i doubt its the motherboard thats died, but i have checked everything hardware wise, i managed to find my install disk and get a system restore underway, its finishing now, who knows if it'll work *checks screen* **** it didnt.... "cannot create file when file already exists" (0x80070087) wtf? ugh ive got alot of work to do here.....short of deleting my install, which i dont wanna do.