Mac Pro 2009, no chime, no boot, blinking power LED

[Jtporter9]

Okay so... Bought a 2009 Mac Pro about a month ago, Worked great, did the 5,1 firmware flash, worked great. Bought ram, CPUs, and a GPU to upgrade. Started with the CPUs X5690's, delidded them myself, pretty sure I killed one of the CPUs. was getting both CPU led lights.

So anyways I tried putting the old CPUs back in just to get it back to a running state, and now when I boot up, I get no chime, no display, and the LED next to the power button blinks about twice every second (no other error LEDs. I've read all over online and I keep reading that it's not detecting my RAM, or my RAM is bad. But I had 6 sticks that worked previously to the CPU switch. I tried each one individually in DIMM slot 1, as well as the new ram sticks just to check, and on change. I've done a lot of troubleshooting but I'm no expert.

Hoping ya'll could give me some advice. I could really use some help, before giving up and dropping a ton on a new A board w/ CPUs and all. Thanks!

 

[MIKX]

Could be a damaged socket - check it with a magnifying glass.

Did you check your Northbridge heatsink spring rivets ?

Try booting with just CPU A installed with RAM.
Remove the RAM from CPU B side.

If you end up having to buy a replacement processor tray this Ebay seller is good .
https://www.ebay.com/sch/macmotive/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

 

[Jtporter9]

I did already try with ram only on CPU A side. No luck.
I also tried with just CPU as well. Same result.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/jgSVVJMVFntppwn57
Here is a link to some photos I took of the sockets which seem pristine to my eye.

And also to the Northbridge heatsink spring rivets. Now here I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Am I checking they are loose? missing? They seem like they are solid (see photos).

Thanks for the link, they do have some reasonable pricing.

 

[MacZoltan]

I assume you have the same issue I had recently. check if the plastic spacer on the top of your CPU is not broken and putting too much pressure on the CPU itself.
Last time I managed to have that little plastic broken while reinserting my old CPU for a test. The side has small claws which can break and then slide in between the CPU and the plastic spacer.
Luck would have it it just pressured the CPU too much and right after I removed the piece it worked again.
[doublepost=1538901164][/doublepost]also make sure after reinserting both cpu you torque it all the way, with the original plastic spacers it should not let you overdo it.
But do not force it of course

 

[MIKX]

That blue stuff on the CPU bolts ( looks like Loktite ) is a real pain. . makes it hard to judge how many turns to do when tightening the CPUs down. I used some Eucalyptus oil to break it down & remove most of it ( of course I shielded the CPU socket first ).

 

[tsialex]

Blinking power led is a signal of a corrupt BootROM. Test your tray with another Mac Pro, maybe you are looking on the wrong place.

 

[Jtporter9]

UPDATE: Good news, I just needed to tighten down the CPU fans all the way, (or more than I had them) I read somewhere it's easy to overtighten them and ruin the mobo, so I was being too cautious. Thanks! It booted right up after this, and a an SMC reset