The Point of my story is that I DID eventually run a memory test before attempting an install and discovered that the RAM had errors-  which is USUALLY the answer when you have intermittent undiagnosable failure. I went to the corsair helpdesk (http://www.corasir.com/helpdesk)  and answered a few quick questions; they accept a failed memory test as grounds for replacement under their lifetime guarantee, so I expect an RMA and a new chip rather soon. I think if this works out and my Mythbox runs smoothly again I’m going to share some good Christmas tidings with Cecil. (Paypal style!)