New pc will not post or boot, $1,800 nightlight.

[Tattooed4Ever]

It takes me roughly 4 to 5 hours, start to finish, to assemble a new PC and load the OS. I lost count of how many systems I've built over the years, but this one has me stumped, I've never seen anything like it!! I hope there's someone out there that can shed some light into what's going on....
I started out with:
Intel LGA775 ATX Motherboard BLKDP965LTCK (D41694),
Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 LGA 775 Processor,
Zalman Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler,
Mushkin 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 Memory,
Logisys All Clear 550W ATX Power Supply (With UV Cable Management sleeves),
eVGA GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 Video Card,
Two Seagate Barracuda ES.2 500GB SATA Hard Drives,
One Sony 20X SATA DVD Burner,
and I added an AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180 PCI ATSC HDTV Card,
HP w2207h Monitor,
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy SE 5.1 Channel PCI Sound Card.
I packed it all into an Blue Apevia Aspire X-Plorer ATX Mid Tower Case with enough mods to light up the whole house with a bright blue glow.
For the initial setup I was using my old 19" Viewsonic VGA Monitor, and I had done a full assembly on the case. Once assembled, I hit the power switch, the case lit up, all fans came on, the monitor came on for 15 seconds, then went to Power-Save Mode. Okay, I decided to strip it down to bare-bones to set it up, but it still did the same thing.
I ran to Fry's Electronics to buy washers for the Motherboard Stand-Offs, on the off chance it was grounding out. That wasn't it.
I figured the 550W PSU may not be enough, so I bought an Apevia 750W PSU. It still did the same thing.
I then replaced the video card. Nope, not it.
I replaced the Mushkin RAM with Corsair XMS2 DHX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 Dual Channel Memory.
I swapped the Motherboard out for an Intel DQ965GFEKR (D41676) LGA775 MicroATX Motherboard, with on-board video. I removed the PCIe Video Card, and reset the BIOS, but the on-board video didn't even kick on the monitor!
Methodically I replaced every piece of hardware, each time with the assumption that I had finally found the bad piece of hardware. Each time I was wrong!
To make a very long, dreadfully painful, and ghastly expensive story shorter, I have replaced EVERY SINGLE piece of hardware for the new system at least once. I even replaced the Apevia case with a Tagan A-plus El Diablo Gaming Case, to eliminate the possibility of some faulty wiring grounding out the system!!
The NEW-new system now has:
Intel DQ965GFEKR (D41676) LGA775 MicroATX Motherboard,
Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 LGA 775 Conroe Dual-Core CPU,
Zalman Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler,
Mushkin 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 Memory,
Logisys All Clear 550W ATX Power Supply (With UV Cable Management sleeves),
eVGA GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 Video Card,
Two Seagate Barracuda ES.2 500GB SATA Hard Drives,
One Sony 20X SATA DVD Burner,
AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180 PCI ATSC HDTV Card,
HP w2207h Monitor,
and a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy SE 5.1 Channel PCI Sound Card,
all packed into a Tagan A-plus El Diablo Case.
I have gone by the book during assembly:
static-free environment,
seating and reseating everything,
strictly bare-bones while trying to POST.
I have disassembled and reassembled the system a total of 7 times, I am grasping at straws now.
Please tell me there is someone out there that has gone through something similar, does anyone have any ideas? What am I missing????
Thanks in advance,
Tattooed4Ever.

[compdoc]

first walk away from it and take a break

are you plugging into the same electrical outlet every time? maybe the issue is with the electrical outlet and not the computer.

also in a case like this I would strip the computer and then install just the RAM and video just to see if it will turn on to get the "no operating system" on the monitor.

then install each item one by one turning on the computer each time to see if it will post

go back and check the mobo book to see if you might have missed a jumper setting

[Tattooed4Ever]

first walk away from it and take a break

are you plugging into the same electrical outlet every time? maybe the issue is with the electrical outlet and not the computer.

also in a case like this I would strip the computer and then install just the RAM and video just to see if it will turn on to get the "no operating system" on the monitor.

then install each item one by one turning on the computer each time to see if it will post

go back and check the mobo book to see if you might have missed a jumper setting

I am using the same surge protector, plugged into the same outlet, yes. I did over look that detail, thanks! I am taking a break, gathering ideas from the 10 sites I posted this on, then I will try a new surge protector, plugged into the opposite side of the room.
I'll be sure to let you know if I blundered by overlooking that.
Thanks again!

[mechbas]

er, what?
If it's now posting with the new hdwr., how do you know it's posting? still same monitor probs.?

[Tattooed4Ever]

er, what?
If it's now posting with the new hdwr., how do you know it's posting? still same monitor probs.?

It's not posting, I was just giving an updated list of hardware, it has changed several times since I started this system. I've used 3 different monitors, and two moniter cables.
I hope this clarifies things a little.
Thanks!
Tattooed4Ever.

[mechbas]

If the system board WAS ever grounded out it's probably dead. Ran into a similar prob. w/a x386. Some how it got grounded, had to spring for a new one. The new washers would be to little to late. It's possible that the CPU got damaged as well but it's doubtful.

[Tattooed4Ever]

Several people suggested I had the wrong memory, so I went and replaced the memory again....
I bought four 1GB Kingston Value RAM PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz 1.8V.
Guess what, it's still doing the same thing....
That's it, I have to let it go for now, I've been battling this for more than 24 hours!! I'm off to pay my respects to the Gaming Gods, in hopes that they will look kindly upon me and my woes. Perchance the clouds will part, and the Gods will shower my tower with Cold Cathode and LED lighting, so that it may be healed!! Can I get an AMEN???
I'm out for today, my friends, thanks for trying to help....
Tattooed4Ever.

[Tattooed4Ever]

Several people suggested I had the wrong memory, so I went and replaced the memory again....
I bought four 1GB Kingston Value RAM PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz 1.8V.
Guess what, it's still doing the same thing....
That's it, I have to let it go for now, I've been battling this for more than 24 hours!! I'm off to pay my respects to the Gaming Gods, in hopes that they will look kindly upon me and my woes. Perchance the clouds will part, and the Gods will shower my tower with Cold Cathode and LED lighting, so that it may be healed!! Can I get an AMEN???
I'm out for today, my friends, thanks for trying to help....
Tattooed4Ever.

[compdoc]

AMEN Brother :)

if the other RAM you have is DDR2 800, DDR2 667, or DDR2 533 MHz DIMMs

then it should be the right RAM

its possible that the mobo is defective from the factory

[jbennet]

duplicate threads deleted.

[Tattooed4Ever]

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!! At 5:15 this morning the new system roared to life!!!

I tested the CPU, memory, and the GeForce 9600GT Superclocked video card in a friend's computer, it all tested fine. I decided on replacing the PSU with a Kingwin MACH 1 ABT-800MA1S 800W, MUCH BETTER POWER SUPPLY!! I also upgraded the motherboard to an ASUS P5N-D LGA775 (NVIDIA 750i SLI Chipset). Both the PSU and motherboard are SLI ready, and the ASUS board has two 16X PCIe (Gen 2.0) slots! So all I need to make the system complete is one more of the Gen 2.0 9600GT video cards. Then I'll be locked and loaded!

Hey, thanks to all of you that took the time to lend a helping hand! I'm really surprised at how many people responded, thanks for all the great ideas!

Tattooed4Ever.

[caperjack]

you changes so much ,i don't see how it actually fixes your original problem with the original motherboard . i was going to suggest keyboard or mouse as they were the only things you never mentioned in any of the post