I've been all over that area several times and can't find it. A person in Shady Sands "Katrina?" said there was one there; but, I can't find it, and none of the walkthrus say, and a search here didn't come up with anything. Am I being miss-led?

Yes, it is misleading, head to the city of the dead.

That's what I finally came to the conclusion of.

Thank you for your quick reply.

I think I'm out of time though; because, I've been getting reminders in-game to hurry. Guess I need to start a new game. I took too long to figure out how to play.

You have six months to work with, how do you manage to spend six months searching Vault 15? o.O

Well! I started doing other things. as I became irritated by not finding the blinkin' Water Chip, and then I just started exploring.

I also went back to 15 several times and I was also trying to learn how this game worked. Anyway, mostly it was fun.

When you get to the bottom of V15, there is a prompt in the text box that informs you to look elsewhere...anyways...at least you had fun! You can probably still make it

A Prompt? I must have missed it. Several times! Now that's funny. Anyway, I started a new game, and it's definitely going better, now that I know some of the game mechs.

Yeah...it happens very quickly, especially if you were like me trying to check the nearby computers for info/xp...

I was lucky the first time I played FO I had an experienced player to coach me all the way to vault 15 (right to the 3rd level), so I knew the chip wasn't there once the prompt came up.

Unfortunately for me I later somehow STILL managed to find myself watching a movie of my char being dipped, my vault being invaded, and the overseer being pummeled to death by multiple muties. Very diquieting to say the least.

Okay the part about the overseer gettting pummeled wasn't so bad.

Yeah! That was funny too. I not only checked all the computers "especially the one that said it wasn't working, not, "broken beyond repair"; but, I also looked for switches, hidden rooms, vents, etc. looking for a 4th level!

The first time I ever played Fallout 1 I just called my friend and asked him here the chip is, haha.
And after that I kicked a lot of mutie ass.

As already noted, the text box says that you have figured out there was no water chip. I would recommend reading the text box because some of the funniest moments are in there.