I've just got a brand new abit VA-10 motherboard. I got the new system competely built, hit the power button, and the drives & fans began whirring as expected. The bios screen for the video never appeared however. I've tried different processors, video cards, and sticks of ram. Nothing has worked. The fans and drives always spin, but does nothing else.

Are you putting it into an old case? Check that the power supply is at least 300 watts for a newer athlon. Also newer ATX motherboards have 2 power connecters. They have the 20 pin one that you'd expect, and a second 4 pin one that supplies DC 12v to a different part on the board.

I've said this before, but it works fro me. There are many, many problems that you could have introduced, so it's best to start from the VERY beginning. You could have some strange hardware conflict--a modem/sound card causing a conflict that will block video. A failed component--hey, it happens The motherboard could be "shorting" somewhere on the case floorplate. SO------------simplify the problem. Remove the motherboard and powersupply, and lay them out on a "safe" table. Hook up ONLY THIS: The motherboard, with RAM and CPU, power supply and keyboard, video card (if not on board) and of course the monitor. Only the above and NOTHING ELSE. The thing should startup and let you into the bios. If not, you know the problem is right there in front of you. Try resetting the bios. On some motherboards, there are setting to disable the onboard bios, or select AGP/PCI, and this setting could be problem. Resetting the bios should take care of that. If THAT doesn't work--- It's either the power supply, bad RAM, CPU, motherboard. You can easily try another power supply, and you should be able to try different RAM. Sometimes, if you have two sticks in there, it may be an issue of which two of four slots you use, or which ONE of TWO slots you use. If, for example, you have two sticks, try different slots, one at a time, with only ONE stick, and of course then try the other stick. Now, it's the motherboard or CPU. I don't know what to tell ya.