MacBook Pro won't go past Apple logo or prohibitory symbol

Hi IFIXIT community.

I have a real mystery on my hands (at least for me)

Here is brief history…

I have this (cursed) MacBook Pro 2010 13" machine. it's my girlfriend's machine and one day the WiFi just stopped working. So I replaced AirPort card. I also replaced HDD cable as had ripped it.

So everything worked fine for a bit.

In short, there are 2 pieces of hardwares that I have replaced.

Now about a year goes by without a hitch, but now the laptop starts acting up!

Symptoms:

One day, the laptop just refuses to go past the Apple logo, it always gets stuck about 3/4 of the progress bar and restarts. It keeps restarting at the same 3/4 progress bar mark.

I thought it was HDD so I made a bootable USB drive with MacOS High Sierra and try to reinstall the OS, but it also gets stuck at the progress bar. This is a bit different as it doesn’t restart itself, but never boots up the welcome screen.

So to try to diagnose the problem I tried following:

• Removed the AirPort card and try
• Remove everything except keyboard and try
• Remove everything including keyboard and boot it using power pads
• Tried booting it up without battery

All of them same results, still 3/4 of the progress bar.

So for me the only logical answer left is graphics card issue, so I ordered a new logic board just to confirm that it's logic board issue (I wanted to beat this monster!).

BUT…

The new board also still gets stuck at exactly same 3/4 of the progress bar with Apple logo.

At the brink of giving up and burning the whole thing, I thought wise guru might be able to help me beat this demon and give me peace of mind.

I know that there is a possibility that the logic board I received is also faulty.

Another thing i was thinking was HDD cable, but if i try to boot into bootable usb without HDD, it still gets stuck on progress bar, but doesn’t restart.

Any ideas on what's causing this? Anything else I can try or should I just burn it?