Hi All!

Well, act in haste and repent at leisure goes the saying. I guess I
proved it this month. Bit of a cautionary tale.

For two years I had a Celeron 1.8 with 60 Gig hard drive and 256 RAM.
I got a quality sound card and a network card. It wasn't brilliant but
I was happy. Then we had a HUGE lighting storm over Cambridge and my
computer went very funny. Music quit playing, my internet connection
was up and down. Then the computer just quit starting up altogether. I
needed a new computer or to repair the one I had.

My family were about to go away and they were concerned that I would
not be able to communicate with them or be able to get the computer
fixed without their car. I guess none of us were thinknig too clearly
before the holiday. In haste I went with a friend to the local car
boot sale. Usually the guy has a good stock of old computers. This
time the fastest he had was a Duron 1.2. I bought it.

Since I bought my Duron I feel it is a little on the slow side and
can't cope as well as the 1.8 Celeron. Music breaks up if another
programme is activated. I don't recall that happening with the
Celeron.

I know little about the mechanics of computers or upgrading but I
found out my computer is a socket A. So in a moment of madness I went
on Ebay and found another, more powerful CPU which is socket A
compatible - an Athlon 2600. Unfortunately, having bought it, I have
also found out that it is apparently not compatible with my
motherboard. Apparently you need different motherboards for diffeent
CPUs. Also memory. I don't know what else.

Right at the moment I don't know what to do. I could really use some
constructive advice (ie. not just yeah you made a total prat of
things). I'm wondering if I should

attempt to repair my old Celeron (possible motherboard replacement,
seing as we replaced the sound files, sound card and network card and
it still collapsed again). Then flog my Duron computer.

live with my slow Duron 1.2 and put the Athlon chip back on Ebay and
hope to get my money back (I paid £35 for it).

go on Ebay again and buy the extra bits I ned to get a more powerful
computer (for under £75 cos I'm disabled - poor).

Is upgrading a really huge deal? Mum's partner is good at putting
sound cards in, etc for me. Is it much more complicated to put in a
new motherboard, memory chips? Ebay is awash with chips and
motherboards and whatever. Can someone offer any guidance as to what
to get and how much I should expect to pay? Is there a good/reasonably
priced make of motherboard? Are some memory chips better than others?

I gather I would need a motherboard that does at least everything my
Duron does:-

video to moniter
network card
my sound card I can bring over
256Meg RAM
2 hard drives (I brought my old one over because the Duron's hard
drive is titchy at 20 Gig)
2 CD drives (inc a burner)
4 USB slots

If I get a motherboard with more bits do I need to get a diffeent back
for my computer?

A thousand apologies for my total ignorance. This is all new to me. I
bought a box from a shop and if the damned NTL had shielded my network
card from the lighting I would have been happy surfing still. Alas all
is misery, confusion and expense!

Any advice anyone can give would be very much appreciated.

Cheers
Dave