Hi Dalo
To answer your question, no I have not formatted the drive.
Previously, when I have changed mobo's and cpu at the same time I have not had to do this when keeping the same hdd. This is why I am slightly confused as it's a new problem to me.
I have checked and re-checked things i.e bios, memory, taken one graphx card out etc. but the same result everytime. Ok..if I have to format then I will do so very reluctantly because of lost data but none the less I would like to find out why the problem occured this time but never previously.
With regard to the cooler fan supply, what I meant was that it is currently plugged onto the mobo albeit onto an alternative connector (see above) but if I used a cable directly from the psu would it be ok? hope that explains.