So my computer just died tonight. Not entirely sure how, why, or how to even fix at the moment. Here is what happened.
I shutdown the system (first time in a week) so I could move it 4 feet from where it was in the middle of the room to where it was going to sit peacefully for the next year or two (or so I thought). Upon reboot, I get the single long BIOS beep, which according to the manual means a memory issue. I have had 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix and 2x1GB Buffalo Firestix in this system happily since I built it (didn't even have the RAM voltage problems others have had, as I was able to go into BIOS without issue and up the voltage when I first built). So I start trouble-shooting. I remove all but 1 stick, and I was able to boot. So I check the voltage settings and speed, and decide to turn it down to 800mhz (from 1000mhz that these worked fine with for last 6 months). Put in all the sticks again, and still get the BIOS beep for bad RAM. I then remove the Buffalo pair, boot up, BIOS beeps for bad RAM. Remove the Crucial pair, and put back the Buffalo pair, no BIOS problems and system boots. Shutdown, remove the Buffalo pair again, and add back a single Crucial DIMM. Boot, and have the bad RAM beep. Shutdown, remove the Crucial DIMM in there, and put in the other. Boot, and bad RAM beep.
So now that I determined that this pair is dead somehow (oh didn't mention that I also tried all the slots just to make sure it was a bad slot and not the DIMMs themselves), I go and put back the Buffalo pair that I determined earlier worked. I boot up, and now get nothing. No BIOS beeps, but no video either. The DVD-ROM spins up a couple times as if the system is internally constantly rebooting without giving any beep codes or anything. I remove one of the Buffalo and try again, and get same results. I remove the other and replace it with the other DIMM I previously removed, and still get the same symptoms (or lack of any). I remove all memory for $h!t$ and giggles and I get what I expected, the memory beep (since there isn't any memory in there, so I expected this). I then try putting back one of the "bad" Crucial DIMMs, and boot, and get the bad RAM beep. I put back the Buffalo, and boot again, only to still get nothing, no beeps, no video. I re-seat my video card (just in case somehow it was loose), and try again, but get the same results. So I pull the power, short the clear CMOS jumper, and then try and boot, still get nothing. I now pull the power and pull the CMOS battery, wait a couple minutes, short the jumper just for good measure, and pop the battery back in, and try to boot again, still no video, no error codes. I try the other stick of Buffalo just for good measure with the same results (I even try the Crucial again, and at least it is consistent, I get the bad RAM beeps).
So anyone have any suggestions?