Dell XPS 1210 no POST

My 1210 started acting crazy when it first showed me that I might have a file (fileing ) error. I shut it down, I left the battery in, and didn't bother with it for at least 4 weeks. I Purchased a new memory board, 1 gig, a new harddrive (just to be sure it wouldn't erradicate the old info). After I exchanged the harddrive, I turned it on, but there was no power in the battery (duh). I shut it down, plugged in the AC adapter, turned it on, and a message flashed, "Invalid configuration information - please run SETUP program". I turned it off. Turned on back on. Same thing. I repeatedly turned it off and on, hitting my  Setup key. Every once in a while it would go into the Setup Program, but I don't think it saved anything. The Media lights come on, the power light comes on, but the num, caps and scroll locks do not toggle off and on. I connected a USB keyboard to it, to check to see if I had a keyboard issue, and it reacted the same way. My CD/DVD light never comes on. I left on for a while, the cooling fan under the CPU comes on, and the open air, unblocked exposure is very warm! It seems to initiate the BIOS, and stops, as though the CPU never kicks in, and dosen't POST! I have broken it down, and inspected it, and dont see any Physical damage. Before I investigate any further, I would like to know if anyone thinks this maybe a CPU problem, or some kind of necessity to do a BIOS upgrade?

Ernest Parker