My new computer(and some questions)

[LordMorpheus]

Okedays, i recently bought (from newegg, they are my new god) the following items:

enermax something something 58 doller case, black with silver highlights, included 300watt psu. great case, sturdy, not light, but im not a lan-partier, sexy looks, etc. etc.

AMD athlon XP 2100+ retail box proc. i luv's it.

SOYO kt 333 dragon ultra platinum (newegg sold outta dragon ultras . . so i was forced to upgrade against my will )

chaintech geforce 4 ti 4600, the 280 doller one. loves it.

512 mb pc 2700 samsung ram

seagate 'cuda IV, 80gb

coupla extra fans

artec 40x12x48 burner.


ok, here is question. i screwed up installing my heatsink (i put thermal grease AND left the thermal pad on) but i cleaned both proc and heatsink with 99% alchohol and went out to my local computer retailer looking for AS3. their only thermal grease was generic, but im not overclocking so i figger itll be fine. so i have my heatsink installed with generic grease. this ok? im not overclocking and have 4 case fans(as soon as i make sure my front intake is spinning and make my blowhole work . . . .) so it should be fine, right?

now, where do i find what temp my proc is running at? in the BIOS? . . . and how hot to AthlonXP's run, after i was playing some america's army at big settings i opened case and heatsink was warm, not hot, to the touch. this normal? this is my first system so i dunno.

as of now i don't have the drivers installed for my burner, its just a cd-rom as far as computer is concerned. last night i opened the case and connected the analog audio thingy . . . but it still doesn't play music CD's. Im thinking i need to make sure i have onboard sound installed(aa plays sounds fine) and then install drivers for my burner.

i screwed the installation of my network card drivers (onboard). It works, but it has peices left over from a bad install that causes some 'press any key to continue''s on boot. how would i get rid of this? wait, i think i know . . . . .

is 30 seconds normal time from pushing the button to waiting and ready? thats what im getting now.



this is more a software/os thing, but i think ill keep this to one post:

my previous computer was dell pII, running win2k pro. i liked 2k. i figured since my old computer was going to hell it wouldn't be against the liscense to install on my new one. well, the CD thinks so. When i tried to boot to it it gave me a flashing screen that said 'fvcker, this isn't a goddam dell machine' or something along those lines. i was pissed, so i had to dig out my old 98(thank god i could find it and the certificate of authenticity!) and install that. 2kpro is better, theoretically, 2k pro is still installed on my old 13 gigger harddrive. If i were to put that in my machine as the master drive on the master channel, will it boot 2kpro fine? i mean, i really miss it. unfortunatly, i dunn wanna try without your go-ahead, as my old machine was pentiumII and this is athXP . . . . . but i am DAMN, i wann my 2kpro back!

another thing, are the ms office's backwards compatable? i lost my serial on office 97, but i have office 2k with serial . . . . provided i don't get 2k back, can i install office 2k on win98?

hmmm, what else . . . . . .. . . oh, yeah, im afraid to plug in my front USB because there are no markings other than 'usb' on the cord, and im afraid ill put it in flipped. how can i figure this out?

other than 98, i love my new computer . .. . 30 seconds uptime vs 5 or so minutes on my old one! yah!


umm, thankies for all your help, if you need more info im at work, and i have nothing to do at work so i will prolly be able to answer pretty promptly.

(today im getting buying NwN and IWar II!! oohh, yeah!)

 

[DeviousTrap]

Welcome to the forum,
You sound like you are paniking so first dont panic. Out of evrything that you said in your pos erverything sounds fine.

Now:
To find out your temp use motherboard monitor or any utility givento you by soyo. You can also check the the bios under hardware monitor. Normal temps for you are basicalls under 60c.

30 second boot time is just perfect. (i wonder what you were expecting.)

MS office is backward compatible and will work on windows 98 or 2000.

If i were you i would not switch the harddrive to the one that has windows 2000 on it. It is a bad idea it would havce to change all of the hardware that you have. If you decide to you should uninstall all the drivers that you have for all of the hardware in your Dell.

A usb cord cannot be plugin in upside down (unless it is a non-standard cord. )

 

[LordMorpheus]

i know 30secs is fine, i was just wondering if it was defaulting to 'safe' mode or something, i was expecting a coupla minutes.

the usb thingy: there are some plugs in front, from them comes a wire with a connecter on the end, not a USB plug. i think the pattern on the thingy it is supposed to plug into 5 pins by 2 pins, with on missing on one side, or it might be 6x2. i dunno. My question about changing harddrives: will it work? i know ill have to go through driver hell, but will it work? i really loved 2k compared to 98. i am willing to install all new drivers and get rid of the old stuff to get 2k back. DAMN YOU DELLL!!! (this is my only complaint against dell, other than pricing)

ill look into the mobo utilities.

heh, if you think im panicking NOW, you should seen me when i was using a small flathead screwdriver to clip my heatsink on (thats how your SUPPOSED to do it, right? i mean, i could not get that clip on by hand) and my driver slipped onto the mobo . . . i almost died. no harm done, thankfully.


Thank you for answers.