press power button and computer won't start

[fyrguy316]

this is going to be long, but i will explain in detail and try to include everything.  please bear with me.

i read other posts on here before doing this, so basically i'm out of answers.  press power and all LED's, fans, etc. flicker for a split second.  there are 2 LED's, green and yellow/orange, next to the DIMM slots that stay on and a red one by the CMOS battery that will flicker on and off.  i have cleared the CMOS several times, unplugged everything, tried just one memory stick, had the board on my desk out of the case and checked for bent pins.  i'm lost and have no more ideas what could be causing this.
it ran fine the other night.  i bought the board, CPU and memory from a good friend.  he ran it for a year with the easytune 6 overclock in it with out a problem(overclock was 3.36Ghz).  he walked me through how to put the overclock back in using the easytune software.  loaded it, went to tuner, clicked the red stage 3 and rebooted.  worked fine all night, the whole family used it.  my fiance turned it on tuesday afternoon and it kept turning on and off, the whole case, fans and all.  i told her to hold the power button till it shut down.  didn't work.  had her shutoff the surge bar.  i got home from work turned it on and it did the same thing.  shut it down, shut off the power supply and unplugged it.  pressed the clear CMOS button on the back of the mother board and its been doing this flicker thing ever since.  i tried removing the battery, shorting the jumper pins and everything mentioned above and nothing has worked yet.  whats your thoughts?
it is a new build with some parts new and some used:

new parts:
cooler master HAF 922 case
Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-900 900W Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371050)
asus cd/dvd drive

used parts:
GA-EX58-UD5 gigabyte motherboard
i7-930 intel CPU
12 GB (3 X 4GB) Gskill ripjaw memory (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231358)
XFX 6970 video card
western digital 1TB black 7200 rpm 64 mb cache HDD (i bought this new last year and used from my last computer)

this all worked fine till tuesday.  had about 3 maybe 4 days on the build.  did have one problem in the beginning i forgot to mention.  one stick of memory went bad.  so i'm down to 8 GB in dual channel mode instead of 12 in 3 channel mode.  it ran fine with the 8.  please help!  a huge thanks ahead of time to anyone that replies!!!

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome.

There are many things that could cause this problem and I think you seem to have been through most of them already. So we start again and go back to basics.

Some of this may seem like a waste of time but please just humour me and follow the instructions. Firstly post a list of your hardware make and model please. You can put it as a signature at the end of your post if you like.

Remove the power cable from the mains supply and then press the power switch on the case for a few seconds just to drain any residual energy in the PSU capacitors.

Once done remove the motherboard battery for at least one hour before replacing it.
 
Next plug back into the mains supply and boot.
 
You will now need to enter the BIOS by pressing DEL and load Optimised BIOS Defaults.

Make any other changes to the BIOS settings to suit your self like disabling the floppy drive, disabling the full screen logo and making the HDD the primary boot device but leave off any overclock settings and then press F10 to save and exit.

The next thing is to remove the motherboard from the case and test it on the workbench.

Make sure that you observe anti-static precautions.

Lay some cardboard or use the motherboard box that is non-conductive on the worktop and remove the motherboard/CPU/heatsink/fan/buzzer/one stick of memory/graphics card and PSU from the case and put it on the cardboard. Add the keyboard and mouse and try and boot. The system should try and make a beep or series of beeps. Please post what sounds it makes.

[Lsdmeasap]

If that does not help, please try an extended clearing of the CMOS.  To do this, unplug your PSU from the wall or the motherboard, or switch it off in the rear of the unit.  Then press and hold the case  power on button for one minute, then remove the CMOS battery.  Then put a jumper or other solid short on the Clear CMOS pins and let it sit this way for 8+ hours.

Then once that time is up, remove the CMOS short, put the battery back in, connect or turn on the PSU, then try to start the board again.

[fyrguy316]

dark mantis and Lsdmeasap, thank you for the replies.  i listed my hardware in the post, i will add it to a sig though if it makes it easier.  i've already had it on the table and try to boot and nothing.  the only thing i haven't tried is an extended clearing of the CMOS.  i will do that now.  if that doesn't work what are my options?

[ariefcoolz]

hello,

have u ever try other Power Supply ?
the problem of your just like my problem a few years ago and after power supply changed, the computer can ON again 

[Dark Mantis]

Yes it is possibly a power supply problem although the Antec range are normally very good and reliable but there is always the chance of a duff one.

[fyrguy316]

i have my old computer that can handle this power supply and the xfx 6970 video card.  i put both in the old computer and it booted fine, so that eliminates the power supply and the video card.

[ariefcoolz]

so the power supply is fine. 
clear cmos did'nt help it too.

have u try to use another motherboard?
yeah maybe its it took a little bit time to 'configure' again the cpu, cooler and etc.

 

[Lsdmeasap]

Yes, how did the extended clear CMOS go?   If this doesn't help please post some images of your CPU socket, take these in a well lit room with no flash and macro mode enabled on the camera, and take a few from different angles.

And of course, be very careful while there is no CPU in the socket!!

[fyrguy316]

the cmos has been shorted out since 10am yesterday.  don't know if i'll get to it tonight.  i will post what happens as soon as i can get to it.  i work weird hours so i'm in bed early and up early and work long so i may not get to it tonight.  i did check the cpu pins on the board and they all looked good, none bent.  we'll see what happens when i try to boot after extended cmos clearing.

[Lsdmeasap]

Any luck on this yet?  Just checking in.

Next time you remove the CPU take some pictures for us to look at, I often hear everything looks good in the socket only to later see images and find several bent pins.   

[fyrguy316]

tried to boot it, same problem.  contacted gigabyte only to find out the board is 3 months out of warranty. already got on  newwegg and ordered a new board.  thanks too everyone for the info and help

[Dark Mantis]

It surprises me to hear that the EX58 boards  are over three years old already. Time does pass quickly especially when checking on warranties! 

[Lsdmeasap]

Wow, yes that's surprising to hear about the warranty!!   Wow, time flies!

Are you in the US?   If so, shoot me a PM about this board, what did you plan on doing with it?

[fyrguy316]

Wow, yes that's surprising to hear about the warranty!!   Wow, time flies!

Are you in the US?   If so, shoot me a PM about this board, what did you plan on doing with it?

the warranty part doesn't surprise me.  it always happens that way, as soon as its out it breaks.     a friend of wants the board when i get the new one.  not sure what he plans on doing with it.  hes a network admin.  so i'm sure he has a brainstorm idea.