Computer won't boot (no display or beeps)

For some odd reason, my customer-built PC stops working every few months w/the same problem. The computer won't boot (no display on the monitor and no beeps). The first time I thought it was a bad power supply, so I replaced that and it worked again. The next time, I thought it was a bad motherboard, so I got a new motherboard (also upgraded the processor and RAM). That fixed it the second time. Now this time, I'm quite frustrated as most of the parts are less than a year old now. I tried several setups, such as without the HDs (I have two) and PCI cards installed. In addition, I tried plugging it into a wall (instead of a powerstrip) and other rooms. Still no beep. I even went as far as trying to boot it w/only the motherboard, power supply, and processor. Still no beep! Here's my setup:

300/600 Watt ATX Power supply (tried both)
AMD Athlon XP 1.6ghz processor
512mb 333mhz SDRAM
40/60 Western Digital/Segate HD's
1.44 Floppy Drive
Philips CD-R/RW drive
Unknown type DVD-ROM drive
Gigabye motherboard w/on board video, sound, and ethernet

Is it safe to say that the motherboard and/or processor shorted or failed? Is there anything else I should've tried? Thanks!!

No display on the monitor is not the same as not booting. Does the hdd come on and other parts? Check the monitor and cable, test with another monitor if possible. Check with another video card as well. If the computer isn't booting (no power) check the psu, if it gives a beep code, check the ram or video.
HTH

Thanks for your reply. So no beep and no display doesn't mean it's not booting? Hmm. I've never heard of that. I tried the monitor on another (working) PC and it works fine. Everything runs when I turn on (I can hear the HD's and CD-ROM drives running), but no display and no beep (normally I get a beep when it's booting) and it doesn't sound like the HD is doing anything (b/c it probably failed the POST). The video card is built into the motherboard, so I can't test that.

Ah, sorry, I thought you meant no beep error code, not no POST beep. So it does sound like mobo to me, especially since the other main thing I would suspect (video card) is integrated.
If the board is <1 year old, it should still be under warranty

have you tried taking the motherboard out of the case, and hooking it all up, it could be a short caused by a design, or misplaced motherboard riser. it could also be you are overclocking. ram , or the settings for the ram. do you know if you have updated anything right before the problem starts, do you have a easy bios auto updater? any other auto updaters?

My computer isn't hooked to the internet, so any software updates are far and few between. I was able to return the motherboard and get a new one (Asus), but alas it still won't boot. I hooked up the power supply, the processor/fan, RAM, and control panel wires to the motherboard and still no beep. I hate to ask (since they're so expensive), but could it be a fried processor? The processor is only a few months old, so I would really hate it to be that. And worse, I got it at a store that doesn't have warrenties (discount store), so I seriously doubt I could get a new one w/out paying again. Thanks for your replies.

could be atleat four major things, the ram, the video card, the power supply, and the cpu. to me this sounds more like ram. you said you have 512megs, is this one stick or 2 256? if it is 2 try one at a time. i have seen a computer with a matched pair of crucial pc 2100 256 run one with no problems, put in the other, blank screen,no beeps, ended up i put both chips back in used the cmos jumper, set the ram speeds and voltages manually and it worked fine, had to play with it a bit but after a few attempts got it set, was a pc chips motherboard(total crap) but the same could be true in your case. i would try ram first, even if i had to buy another stick, i use that as a excuse to buy more all the time. never have enough,....lol if i remeber right, the specs for the ram and board said run 3t, ended up it ran on 2t with 2.5 volts, but your ram will have different settings, look them up from the manufacturer's site.

Well, turns out it was indeed a bad processor. I took it back to the place I bought and they said it was fried. Lucikly, they replaced it for free since I had the receipt. So I put the new one in and it beeped!! Yah, I'm so happy! Thanks for your help in narrowing down the problem!

Okay, now I've got a new problem. It won't detect either of my HD's. It stalls at "detecting ide drives." I tried both drives and my new external drive. Same results. I even tried new cables and another motherboard. Oddly enough, on another (older) motherboard, I get an error saying "CMOS checksum error -- defaults loaded." What could be the problem now? I'm REALLY scratching my head on this one! Thanks!

what are your jumper settings, and how are they connected?

Since it's just one drive, I just had it set as the master jumper and plugged it into the master IDE plug on the motherboard.

I know this topic is really old, but for anyone who finds it like I did, the answer the the hard drive question would be to take all jumpers off. It will run as the master.

As this thread is over 2.5 years old, I'm locking it.

If anyone has issues with it, don't hesitate to PM me.