Originally Posted by
peterb
I would be very wary about putting a known good CPU/components in that mobo, with that PSUuntil you have proved they are good.
It sounds as if you have caused a short circuit when you removed and replaced the mobo, or perhaps misconnected the various leads.
It is difficult to predict the consequences. If you are lucky, you may only have damaged the PSU - and if it is a good one, it should have some overcurrent protection which has protected the system, although possible to the detriment of itself. Worst case, teh current surge has damaged voltage regulators on the mobo and the risk of damage to the components is that much greater.
You might get some clues by a close visual examination of the mobo and the internal wiring. Any scorch or burn marks might give you some clues where any short might have taken place. I should warn you that anything on the tracks on the mobo are likely to mean bad news - certainly for the mobo.
I presume the tube has some form of invertor to generate the high voltages needed to produce the discharge in the tube. The fact the tube is damaged implies either the invertor for the tube failed - which may have damaged the main PSU. Alternatively, if one of the connectors was left (or fell off) the tube and the tube pin or connector shorted to earth, or worse, tiuched a mobo pin, that would cause damage. (I think those tubes are cold cathode, like a neon tube, so once they have 'struck' they need a constant current source to operate - otherwise they self destruct in the spectacular way you describe)
If you want to test the CPU and RAM, you would be better to test your suspect components in a known good system - and that system shoudl be a minimal configuaration. Once you have proved CPU and RAM, you could test the hard drives and graphics card. If they all check out, the finger points to the PSU on the computer, but damage to the mobo cannot be entirely ruled out - but you could then replace the PSU and again rebuild your system step by step - adding components one by one to test them out.
As for the bling - why bother? It adds nothing to the functionality and is another load on your machine, raising internal temps.
Good luck with the diagnostics - take it slowly, methodically and a step at a time. CConsider the results of each step before you move on. I hope that the damage turns out to be minimal.