Yeah, that's true. However, sometimes, if there's some residual charge left, the CMOS may not clear. Usually, it's not the case, but doing the "long" clear tends to eliminate this as a problem.
If the following components have been eliminated as the cause then it's probably the motherboard. PSU RAM CPU (rarely fails in my experience unless its been overclocked or overheating) Apart from that, with a barebones system theres not much else that could have failed.
Just to let you know guys....after much...much....much more tinkering around with it I used an Ultimate boot CD.. And it worked, got windows all installed now. Going to be restless at work tomorrow waiting to get home to play with my new toy. As a side note I also got my linuxbox built. Thanks for the help guys, hope you get you're problem sorted Nic.
