Ok somehow I fixed it... or it just started working again.
Craziest part... I have screws left over
Not sure what did it, but I took it apart, down to the motherboard shielding. Didn't take that off because I didn't see the point. Screwed everything back together and hooked it up.
When I turned it on for the first time, I didn't have the A/V cables (standard yellow red white) plugged into the PS3 or the TV. I held the power button for a complete power cycle.
The second time I plugged in the cables, turned it on holding the power down. After the reset beep, still holding the power, I hit the eject button with the same hand. (index = power, thumb = eject) Low and behold the screen popped white and black lines for a second like it was just getting a blank signal. Then the start up music played and the dashboard popped up!!
The second time I turned it on, I got the music and green and black squares as if the video card had died. (or is dieing)
BUUUUUUUUT The third time I turned it on everything worked great. I tried loading a game and it works.
Anyway, hope this works for other people. I'd just try the steps I did after I put it back together first and see if it's not like a better reset or something.