techno-pop irrelevance. Let's see..
There's a sequential list of exact steps in the process tried, with (I believe) descriptions at least as intelligible as your X-Man666.JPG monologues. YOU are gonna lecture ME on 'clear prose'?
Offhand I can't think of any omitted info that is relevant: This is a Dell Dimension 8100, ordered in early 2001 (and shipped a month late of promised delivery). It is a deal made in Hell - which she could not get a RMA to return - and she ain't no dummy. (Delivery too late - to merely cancel CC payment) Of Course she was not Aware! at the time, of what a viper's nest of unconscionable mercantile Bastards she had gotten in with - HTF Would a civilian know all the crap you guys have heads infested with ??
This is a person who spends a Lot of time rescuing animals abused by Yuppie households who like to give puppies to the Logo-clad kiddies, never train the animal (or the kid.. about responsibility for same miserable creature) -- then drop it off at the local 'Shelter' for asassination as er, it's Too Big Now and the kid's into SoccerBalletTaeKwan-D'Oh and Nintendo Gorillas Eat Virgins after Flamethrowers Rot Their Flesh.
So THAT's why I am involved - she has been screwed out of an operational machine, flaky from Day One; purchased from an alleged reputable Peddler of what now seems to be sabotaged Crap - mangled to assure that only Dell$ BillyWare will function on the POS. This total purchase included a notebook (fortunately w/ 98 and not MErde installed). Total with other stuff was >$4 K IIRC. Her records of interactions with the DellDroid purveyors of delay - is a (likely soon) court-ready dossier of nasty obstructive behavior.
Probably it is as A-Scott suggests - somewhere there's a flag for Non-Dell purchased ordinary s/ware, a la Compaq's same dance in the early days, using hardware with special mechanical shapes. The mobo is Special, and an attached L-shaped panel is a part of the rear of the case. So much, I think for - freeing of Dell BIOS / sabotage.
Maybe she will choose Apple, write this off - invoke Song-Beverly CA consumer protection Act and go after Dell, win, then try to collect. yada yada. That takes more money, and most of her activities do not generate money.
If you haven't a techno insight into getting around this likely scenario, then Fuck Off. She hasn't $$ to waste for the immediate satisfaction of crushing this POS. And if you can't understand my prose - you didn't get this far.
Ashton