I have a XP 1800 running on a Asus A7V266. Or I should say I had. Anyway I was changing the heatsink fan from a thermal orb back to the stock fan. Being lazy I didn't clean off the thermal paste that came on the stock HSF properly. There must have been a decent sized gap between the HSF and the CPU because the second I turned it on I could smell burning. Taking the HSF off I could really smell the CPU and could see little black marks right next to the core. Anyway I know for sure that the CPU is dead. But what about the motherboard? Is it likely that the MB is dead too? I noticed when I turned it on that the northbridge fan was not spinning. But I think that the NB fan may be CPU controlled so it would make sense that it wouldn't spin is the CPU was broken, could anyone varify this? Other than that all the other fans worked all the LEDS worked, but that is all I could tell without a working CPU. And if the motherboard is dead what else could have gone with it. Basically I am going to go to the store this morning and I need to know what to replace. If I could just buy a new CPU that would be great. I would prefer not to do a massive rehaul at this time because money is tight. And if the motherboard is dead and I put a new CPU in it will the new CPU get damaged? Thanks in advance.