MoBo failure?

EDITED THIS ENTIRE POST, SEE BELOW:

So, I went to re-format, and now I can't even get past POST or boot to Windows.

I've attempted the following:

-Re-seating RAM (I've been told this could affect boot ups...)
-Re-doing the physical connections from PSU to motherboard and all other components
-Replaced the SATA cable
-Tried different SATA ports
-Removed/Re-seated CMOS battery


**UPDATE: Took it to GeekSquad just to have them take a look. They said they plugged the HDD into a MAC and saw directories, indicating a Windows 7 installation. But, my motherboard won't pick it up. I think I need to flash my BIOs but I need a bootable CD to DOS...suggestions, comments or concerns?

It shouldn't say primary slave if it is SATA hard drive. Primary slave is ment for ide hard drivers or roms. The problem you are saying seems like your bios gotten a cold. The only way to fix that is flashing the bios and putting a new one in, or buy a new motherboard that your hardware will be usable

does your unit make any sounds when you power it on or do anything unusual like the fans running high continuously.?

It did get a trojan. So, I decided to reformat. How would you test your hardware? I'm asking for help because I clearly don't know how to.

@Malmental: I did get a new graphics card lately, a GeForce GTX260, I received from a friend who's not using it. The fans were spinning an awful lot, but it stopped after a while. No sounds from the motherboard when I turn it on. I did plugin my GeForce 8800GTS to see if that gets video. Then a sound came from the motherboard. Just one long sound. It's an ABIT IL9 Pro MoBo.

@Saint19: No, not as of lately. What's your basis for it though? I do have MemTest86. So, I could run diagnostics, but...I have no video.

I don't have another PC available. I could goto BestBuy tomorrow and have them test the RAM, but even if that did come out alright, that doesn't tell me if the motherboard is shot...I mean, I would have to have them test nearly every component, because I surely don't want to pay for diagnostics

A) True
B) Totally agree, Windows Update can slow down your rig but NEVER kill it.

I've attempted to re-seat my graphics card last night, and it did not work. Tried a different PCI-E slot, no cigar. Used another card in both PCI-E slots, no cigar. It's weird, because I was beginning to lose video while switching the SATA ports to get my hard drive detected. For example, the first 3 ports would give me no video, but the one port I always used did. Don't know that if has any correlation, but I figured I'd mention it.

Can you try the clean installation with a different DVD but with your OS key?

Guys...I don't have video. -_-

Do you think it could just be that I deleted my hard drive's master boot record, and my motherboard is no longer recognizing hardware because of it, and I may need to flash my BIOs? It could explain why nothings working...

I can't do that without video. And I can't get into BIOs, remember? Even if I had video, I still couldn't, that's originally why I posted.

Well I wouldn't know the first thing about checking it for damage besides the obvious stuff, like if it smoked out. I've had my hand in this computer the whole time since it crashed, if the hardware was damaged, it couldn't have been anything drastic, because I was using it right when it happened. No smoke or, nothing "blew out" - but what would I be looking for? I have an ABIT IL9 Pro.

I'm back, got to freshen up..

When I hit the power button, everything gets power. But I get no video. Yes, it's a dual PCI-E X16 Board. No, it's not ancient, the motherboard may suck, but everything else is relatively good.

GTX260 1GB Vid Card
500 GB Western Digital HDD
4.0 GB RAM / WINTEC AMPO
CORSAIR 650W PSU
INTEL CORE 2 DUO

MoBo looks good, I checked it. I was able to get video back. But, I can't get into the BIOs if the hard drive is connected...and if it's not, I am able to get into the BIOs. Now, I had a friend look into it. He says either the SATA ports in the MoBo may be bad, or the HDD might be bad. But, he says to run a diagnostic utility to scan hardware for damages -- any recommendations?

on your motherboard there should be a cmos batter, pull the cmos batter out and beside there should be 3 pins with a jumper on 2 of them switch the jumper over and boot the computer up. if nothing shows up put the jumper back to its spot before and put back the cmos battery. If that didn't solve the problem then there a problem with the motherboard. Bring it to best buy and get them to look at it

If he doenst know alot about computers it would be best to take it to a computer shop and have them look at it or if he is still in school and has a class in computers ask his teacher to look at his computer. No i don't work at geek squad or any shop

Okay...well, ace. The solutions I've tried so far, is attempting to disconnect the cables from the CD-Rom drive to see if it'll bypass it and boot straight to HDD. Didn't work. Tried removing CMOS battery and that didn't work. I think I need to flash my BIOs. But, I need a bootable CD to DOS, and I've tried looking every where. Anyone know where or how I can get my hands on it?

I told you to test out another HDD..
stop messing with the BIOS and anything else, test another HDD first.

Ok, so I decided to pull out my hard drive to see if it even powers on. And, it does. So, the hard drive is getting power, but it's just not being recognized. I do have video again, so I'm available to a larger variety of options. What do you guys think?

That was four days ago, and I didn't know how to test a hard drive. Besides knowing if it powered on, I wasn't aware that was a strong enough diagnostic utility to go ahead and say that its a bad HDD. I haven't changed any settings in BIOs -- so, what steps would I take assuming it could be fixed?

Well, rather than testing another HDD, what I've managed to do is connect my HDD to different SATA connectors on the controller. Nothing worked. It recognizes the hard drive, but has primary slave or secondary slave, etc. There's 4 connectors on my controller, each one of which isn't scanning the hard drive the way it should.

When my PC boots to post, it recognizes it first as "IDE Hard Disk", then it recognizes it (depending what port its on) as a primary slave/secondary slave. There's something wrong there. Additionally, the SATA cable, while seated into the port on the motherboard, jiggles from left to right like a loose tooth. It could be an issue of connectivity, in which case I'd have to use an external controller card...

Well, the SATA cables I have are gray thin ribbons with black ends, which fit into the MoBo. I'm seeking to buy an external PCI card with connectors on it and give it a whirl. If the hard drive does in fact fail, I can have it exchanged through SeaGate's warranty exchange. Anyone recommend a PCI Sata Controller Card?