I agree completely -- in principal, of course, that said, most PC-users shouldn't replace soldered in chips :) As long as the replacement chip is compatible, sure, it really is generally that easy, but there are certainly cases where I wouldn't normally try it. For instance, a board with several layers, which has the chip "integrated" onto the top. Even then, if you're desperate enough, you might be able to cut a few pins and work that way. Anyway, the point is that (and you've made this point before) replacing things is becoming much less simple. I've seen some things on some boards which I would not consider "replicable," since my definition in this context would include "without robotic assistance, or a clean-room." ;) Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '