post you say you have left the computer switched on but it is frozen. Is that the state right now? If so you need to remove the left side panel and look at the fan on the motherboard to see if it is spinning. Perhaps this is as simple as the processor cooling fan quitting. The computer would quit to protect your CPU or processor from overheating. As you have a new computer on order perhaps we can assume this machine is a bit older. After checking the fan mentioned above switch off the computer, remove the power cord from the rear of the case and check the cooling fins underneath that fan. Are they full of dust and dirt? If so a can of compressed air will work wonders, be sure to place a finger on the fan to prevent it spinning wildly as you use the compressed air to remove all that crud. (Do this outside if it is particularly dirty, saves a lot of dusting afterwards) Your data is probably safe because the hard drive is probably still good to go. What ever happens you could use this as a wake up call and back up your data. Also if you have not already done it you should create a set of recovery disks - unless Dell provided them at purchase time of course.

I like Ravencajn's ideas. If you try her approach and you still have no luck, I'd take it to the next level. After unplugging everything and letting it sit, leave everything except the monitor, keyboard and mouse unplugged when you plug it back in. Then turn it on and see if it boots up. If it does, plug in things like speakers, network cables etc. Do them one at a time and make sure the computer is working before going to the next item. Once you get to that point, start with USB devices. Again, do them one at a time and make sure they're working before going to the next one. If you're using USB hubs, unplug everything that's plugged into them, plug in just the hub, make sure it's all working, then plug the devices into it, one at a time (again making sure it works after each one). I also have another question for you. When you say the yellow light is on, what is the yellow light? The power? The drive activity light? something else? I don't like the APC overload light going on. Did you reset the APC? Is this a UPS or one of their surge suppressors? Does the manual for it say it can be reset and used once that light goes on, or are you supposed to replace it? I had a UPS go out when the power company did some work outside. The computer, printer, etc were all undamaged, but I had to get a new UPS. If I hadn't had the UPS, I'm reasonably certain I'd have lost the PC and the printer.

'Tis the season for computer crashes, it seems. Harold, congratulations again. You're a weight-loss machine. Ivamae, you're doing well too. I'll update your numbers. I was 139 last weigh-in. Then over the course of the week, I did get back down to 137.5, but it didn't stick. My official weigh-in for this week is 138.5. Not thrilled, but even small improvements are OK. I have gotten my food journal back out and I'm writing down everything that I eat again. I had stopped doing that, and when I did, I think I let myself get larger portions or nibble a little more and that has stalled me out. I have also put up a chart on the fridge for all the world to see. Each day for the next 2 months has its own little box. Every morning, I write that day's weight in the box (again, for all the world to see). At the end of the day, if I've done well (not eaten anything I shouldn't have AND kept my calories below 1300), then I get to color that day's box purple. If I cheat, then the box has to stay white. The idea is to generate a field of purple, not a checkerboard. I think the visual challenge, posted on the fridge, will help to motivate me, and the visual of each failure will help me stay real about whether my diet is really working for me, or if I'm not working for it. Jasmi, now that you've identified what you did last week, I'm sure you'll turn your ship around too. But as little as you are now, it may take a long time to continue to drop pounds. You don't have far to go! Don't give up. I'll bet you look great already.