Running XFX nForce 780i W/ Intel Q6600 2.4 GHz-> PROBLEMS.

[ckiller22]

Hey everybody. I am pretty new to building PCs and I just upgraded my entire system except for the Disc Drive and the Hard Drive. I am having problems. I switched a Vista x 64 system to an XP Pro x 64 (I now realize this may have been a no no) also, when installing the new OS I partitioned the drive, I had seen this done befor eand thougfht there was a boot interface that allowed you to switch between OS (I found out that HP ships a motherboard with a horrible BIOS.) I upgraded an HP TV PC, one of the newer ones, to these specs:

Motherboard: XFX nForce 780i SLI
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad inside Q6600 LGA 775, 2.4 GHz, * MB L2 cache total, 1066 MHz FSB, Requires electrically compatible board - PCG 05A (? - dont know what the compatability there is...)
Video Card: BFG tech nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768 MB GDDR3
RAM: GSkill 4 GB DDR2 RAM
Hard Drive: 500 GB stock HP drive (I wanted to keep my old files, could still access them from XP Pro.)
Disk Drive: Light scribe DVD RW (Also HP Stock)
Case: Thermaltake
Power Supply: OCZ Game X STREAM(Voltage 90Vac- 265Vac)
Efficiency 85% typical at full load) 700 Watt.
Keyboard: Logitech G15
Mouse: Logitech G9
Monitor: HP w2007 20" LCD monitor
Headphones: Turtle Beach Stereo Headset Digital 5.1 Audio

Weird stuff is happening. When I first switched to XP, I had trouble with my motherboard drivers. I realize now they may have not been XP compatible. So, I upgraded my motherboard to the new XFX and I also switched from the AMD 64x2 Live to the Intel Q6600. Then things got weird. when I was switching the hard drive to the new case, I accidentally broke the clip that holds the SATA cable in the back of the hard drive. After consulting with my buddy who builds PCs frequently, He said I should put it in the socket and use electrical tape to hold it in. I'm thinking about replacing the hard drive, but I dont feel like losing my old data (Foolishly I opted not to back up my Vista System or data {n00b move I realize now}.)

Now upon boot the system displays the XFX logo for a very, very long time (Around 5-10 minutes) then it slowly moves through the Pheonix AwardBIOS start up. Finally after about 10 minutes I have the option to F1 continue, or Del- to enter BIOS set up. I have the manual for my motherboard but it was roughly translated from Japanese or Chinese or something because sometimes it doesn't make sense. So everything is running S L O W....... and it sucks. I don't know how to run the OS instillation. The disc is in the drive and spinning, but no OS installing. I looked up using the recovery menu but I can't figure that out yet. I can navigate the BIOS menus but once it froze up. after freezing, it reverts back to the XFX logo screen and then freezes. When I try to shut it down at this point, or at other times when the XFX logo is up, it flashes the Pheonix start up screen for a split second. PLEASE HELP ME. I am super noob to all of this so dumb it down if you can. Thank you all.

-Carl (BF2 tag- {dm} coldkillercarl, rank- 1st Sargent.)

 

[stalin90]

translated from Japanese or Chinese

??? maybe you just cant read technical

also it sounds like to me you cooler isnt onproperly if its taking forever
or might be a bad mobo.

edit: are you saying that is a hp computer????

 

[ckiller22]

??? maybe you just cant read technical

also it sounds like to me you cooler isnt onproperly if its taking forever
or might be a bad mobo.

edit: are you saying that is a hp computer????

It was an HP computer. Everything is new now except the drives.

It is a brand new 780i XFX mobo I think its still good. I made sure it was grounded when I handled it and left it in the anti static bag when not handling it. Unless they shipped me a bunk mobo then I will send it back to new egg and maybe get an EVGA or something nicer if they have it. They should refund that for a bad motherboard if its a manufacturer thing. I entered the BIOS and checked gthe system defaults, it has active automatic fan control on and the CPU fan is running and the case is very effective at cooling. It came with several case fans in the front top and back as well as aluminum cooling fins on the front. Plus I have a chip set cooling fan and heat sink that came packaged with the motherboard. I used good thermal compound on it and unless the CPU is not touching all the pins or something then my only other SNAFU is that the SATA clip on the back of the hard drive is busted, but my friend can rig up the back of his old similar drive to replace the socket piece. What do y'all think the problem is? Is there an easy solution?