Problem: Mobo or RAM?

[ryanjh]

I get three different results when starting up my computer that I built back in 2008:

#1 Computer gets stuck at boot up, no sounds, and the screen reads CPUID: Athlon....

#2 After taking out and putting back the CMOS Battery I get all the way to the loading screen and then it freezes afterwards (blank screen). The same is true if I remove the CMOS battery completely.

#3 After taking out and putting back the CMOS Battery it loads up normal and works fine (with some weird problems e.g. Google Security Exception missing from FF).

No new drivers or hardware.

NOTES

After taking out and putting back the CMOS battery I have to tell the system which hard drive to load (multiple hard drives).

#3 occurs usually after the computer has been off for at least 10 minutes.

The system clock is wrong every time I get the computer to successfully load (usually after taking out and putting back the CMOS battery.

My next step is to buy a new CMOS battery however I doubt that will fix anything other than the clock and remember the boot load.

System details

OS: XP x86 (up to date)
CPU
AMD Athlon 7850
Black Edition
AM2+(940)
MOBO
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
Chipset: AMD 790X
RAM
G.Skillz Part # T2-8500C25-2GBPK
2x2048MB
GPU: ATI Radeon 5770 HD
PSU: Brand new Corsair HX750

 

[alphaalphaalpha]

Motherboard might have a defect. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't 790 an AM3 chipset, meaning DDR3, whilst that CPU is AM2/AM2+, meaning DDR2?

You might need to replace the motherboard and/or CPU.