No display issues with GA-G1975X

Hello everyone,

Thank you for taking the time to check this out.

Firstly here are the specs:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-G1975X
CPU: Pentium D 3.2ghz
RAM: 4X 1G DDR2 Patriot 800mhz
HD: RAID 0 2x 500gb WD 7200 RPM
Video: 2x Radeon X1800 512Mb crossfire

I was using my comp when all of a sudden the display shut off for no reason. The power was still on but no display... odd. I tried shutting down and restarting. The power would come on, All LEDs active but still no display. I tried only using one of my video cards, switching them around, no dice. I tried resetting the Cmos and reslotting all the RAM in all possible configurations still nothing. At this point I gave up for a while and left it on the back burner.

Recently I began working from home and need the extra processing power so I got around to trying to fix this again. Since I didn't have a testing board to test the components individually I swallowed my pride and took it to a local computer repair shop. Many days later they called me in the pick it up and told me they didn't know what was wrong with it and that they suspect it's the motherboard. After quizzing them about how exactly they tested the components I realized they weren't exactly professional or thorough.

So I found the board on ebay and got my hands on a new one. Expectantly I rebuilt the system, put on the power and got the same result. Power and no display. Hmm... So I bought a new processor rebuilt the system and got the same problem. At this point I noticed that there was a little tiny bit of artic silver thermal compound in the CPU socket! Examining my old board and processor I noticed it had a bit of artic silver in it's socket too. I thought I finally got to the bottom of things. I purchased some special anti-grease agent for electronics and cleaned out the CPU and socket. Rebuilt the system... same issue. I broke down and bought a new video card and RAM - at this point I've replaced everything in the machine... and still the same thing. I'm about to swallow some cyanide.

My theory is that maybe the artic silver fried the new processor - so I will RMA it and get a new one to see if that's the case. An indication of this is that the old processor shows a post code of "00" which means boot initiated and the new processor shows "FF" which means initiating attempt and never gets past that. Additionally with the old processor I can shut down the machine by holding the power button, but I can't with the new one.

So frustrating. I've become like Captain Ahab in my mad quest to fix this thing at all costs.

Please help.