ok... got home last night and slowly put my system back together and it all is working fine. I was able to snap off the metal "things" that were keeping the video card from seating correctly and now it snaps right into place, but i need to get a new power supply and im out of town until tomorrow. but, the computer is alive. The geh recovery stuff damaged my vista install and this morning when i left my house it was in the process of repairing. so hopefully when i get home it is going to be up and running.