PC (Dell T5400) crash before BIOS

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44KB, 486x296px

tl;dr: My T5400 starts up for a few seconds (11) with fans and hdd's revving and then stops, with no activity on screen. My diagnosics/experimentation has shown that removing ram and moving ram around has no effect, and that removing cpu/unplugging cpu power brings the time down to 9 sec. Any help is appreciated.

Storytime:
>I decided to start working on the Dell Precision 690 that my dad gifted me a while back, because of its dual cpu capabilities and its cheap component prices on ebay.
>I bought a x5365, as the specs checked out with the mobo, however booting with this gave a "cpu compatibility error". Trying out the old cpu showed that on top of that, there was an error with the thermal sensor. Some research showed that the cpu isn't supported by Dell in this mobo, however same specced T5400 did work with these better cpu's.
>I ordered the T5400 for 15 bucks off ebay, sent the x5365 back, and ordered a x5492 (which I later find out to have a contradictory fsb to that of the mobo).
>When the parts come in, I have the problem of fans/hdd's revving, and then crashing after a few sec with no screen activity. I find out that the fsb's don't match (mobo has 1333mhz fsb and cpu 1600mhz) and think this is the only problem, so send the cpu back and order a x5470.
>The x5470 came in friday, and I had the same problem. Changing up ram (which I checked, and is 667 mhz, so should work perfectly with 1333mhz cpu and mobo) did nothing, nor did removing it (making me think it may be the problem). Unpluggin cpu power or removing the cpu brings the time down to 9 sec (so I don't think it has to do with any cpu connectivity problems, but I may be wrong with this assumption).
If anyone on /g/ owns or has owned a Dell Precision workstation, or has had this problem before, please help me out.