Yeah, I'd have to agree there ... that's why I generally use a few different programs to check things and for the most part if the machine is acting right it's okay.
And so ... played a bit more and does look like one stick of RAM might be bad... no beeps codes... it just does the nothingness if I put that stick in. Which is odd because that's the first thing I checked and checked multiple times throughout this whole ordeal and it never made a difference trying just one stick and swapping them out and such. But now it does all of a sudden so not sure I can call that as the original issue. And the fact that a stick of RAM that's bad will usually scream about it with beeps codes...

Ultimately though I've got the machine running and a bunch of spare parts ... so. Back to looking for a new house now... my house just sold so now need new digs, plenty of insanity going on around here now.