add 2nd SATA dish, cannot boot

I have added many times 2nd or 3rd ATA harddisk to computers. SATA harddisks are supposed to be simpler to install, no jumpers, no master/slave configuration, etc. I just added two SATA harddisks to two computers yesterday, the first time of doing so, and have huge problems.

1st computer: after adding a SATA drive to a computer and re-start, the computer went into an endless reboot mode. I kept getting this screen which asked me if I wanted to boot into safe mode, safe mode with cmd prompt, safe mode with networking, last known good configuration, or start Windows normally (this is the screen you see if you shutdown the computer by pulling the plug.) I reset BIOS and that took care of the problem.

2nd computer: this computer is not so forgiven. It does not even boot. I don't see the BIOS screen. When I turn on the computer, the screen stays black. There is nothing, not even a message saying "press F1 to go into BIOS". I unplug the 2nd SATA disk. No change. I remove the button battery on the motherboard, wait 10 minutes, re-install the battery and reboot. No change.

It is a Lenovo which has a SATA harddisk and SATA DVD drive.

Have I somehow fried the motherboard?