HP 1000 cmoputer (parts maybe)

You wrote... Every single 1000 I've seen has had that problem, bar none. I think that foam is designed to turn to dust no matter what climate :> Thinking back, the majority of my systems have come from the areas in and around california, texas, missouri, and virginia - nothing from the deep southeast. Did you pop the cover of the power supply box? You probably wouldn't see this problem unless the supply burned up, or you saw a few chunks coming out the fans, or you noticed black dust at the bottom of the chassis... or... you opened the top cover of the power supply enclosure :) A very light coating of fine black powder or a few small chunks inside the system chassis is a dead giveaway that the power supply foam is leaking out as a fine particulate. You can usually spot it on the outside walls of the inside, as the airflow in those systems is side to side. The airflow has a lot of small obstacles, so particulates generally stay inside the chassis. One thing to consider.... a small percentage of the machines I've gotten in racks are on chassistracks, so you can just take out the lock bolts in front and extend them, then undo the front panel lock from the back left. However, a very large percentage of the HP's in racks (most) are not on telescoping chassistracks, but most all are sitting on simple L-brackets. In this case, just unbolt the rackmount ears and slide it forward a few inches. You don't have to derack it. I've never seen a 1000 that was rackmounted just by the front ears without L-brackets or chassistracks, it's just too much weight on the vertical posts. *GRIN* I think that was a hint to me ;) Jay