Possible blown MB?

[ICUB4UCME]

ok, i've got a system i've been working on and last night a strange thing occured and now it won't power up.

i turned the thing off and about 5-10 minutes after that i heard about 2 seconds of crackling sound coming from that room. sounded sort of like crumpling a paper or a plastic sheet.

anyway, now when i go to turn the machine on it will flash the front panel lights and then go completely unresponsive. if i disconnect power, allow it to discharge, and reconnect power it'll repeat the same actions. the machine is as follows:

Asus A8N-E
AMD64 3200+
2x512MB PC3200
eVGA Geforce 6600
Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit
3com 10/100 3c905
Thermaltake W0093RU 500W PSU

cooling is afforded by a scythe ninja passive cpu cooler with 80mm fan exhausting air out the back right next to it(touching it slightly)

video is cooled by a Thermalright V1

northbridge fan replace by a Thermalright HR-05

also the side panel was removed throughout this whole business.

any ideas on if something as been blown? there is no telltale smell or burning electronics and no signs of burning, i haven't taken the thing apart yet mostly because it was hard enough to get put together. oh, and everything has been running at stock speeds so overclocking is not a factor.

 

[riekmaharg2]

When you turn the comp off did you unplug it from the socket and what else happens when you try and boot up ur comp ie does the fans come on e.t.c.

 

[ICUB4UCME]

turns out that the video card heatsink was improperly seated and i can only assume the crackling noise was the ghost of the GPU screaming for mercy. when i put any other vid card in there it works fine. oddly enough there are no signs of physical damage, it just doesn't work anymore and won't allow the rest of the system to work in its presence either.