Here's the thing: If I start my sn42g2, the HD and fans spin up, but the main fan cooling the heatpipe stays at full power instead of reducing rpm after a few seconds (as it does when the xpc is working properly), and I never get a picture or hear any of the feared BIOS beeps (at least those would tell me what exactly is wrong). Now, I can rule out any defective component except for the xpc itself, RAM and CPU. RAM isn't a problem because if I got XPC and RAM at the same store, but I got the CPU somewhere else so I'd like to rule that one out as problem source before I contact the store. From past experience with bad CPUs (I managed to fry an old Athlon once), I know that the BIOS will tell me that the CPU is damanged by beeping during POST. However, my XPC doesn't even get there so I'm kinda assuming that my CPU (and RAM) is okay but I'm wondering if any of you ever had a damaged CPU and how your Shuttle barebone reacted to that. Did you get a BIOS beep error code or did you experience the same thing I'm currently experiencing?