Hello, this is my first post here, but I have been reading posts and lurking around here for quite some time.

I have 2 problems and one question, I'll start with the problems..

PROBLEM #1

Ok, I came home from a lan this morning, (Haven't sleeped in 2 days...) and my friend had given me an old HD and some RAM. I went to my PC to install it. After installing it I powered the thing up and went to go get something to drink. I came back 2 mins later and I smelled something burning, like plastic. I ran to the smell and I found my PC sitting at a black screen. I smelled around and it seemed like the power supply was the source. I unplugged the HD and went to the RAM and I noticed that I had put it in wrong and the left side wasn't all the way in, infact it was about a half cm out. The HD must be messed up because the LED on it doesn't come on and it doesn't spin up. After removing the RAM and HD I put in I started the PC up again and I noticed that everything was fine (Original HD, PCI, AGP videocard, ect) except the fan on the power supply wasn't moving at all. My monitor was also black (As if it wasn't plugged into the PC). I tried 2 different monitors and a different GPU and nothing would work. Now I cleaned out the power supply and when I went to spin the fan to see if it was stuck on something it wouldn't move at all, I had to apply alot of force just to get it to move a little. To sum it all up, I need to know what I need to get to fix this disaster, (blank screen at startup, powersupply fan is busted.)

PROBLEM #2 (keep in mind this is an entirely DIFFERENT PC than the above.)

After the fiasco with the PC above I decided I would use my backup PC. I plugged in another HD I had in another computer and set it up. My BIOS detects it just fine (Memorex 52MAXX 3252AJ). I went to install windows and it tells me there is no HD installed on the system, which is impossible because it detected it in BIOS. I know this HD works 100% because I took it out and plugged it into another PC and I can view the stuff I had on it. I don't need OEM drivers or anything for it because I've installed XP before on it with another PC and it didn't give me this message. NOTE: (HD is the primary, my CDROM is the secondary) Is there any reason why it's doing this? How can I fix it?

I desperatly need to get these PC's working again.

QUESTION: On the PC above, I have an AMD Athlon 4 processor. I wanted to know how far I can get it to overclock. I sucessfully brought it from 1.1ghz to 1.49ghz, and it idles at 41C. I just wanted to know how much further I can go with this before I do damage.

I am seeking all advice possible, I am going to get some sleep before I screw up anymore computers.


POST LOG:
POST 2
RE: PC#1 Ok, so bascially, the mobo might be fried, I am assuming that the power supply is too since the fan doesn't move at all, am I correct?

RE: Problem #2
The HD that is in the second PC is NTFS, I was using that HD as a secondary HD in an XP PC, which was NTFS. So do I still have to use gnome partition editor or is this a different problem?

POST #3

PC #1 - I went out and bought a new power supply for the computer, re-installed all the hardware, re-installed the mainboard, hooked everything up, and I started it up and my graphic's card started on fire... The grey ribbon that runs from the monitor output to the actuall GPU is burned to the point were the card is now useless. I looked at the monitor's cable and it seems that the pins in the plugin were contacting eachother, that might be the cause, I am not sure but I am starting to think I need to buy a new PC. I removed the GPU and used a good monitor and plugged it into the mainboards monitor hookup. Now my pc still has a black screen and the computer beeps 3 times. Then nothing happens.

PC #2 - Ok, I got Gpartition open and running. Nothing shows up, I click on refresh devices in gpartition and still no hard drive detected. Am I doing something wrong here?

As for PC #1, there is a good chance your mobo has been fried. There could of been a short somewhere, because something was misplaced or hooked incorrectly. Best to replace the motherboard and see if it works.

Now about the second PC and the HDD, if the HDD is RAW, it wont get detected by windows, unless you partition it to NTFS. Download gnome partition editor, and format it to NTFS. The BIOS will detect the HDD, since its only a hardware, but windows will only detect it if its NTFS or FAT.

__________________
Xbox 360 - 2 Games - 2 Controllers - 120GB Elite - Dead
PS3 - 23 BD Games - 13 PSN Games - 9 Controllers - 320GB - Alive
Wii - 6 Games - 4 Wiimotes - Alive
PC - Overkill - 3DMark06 [13896]- God like :]

Gaming Generations | XnogarD Production - Soon!!!

Ok, so bascially, the mobo is fried, I am assuming that the power supply is too since the fan doesn't move at all, am I correct? If this is true, where can I get a mobo for it?. How much does it cost for a mobo that needs -> (Pentium III @ 1.0 GHZ, AGP, PCI, 2 SDRAM slots?).

RE: Problem #2
The HD that is in the second PC is NTFS, I was using that HD as a secondary HD in an XP PC, which was NTFS. So do I still have to use gnome partition editor or is this a different problem?

Well, you can try Gnome partition editor, since it will format the HDD anyways.

__________________
Xbox 360 - 2 Games - 2 Controllers - 120GB Elite - Dead
PS3 - 23 BD Games - 13 PSN Games - 9 Controllers - 320GB - Alive
Wii - 6 Games - 4 Wiimotes - Alive
PC - Overkill - 3DMark06 [13896]- God like :]

Gaming Generations | XnogarD Production - Soon!!!

Ok, I got gpartitioner going, I'm at the "gparted~# " prompt. What do I enter from here?

It should be a GUI version.

Something like this,

__________________
Xbox 360 - 2 Games - 2 Controllers - 120GB Elite - Dead
PS3 - 23 BD Games - 13 PSN Games - 9 Controllers - 320GB - Alive
Wii - 6 Games - 4 Wiimotes - Alive
PC - Overkill - 3DMark06 [13896]- God like :]

Gaming Generations | XnogarD Production - Soon!!!

PC #1 - I went out and bought a new power supply for the computer, re-installed all the hardware, re-installed the mainboard, hooked everything up, and I started it up and my graphic's card started on fire... The grey ribbon that runs from the monitor output to the actuall GPU is burned to the point were the card is now useless. I looked at the monitor's cable and it seems that the pins in the plugin were contacting eachother, that might be the cause, I am not sure but I am starting to think I need to buy a new PC. I removed the GPU and used a good monitor and plugged it into the mainboards monitor hookup. Now my pc still has a black screen and the computer beeps 3 times. Then nothing happens.

PC #2 - Ok, I got Gpartition open and running. Nothing shows up, I click on refresh devices in gpartition and still no hard drive detected. Am I doing something wrong here?