I had the same kind of thing with the power button dimming. I have no idea what caused it in the first place. I have a MDD with 2 optical drives and 4 internal HDs. I was to the point of holding the button in until it really got going, where I could hear the fans going on, then I would let go. Well, one time I held it too long and ended up getting the firmware update beep. Beep is not exactly the right word, as it scared the crud out of me. I thought I'd broken it forever. Now I know better. I have never found a solution to this, but have found compromise. I push in the button just like usual and even though it goes off, a second later it starts up like usual. The light slowly goes back on. Kind of like it's revving itself up to get moving. There doesn't seem to be any lasting effect to all of this, as this happened to me at least 18 months ago and it's still chugging along. Melinda If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the precipitate. __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com