Dell Studio XPS: no display, rapid amber error code

I'm not exactly sure if this is the right forum to post to, but I'm hopin' y'all can shed some light on my situation, I was workin' on a computer I just aquired, it's a Dell Studio 1340, with an Intel Core 2 Duo P6800 clocked at 2.4 GHz, and a 256MB nVidia Geforce 9400M G graphics card, I just got done installing Windows 7, as it had Windows Vista on it when I got it, anyways, I removed the CPU and GPU cooler to inspect the thermal paste, it had next to none on it, so I noted to reapply thermal paste, during the process of reinstallation, it's a pain, trust me, it's so tight that I can hardly get my hands in there to hold it as I reinstall the cooler, the cooler flipped up with the CPU stuck to the smidge of remaining thermal paste, and, it bent a pin, so I grabbed my magnifier and tools, and proceeded to straighten it out, CPU fits snugly into the socket and appears to make perfect contact with the mobo, it flashed several error codes, but i remedied those by buttoning it back up, and now it doesn't show any picture on the display, and rapidly flashes an amber error code, no white, solid amber, and the mute volume button flashes a steady pattern, I'm hopin' I ddin't just brick the machine, as it's a nice laptop, and I don't want to spend $50 on a new CPU, as I don't want to waste my money, and it is well out or warranty, it's from 2008-09, so Dell won't want anything to do with it.

Best regards

A.K