Dalo Harkin

As you say that you are using XP, do you have all the service packs installed? Updates etc

Don't push it more than 10% if you don't want to fry it Does the MOBO have the exact same chipset as you may get compatibility issues when using the HDD from you old chipset and dropping it into a new one

If you are installing a new SATA HDD into Windows XP, you will need to install the drivers as I said above. Glad it was just the HDD that was faulty but bear the process in mind..

Straight from MS Error message after you upgrade a computer that uses a processor other than an Intel processor to Windows XP Service Pack 2 or to Windows XP Service Pack 3: "STOP: 0x0000007E"

Have a good one and plenty of JD Randy :)

Its the fact that SATA was not natively supported in XP, you need to load the SATA/RAID drivers that came with the MOBO, at the F6 stage (when the XP install screen first goes to the blue DOS style) it says press F6 to install additional drivers (or along the lines of) These have to be installed with a floppy drive and then the disk will be visible :) If you didnt get a FLOPPY disk with the drivers on with the board then you will be able to download them from the manufacturers website

I use Scan.co.uk: Computer Hardware and Aria PC - Computer Hardware, Components, Monitors.. at lowest prices Scan stock all the mainstream parts, while Aria tend to have older stuff available too. Give us a budget and state whether you need a monitor (size too) and what OS you would rather have (and if you need 32 or 64bit)

Are you using onboard graphics or an add in card? Can you list the spec of the PC for us

Does the Cooler have a 3 or 4 pin fan connector?

No worries

No worries, let us know how you get on :) it does sound like a combination of more than one thing to be honest, do you have any compressed air?

He he yeah nearly fell off that a few times :) There is no reason as to why the programs we have suggested won't work, is it definately a socket 775 Pentium D and not a Pentium 4 version? In regards to the fan, are there no options in the BIOS for lower and higher limit, normally the fan would stay at one speed until the CPU reaches a certain temperature and then it would speed up.

The trial for W7 ended a long time ago, even when it did load it should come up with an error saying this trial version has expired blah blah Best bet is to just buy an OS you want to (not XP as it is no longer supported) and then install it...

Hi and welcome to FPCH :)

Do you have anything on the drive you need to keep? Reformat, then reinstall. By the time you have finished messing with the table you could have just re done the lot

Just try the one from the DVD for now.......... then at least you can be certain it is the cable before going buying another (they are only cheap I know and handy to have) but if your like me you will buy 2 just incase :) and before you know it you have boxes and boxes of cables/cards/opticals/ that will never see the light of day again :D

Well the first thing is that the Motherboard does have a PCI-E x16 slot, so thats a good start The bad news is that it only has a 300 Watt Power supply, so you will be very limited what card you can put A GTX460 1GB which costs around £130 is a very good card for anything upto a 24" screen..the problem you may have is that the Vostro case looks quite small and these cards are often a foot long (12") The GTX 460 1GB at idle uses around 140 Watts and at load 270 Watts If I were you, you can either get a lesser GPU, or buy a new case and bigger PSU aswell as the GPU It all depends how long you want the 'upgrade' to last :) You can get a lower powered GPU that will fit for now, maybe even last 2 years (but at some point not long after that your going to need to start changing tp a bigger case, more watts etc anyway)

So when it asks for where you would like to install to you are browsing to C:/programs I take it that you are an administrator of the PC?

Do you have the Motherboard disk/ know what make/model the Motherboard is. If you put the disk in the optical drive and click on each of the yellow exclamations you go to update driver and then you get the option to search and then you can go into where to search if needed. Try just letting it search itself and it 'should' load the drivers itself.... If not then come back and let us know and we can go from there :) I wouldn't let anyone remote access anything if I were you, regardless what there reputation is like on a forum. We give advice and dont worry we WILL sort this for you without the need for remote access :)

I suppose a ribbon is more of a description for an IDE lead I'm guessing he has SATA as only SATA cables have right angled connectors, you dont need to use right angled connectors (I don't) order the SATA cables from ebay or somewhere, there are loads available sizes,colours etc. If your MOBO has more than one SATA port it should have come with a SATA cable for each port :)

I am sure that Starbuck will mention this, but you will be wanting to consider looking at another AV program. Ad-aware was used a few years ago, but there were many false positives with that program so it dwindled into the background too. I would be considering something like MSE if I were you

Check the ribbon and jumpers (if IDE or SCSI) and the ports on the MOBO, just check its all secure. Failing that could be literally anything from the MOBO to the PSU.

If you click on start, when the window comes up, at the bottom right there is a button called Shut down and then an > next to it clicking/hovering the > expands another window with the following:- Switch User Log Off Lock Restart Sleep Are you just clicking the main button, have you tried any of the other options such as Log Off? - do they work correctly?

Hi, Use real temp http://www.mediafire.com/?n99nq4kn95u6i6a If it is a socket 775 then there are 4 pins one at each corner of cooler, they turn in 1/4 marks, should have a notch on the end for a screwdriver (some you can use your fingers) turn each one 1/4 turn anti clockwise. The pins basically go through the holes in the MOBO and have retainers

I say leave it as it is at stock speeds :) I help people all the time with overclocking, underclocking is not necessary on any chip. Manufacturers both Intel and AMD provide various chips and sockets so that you dont have to underclock... Overclocking is different as you choose parts that work together to increase the performance, I myself have many systems, one being:- a Q6600 chip that standard runs at 2.4GHz - and I have mine running at 4.0GHz now the reason I do this is because I use the extra speed that the CPU provides for various reasons, in order to get the chip at this speed I need water cooling, to cope with the extra heat.. You should NEVER have to underclock a CPU, due to the fact they are tested by the manufacturer to work at certain tolerences