Motherboard: Lights On, Nobody Home

I recently tried to turn my computer on. The lights came on and stayed on (solid, no flickering like it's trying to load). The monitor was blank (wasn't recieving a signal). I opened up the case, took out and reseated everything including the graphics card, ram sticks, usb card, and even the processor. I tried rebooting, but got the same result. I transferred everything but the processor and motherboard to another computer and all the hardware is working fine (I even transferred the power supply). I have to admit that the inside of my computer was a bit dusty. I cleaned it some before trying to reboot, but it needs a bit more thorough cleaning. I noticed a build up of dust around the ram slots.

I really need to get back to my motherboard and processor, as the one I'm using now is ancient and slow and can't handle a lot of modern programs. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Is your CPU heatsink full of dust, in between the heatsink fins? Did you have any means or procedure for monitoring temperatures in that system? Perhaps your processor overheated and has been damaged.

Are you thinking of building or buying a new system?

 

There was dust in the heatsink, but I cleaned it out pretty good before trying to boot up. I didn't have anything loaded in Windows to monitor the temperature. And, yes, I have and still am considering building another pc.

**Of course, I won't be able to by new parts until I pay off the loan for the gas I bought earlier this week! :cry