OK, I finally got it! After a very frustrating week and the purchase of another MB and a new power supply, I rebuilt (again). I was very very careful watching the screws etc. on this build and when it came to boot all was fine and dandy. I then loaded the sound nic and brand new modem and boom---no video again. I again searched the screws looking for a short there and found none. Put the system together out of the box and all worked fine after I, (just for grins), reset CMOS by jumper. Then I put the modem in. Again no video just like the original problem where the MB was fried. Take out the modem and restart--no video. Short out CMOS and restart boots fine!

So my question to all of you is why the need to reset CMOS after removing the obviously defective modem? Again, after removing the modem that caused no video, it still wouldn't start till I reset the CMOS with the board jumpers.