[kariginga]

Your detailed response was very helpful. i purchased a dell 8400 last august hoping for a plug and play set up w/the mbox and, after much troubleshooting and the warranty had expired, discovered the incompability w/the 925X chipset.

now, just in the last week, i discovered the possibility of replacing my motherboard and chipset (to the "approved" 925XE) on the Dell. i haven't yet called spare parts at dell to find out the price, but the tech account rep said it should be less than $500 (you mentioned $400). i was about to do this - delighted to have this option - but then checked this chat room and saw your message. so, do i really need to upgrade the chipset or can i just use the pre november 15, 2004 dell 8400 model (the date when they changed from 925x to 925XE, according to the tech account rep today) and use this power hub that you mentioned? if for $40 i can fix this problem and finally get the mbox working the way people rave, ill be thrilled.

please forgive my technical ignorance, but can you pls explain exactly where i plug in this 'hub' once i have it and any other configurations beyond 'plug and play' that i should know? Does the hub plug into one (more than one?) of the six usb ports on the back of the machine and then the mbox (im only working with an mbox and a mic) plugs into the hub? again, i apologize for the ignorance, but the more specific you can be in explaining this, the better.

thank you very much!