[doransdome]

Marklwood and Laddie - You are so right, early chipset initialization is a bear to pin down. I have been to bare bones and tried every combination of new and old parts as well as removing the motherboard and reseating. I see no reason for this error to have come at this time, after running the same components for several years which is why I tried some new parts. Alas, I have given up and have ordered a new board and will be posting with support for permission to reload on new board next week.

Jim - I would love to use system restore to roll back, but since I can't boot at all, this is not possible.

Capnvic - Yes, I did contact MSI but can't flash a board that won't boot. I also checked about replacing the whole bios chip but didn't get much hope for that process. And, MSI will not repair the board, even at my cost, because of its age. Another reason to give up and get a new board.

Meanwhile, I thank all of you for your thoughts and ideas. I thought I had covered all the bases, but getting input from others is always helpful cause when your mind is boggled you can miss the obvious. Or at least I can. I'll post again and let you know how the new build goes.