Thanks for your response equill--

I decided to take apart both my working SE and my non-working one and switch their HDDs so that I could hopefully pinpoint the problem in the malfunctioning one.

Here it is:

Here are the SE's, when I remove their cases. The NON-WORKING SE is on the LEFT; the WORKING SE is on the RIGHT. They will remain in this order throughout:




http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3154721123/




Here are the HDDs of each SE lying in front of their respective machine:




Note that one hard drive is KNOWN TO WORK and the other is UNTESTED. The UNTESTED one is the one I ordered from eBay.

Here is the WORKING hard drive from the WORKING SE inside the NON-WORKING SE.




I also took apart and dusted off the logic board and RAM of the NON-WORKING SE using cue-tips:







Here I'm putting the SE's back together:







Here is the NON-WORKING SE turned on with the WORKING hard drive inside it. It still displays the error code, thus indicating the logic board as being the problem:




Here is the WORKING SE turned on with the UNTESTED hard drive inside it. The SE displays the question mark icon:




http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3154725209/

Here is the install screen for my System 6.0.8 floppy disk. Note that the Install and Switch Disk options are gray. The SE doesn't recognize the UNTESTED hard drive:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3154725755/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3155562598/

Here is the System Tools icon on the desktop of the WORKING SE with the UNTESTED hard drive inside it. Despite the lack of a HDD icon, I don't think that says much...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3154726213/

However, that SE will eject the System floppy disk, but asks for that disk when I try another action:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3155564058/

So from what I can deduce:

The logic board of the NON-WORKING SE has a problem.

The UNTESTED HDD cannot be recognized by the WORKING SE.

Does that sound right?

I'll let the charge in those SE's dissipate overnight so that I can safely work on them tomorrow. If, once I re-exchange the hard disks, the SE's revert to their original behavior before the switch, should I take up issues with the seller of the UNTESTED hard disk for not working when advertised as working?

Equill, is what I did similar to what you had in mind, or is the Centris necessary as the 'middle man'?

Help!!! :?: :?: :?:

-Apostrophe