***"rural property, has never died from being hot, only a restart issue, restarts when cooled"*** Before going any further with this, pull the sheet metal shrouding and check for mice activity (nest building, food caches). Mice activity is often the cause of overheating. The critters can destroy an engine if they pack enough material into the duct work. Even small amounts of material can block enough air flow to create problems. And yes, use a spark tester to confirm the loss of spark if you don't find any duct work blockage.

Thanks for all the input. I did try hooking a monitor to the laptop to eliminate the possibility that it was just the screen or the cable that connects--it showed nothing. I agree that the repair may not be cost effective--but wanted to try everything I could before purchasing another PC. Also just tried Zep16's advise to keep hitting the F8 key, but just as he suspected--the menu never appeared. Although laptops are difficult to troubleshoot because replacement parts aren't readily available. We do have 2 of these laptops exactly alike and I wondered if it would be advisable to switch out the hard drives, etc... to see if I could pin point the problem. Since my knowledge is limited, I wasn't sure if taking the hard drive from the working machine was a good idea. Thanks again--All input appreciated.

jessica, I agree with your idea about taking your cabinets all the way to the ceiling and not staggering them since you have 8' ceilings (mine are even lower -- only 7 1/2 feet). I also agree that stainless appliances can look great in a white kitchen and help to break up all the white. The second layout is much better than the first. It sounds to me that you'd be happy with all stained or a combo of stained and white. I originally planned on all stained, but over and over I was drawn to pictures of white kitchens. In the end I went with a mostly white kitchen with an island in a beautiful russet stain. Since you love both stained and painted, maybe you could do a stained perimeter with light colored laminate and a white island with Ikea butcher block? Are you getting a gas stove? Do you cook a lot? I agree with others who have recommended a real hood instead of a microwave hood, especially since this is your dream home. Unless you live in a flood zone and your budget will permit, I think you should go for the hardwood flooring. Good luck with your project ... I can't wait to see how it unfolds! Erika

Schrems was surprised to discover, among the 1,222 pages of data covering three years of Facebook activity, not only deleted wall posts and messages, some with sensitive personal information, but e-mail addresses he'd deleted and names he'd removed from his friends list. Well of course it's still there. It off the page but still archived. that goes for almost anything and everything you post on the net. It's not a Facebook issue. It's part of the new age we live in. You can burn a letter or paper doc. You can't burn content off the internet. You can clean your own house but once it's out thee it is out there. I hope he has what it takes to be a better lawyer. He's not a very savvy IT guy. LOL