Question No video output, no POST

[danem]

Hello. Haven’t built PCs in about 10 years so bear with me and my lack of knowledge.

History: prebuilt, changed PSU, CPU, and graphics card later. Computer originally (before modification) had some overheating issues that had to be fixed. Later I changed to the chip, graphics card, and power supply seen below. If PC ever got too hot (during summer and running a heavy load etc) it would auto shut itself off until cool again.

Ok so... I power on the PC, all fans on, graphics card fans, PSU, case, etc. I hear no POST beeps, but I actually can’t recall ever hearing them on this PC, is that a thing? Anyways. I went through everything on the troubleshooting sticky. Removed motherboard cell to reset bios, tried a different graphics card, a different PSU, 3 monitors, HDMI and DVI, switched ram ports around, tried one ram, tried graphics in different PCI slots. I rubbed the case and told it I loved it, nothing has worked.

I did pull off the cpu heatsink as this was a problem before (in the past I burned away my thermal paste) and it looks like this time I probably used a little too much thermal paste, but it’s not on anything else, other than the heatsink and the top of cpu. But honestly it looks kind of toasted again, at least, it’s not solid strips of it, almost like it got squeezed out the sides.

Specs:
Processor: AMD Bulldozer FX-4100 Zambezi (3.6GHz) (4 Core) (8 MB Cache) AM3+ Socket
Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 (AMD 970 Chipset) (SATA 6 and USB 3.0) (Socket AM3+)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance Series (High-Performance)
Power Supply: PSU CORSAIR| HX850 850W R
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital/Seagate/Hitachi/Samsung (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache)
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100363-4L Radeon R9 280X 3GB 384-Bit GDDR
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: Standard Factory Heat-sink and Fan
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home

 

[danem]

Here are some photos, you can see the thermal paste squeezed out the sides then got mucked up with dust.

 

[danem]

I'm thinking of upgrading this PC anyways to run some older video games at highest settings. So I'll probably just replace the motherboard and processor at least. Unless someone has some good ideas.

 

[danem]

I just realize my motherboard has no bios speaker and no 4 pin speaker either. Well I will get one and I think that will help me troubleshoot a little bit better haha

 

[danem]

No luck, I purchased 2 motherboard speakers, I have tried them both with varying configurations of RAM and no video card / no HD, I can't get a single beep or tone out of it. Next I am going to try and breadboard the PC, but I need to setup a better station to work on this first. Can anyone tell me the bare essential hardware I need connected to try and get some kind of POST beeps? Motherboard, CPU, PSU, and 1 stick of RAM that's it right?

 

[danem]

Breadboarded it. Still no luck.

All I have assembled:

PSU - Connected power to motherboard, CPU, and Graphics card.
Hard drive - Connected to PSU (I can hear it spinning) and to the motherboard
Graphics card - Connected to the PCI slot and the PSU and a functioning monitor. Fans spinning.
CPU - fresh paste, pins all intact, heatsink fan spinning.
RAM - 1 stick in the primary slot per manual instructions
USB Keyboard
Motherboard speaker for POST

What it does:
Powers on, all fans spinning, no POST beeps, no signal to monitor.

What I have tried:
Visually inspected all components for any kind of damage.
Used air to blow out every slot and cable connection.
Cleaned the contacts on the RAM sticks and the Graphics Card
Cleaned the paste off CPU, no damage observed, all pins intact.
Reapplied conductive paste in better fashion (Arctic silver 5)
Each RAM stick individually in each RAM slot.
Graphics Card in different PCI slots.
A smaller graphics card in both PCI slots.
2 different data cables for Hard Drive
New CMOS battery and reset.

I really don't know what to do next, as I don't know what components could be causing the issue. Is it just the Hard Drive? The motherboard? The PSU should be good in theory as I tried another brand new one that I had boxed up with the exact same results (although not breadboarded at the time)

 

[danem]

I have now tried without Hard Drive as well, and with another CPU that I had replaced when I upgraded (it was working at the time)

Ran out of things to try, I have a multimeter but it's in storage or I'd start trying to learn to test other things.

I've gone ahead and purchased a new motherboard hoping that is the culprit as it seems the most likely (to me, but what do I know)

 

[danem]

Yup, dead motherboard. Replaced and works great now. Thanks for reading my journal if you made it this far. Byeeee.