Amd 64 X2 boots, with no display or hard drive activity

Hey folks, it's been a long time since I've been on here and have a question for you, the community. I have a friends computer here that starts up with fans running like normal, but puts out no display. No hard drive activity or cd drive activity, other than the normal post-time stuff.

Things I have done-
- Swapped out PSU - Nothing
- Swapped in different Graphics card, less powerful as well - Nothing
- Removed all accessory fans, pci cards, hdd, and cd drives - Nothing
- Removed video card (upon boot only psu and cpu fan spun. all fans were plugged in (seems the psu went in to some kind of "protect" mode.

I have come to the conclusion that either the Motherboard or CPU is/are bad. The CPU is running the OEM cooler, which leads me to think the CPU is shot. I have no way of testing either as I don't have any available parts to swap in and test.

What are somethings I could do to test the mobo and cpu? I'll try taking the CPU out and booting, although I doubt that anything will happen. Any suggestions on what I could to pin-point the problem would be great.

PS: Specs of the PC as what I know-

Athlon 64 X2 AM2 5200+ - oem amd cooler
Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-S5
2gb Corsair 800mhz
western digital raptor (unknown size)
pny nvidia 8600 256 gts pci-e - stock cooler

If you are getting the POST, then go into the BIOS and set it to defaults.

I would do that, but like I posted earlier, I am unable to get any kind of display, even with a different video card. I tried on all display ports and still got nothing.

I took out the battery to reset the CMOS and got nothing (no display). The computer just turns on and all the drives startup like normal, but like they arent plugged into the motherboard.

I'll try a couple more things at home and see if I can get anything to change.

Hey folks- an update.

Here's a couple things I did today:

1. Removed the RAM with the CPU still installed - got a beep every second that went away when I put the ram back in.
2. Removed the CPU (Read below) - got nothing. No display or beeps.
3. Removed the CPU and RAM - same lack of success, nothing.

CPU:
It seems that the person who put the build together used the included thermal pad. The processor was covered in the thermal grease, even down the sides between the metal cover and the electronic board of the CPU.

Upon removing the CPU, I noticed that thermal grease somehow got on the motherboard and possibly in the pin holes. There was also grease on the pins. I am almost certain this was not from when I took it out(smearing the grease just enough). If it was from when it was installed, that could be what caused the problem in the first place.

I checked the prices for the replacement parts today. 60 US for the processor and the Mobo isn't made anymore. I don't know what to tell the guy. I have a friend with an athlon 64 but he has socket 993, not am2. How annoying.

Is there anyway I can test the mobo/cpu to see if they are indeed shot? If you guys have any kind of advice on what to do, please let me know.

Thanks in advance, Chris