Mobo failure? please help..

[Angrygnome]

My system:
Athlon XP 1800+ w/Thermaltake Volcano7 HSF
MSI KT3-Ultra ARU
Samsung DDR PC2700 RAM
AOPen Geforce 4 Ti4200
Creative SB Live

One day a couple weeks ago, when I started up my computer, I got 3 beeps and nothing on the monitor. The diagnostic LEDs on the back said it was a ram failure (bad ram or bad install). Tried reseating, and changing slots -- didn't work. Tried roommate's RAM (out of his dell 4400.. not sure what kind it is). This actually worked -- it went through the whole initial bootup screen before I shut it down. I figured it was now clear that my problem was the ram.

Today I just got the new ram back -- it didn't work (3 beeps, LED says ram failure). Tried my roommate's ram again, and got the SAME error. Now I'm really confused about what to do.

I tried resetting CMOS settings with the jumper, but that didn't seem to work (unless somehow I did it wrong). I just don't see how it could've stopped working all of a sudden -- I didn't change the configuration or anything.

If anyone has any ideas? This is really my only place to go since I built this system myself. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

 

[krakken]

Make sure you try the proc, I thought it was my mobo once and it ended up my athlon was fried... the lower fan was flaking out.

 

[Angrygnome]

I should also note that a few months ago when I was building it for the first time, I think I shorted it by having it touch the case or something. Even remounting the proper way didn't work.. I had to get a new mobo. Is it possible I only partially shorted it this time, so that it'll turn on, but it's messed up?

Also with my current problem, the first time I plug in the power and hit the power button, it doesn't give me the same 3 beeps. The LEDs just say "testing base and extended memory from 240k to 640k and extended memory above 1MB using various patterns." I get the 3 beeps and the RAM failure reading whnever I turn it off and back on using the power button (instead of unplugging it b/w startups).

Does this mean anything?