Q6600 Core Temp spike of 179F/82C! Please Help!

NEED HELP! Here are the details:

CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz running idle at 2.45GHz (as per PC properties) no over clocking yet.
CPU Fan: Zalman CNPS8700 NT, 4 pin pwr
CPU Goo: Intel OEM stock
Motherboard: Abit IP35 Pro, ATX 775, Intel P35 chipset, 1333 FSB
OC Sofware: Abit OC Guru, Abit uGuru
Default OC Settings: ExtClk = 272MHz, Vcore = 1.3V, CPU VTT = 1.2V
RAM: Two 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 800 (4GB total)
OS: 32bit Vista Hm Premium
Video Card: NVIDIA 8800 GTS, 4pin pwr

My OC experience: MIMIMAL at best.
My PC education: Electrical Engineering BS, MIS/CIS BS, 16yrs IT field

I built this system in Nov 07 to run as a Media Center and serious gaming machine. I eventually wanted to over clock the CPU and video but have not as of yet. I had the stock OEM Intel fan/CPU cooler that came with the processor until last week. Upon pulling my PC out of sleep mode I noticed an over temp alarm in the Abit Guru Manager interface. CPU core temp was 179F / 82C! I shut the machine down immediately. Upon rebooting, I noticed that the CPU fan was stopped and pulsing as if trying to turn and stuck. After rebooting a second time, than 5 mins later, the fan worked fine. I decided to replace the fan immediately with the Zalman CNPS8700 NT CPU Cooler made from my Zalman case.

The processor temp seemed to run fine after installing the new fan. This morning after pulling the PC out of sleep mode I noticed the same identical over temp alarm with the same exact temp? The system was sleeping. How is this possible? Upon rebooting 30 seconds later the CPU core temp reported as 86F / 30C. The Abit Guru program is set to post an alarm at 148F / 64C default.

Is this combo of hardware the problem? Is this motherboard the issue or is the Abit Guru software the issue?

I am seriously alarmed by these core temp readings. Please advise?