My son was very excited when we pushed the power button and it started.
Thank-you for all the advice - I would not have been able to get it working anywhere near as fast. It was a great experience for the two of us.
Well, as a parent and grandparent, I got a warm fuzzy just from reading that so you are quite welcome. I am sure it was a great father-son bonding experience too. Always a good thing in these, often troubling times.
You should monitor your temps. Here's my little canned text on that:
Your motherboard utilities disk should have a monitoring program (or check for a more recent version on your motherboard or PC maker's website). If none, I recommend CoreTemp for newer Intel and AMD64 CPUs, or http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>RealTemp for Intels. SpeedFan is a great and popular alternative, or you can try Motherboard Monitor. Unfortunately, I have found that these programs often have problems properly identifying and labeling the sensor they are reading. The temperatures shown are as accurate as the inexpensive, low-tech sensors will allow, but it may say System Fan instead of CPU Fan. Fortunately, the programs do allow you to edit the labels, so I use Everest to verify the temperatures (as it is able to match sensor with label correctly), then edit the label in the monitoring program. In Everest, look under Computer > Sensor, then wait a couple seconds for the readings to appear. Unfortunately, Everest does not minimize to the system tray to show real-time temperatures, otherwise, you could use Everest instead of the others. Check but do not rely on the temps shown in the BIOS Setup Menu. While they are likely correct, running the BIOS Setup Menu is probably the least demanding task you can ask of your computer so it does not show the temps when the system is being taxed. But if the BIOS Setup Menu temps are high, you have a problem that needs to be corrected. HWMonitor, from the makers of CPUID is also very informative, but does not minimize to the system tray.
I get nervous when CPU temperatures hit 60°C. While most CPUs are capable operating at higher temps, system stability issues arise and long term exposure to very warm temperatures increases component aging (including the CPU socket and surround devices). GPU (graphics processing unit) temperatures typically run considerably warmer with 80°C not uncommon.
Now too, you need to "practice safe computing" - remembering that the user is ALWAYS the weakest link when it comes to security. Make sure you have a good security system established. I use
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), Windows Firewall and Internet Explorer 9 and I keep Windows and all my programs current. Kid's favorite activities are social networking and downloading tunes - and badguys know that very well. Downloading tunes for free via torrents and P2P (peer to peer) filesharing is particularly dangerous and most often illegal as most songs are copyrighted and require some compensation. This method of downloading is a primary source of malware, and is also a primary method for badguys to release their new malicious code. This is particularly dangerous as the anti-malware providers may not have yet updated their malware signature/definition files for these new threats.