I was using the Asus P5B motherboard, and Intel Core2Duo processor. 4Gb OCZ ram, 250GB and 500GB hdd's. Last night I switched out the motherboard to as Asus M2N-Sli, with an AMD x2 6000+ cpu, and everything seems to be working fine now.
However I did have a couple of problems, considering I switched to the AMD motherboard, I decided to use the AMD version of the install DVD, and I got the exact same results as before. I had also switched to a wired keyboard and when my screen would go blank, i could tap enter and my screen would come back on briefly, usually with a blinking cursor and then it would ask for login information. (did the same with the intel setup on 386 DVD)
So I did a fresh install with the 386 DVD using the AMD board, and the install seemed to go a lot smoother. I was able to see the setup wizard and go through the process without any problems. So i'm not sure what went wrong earlier, my only conclusion was incompatible motherboard.
Now I just need to figure out why it won't play my DVDs.......