New PSU, fan not turning but...

As Soul Havester points out, as long as you have the board on something nonconductive and clear of any debris that could be conductive and short out components on the board you are fine. I remember seeing one modded case which consisted of useing the motherboard box as the case as it had onboard sound and graphics I have tested a few motherboards setup sitting onto of the motherboard boxes. I believe Mict used to run his old system on his desk with no case. Just dust can be a bit of a worry in this situation.

Yes, I used to leave complete machines bare for weeks because I couldn't afford / couldn't find a suitable case.

I've shorted many boards out actually having them IN the case but a clamp had broken and the PCB came in contact with the case... luckily, usually that results only in the power supply cutting out (even AT PSUs had an auto shutoff due to short) so I didn't destroy TOO many boards that way, but it's always better to be safe then sorry.

Well hey, better safe than sorry, don't ya think?

Jumper Free setting made no difference, still getting same POST Message of "System failed CPU Test".

Tried moving Memory Module to Slot 2, system started without Message this time, but no VDU action from graphics card? Tried plugging in a HDD out of curiosity and it seems to be running, but maybe thats not much to go on seeing as it is might be running on just PSU Feed.

Memory in Slot 3 same result, no POST Message, everything powers, yet no visual output from Graphics Card to VDU?

Plan of Action 1:
Tommorow I am attending my maintenance course at College, and so i shall pick my Tutors brains a little. Maybe i will even take my rig to college and see if he can give me some sort of diagnosis. Maybe i do have a fault somewhere?

POA 2:
If faulty hardware suspected, I shall travel back down to PC World sometime this week to blag some replacements

Ill keep you notified

Have replacements!

OK guys, im back at last with a progress report.
Been back to PC Wholesaler and recieved replacements without any hassle. (CPU & Mobo) They didnt have the A7V333 board so i got the newer board, The A7V8X, which is wayyyy better, judgin by the specs anyway. Will be putting this together and testing this weekend. Will let you know how she goes

laters

Sue me I'm paranoid...

Anyway, that's good news DG. I hope it goes well.

It Works!

Hallelujia, praise the goddamn PC Lord in the sky! :giddy: :grinthumb
I got the little beast on the go last night, and yes, very chuffed, I started dancing round my room in fact, hahahaaaaa

Installed CPU (& heatsink and fan), RAM, HDD etc, all recognised in BIOS, woooohoooo! (sorry, bit chuffed cos first modern PC ive ever built for myself)

There was however, just a few, minor teething problems. One of my hard-drives presents me with a Blue Screen Of Death when entering Windows XP, but ill sort that out later as my other hard-drive is working fine on there with Win ME so im currently booting with that as a temporary measure untill i get to the root of that problem.
I also couldnt get the CD ROM Drives to run the driver disks between logon and Windows access (even though the drive recognised in BIOS?). This is when im browsing to specify the location for the drivers. So havent accessed Windows yet at this stage because i have to install the Mobo drivers first. But today im gonna get on my old pc, install the current HHD (currently in new), put the drivers on there, re-install that HDD into new machine and place drivers on there ready, so no need for the CD ROM, just a HDD swap. I can then sort out the CD ROM problem in Windows once i have all the drivers installed.

For now though, I feel great that everything is working and my little creation is nearly alive, ahhhh feels good

Everything up and running together in harmony now. Nice n' snug in a shiny new case!