New computer won't start up?

[Nefeilyn]

Hello all!
I am turning to you guys for advice. I have read the forums and from what i've seen, this community seems very helpful and to know it's stuff.

I have recently ordered a new computer online, planning to build it up myself as it costs much less that way. I had never done that before but had done enough tweaking and hardware changing (for most parts) that i thought i could manage to put it all together. I documented myself, read a lot on it and watched videos to be ready. It went well aside from a lot of wiring tetris.

I finally got up to the point of the first boot to see if everything is working as intended. Lo and behold, it didn't even twitch, no sound, no fan even attempting to spin. There IS power as i see the PSU light turned on. The lights on the MB also turned on, but it flashes, slowly fades in and out. Also every first try after plugging in the psu, i see the blue led from the video card light up for a second, but it doesn't do it if i try to start up the computer again, i need to totally unplug the psu first (weirdly enough, no on/off switch on this psu..).

I have tried all i could think of and frankly, i'm getting a little bit discouraged at the moment, not knowing what the problem is and having spent so much on all that hardware. Getting very scared of having broke something in the process. Not a great feeling, specially on my first try. I'm slowly starting to regret my initial thought.. I took my time and did everything gently, made sure to always touch the case steel frame or the psu to keep static away.

Here's my setup:

MB: Asus Maximus III Formula
CPU: Intel i7-875k 2.93ghz
PSU: Antec Quattro 1200W
Vid. Card: Ati Sapphire Toxic 5850
Ram: G.skill DDR3 1600 2GB X4
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred

No mb speaker came with the MB so i can't really tell with any beeps what the problem can actually be. i only konw that power gets to the MB but nothing moves, nothing starts up.

I think i -may- have put on too much thermal paste, could that cause such a problem?

Anyone has any ideas or suggestions?
Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Let me know if i forgot to add in some info to better understand the problem.

Thanks in advance!

[Major_A]

Is the power switch on the power supply set to the on position? Are the 24 pin and 4/8 pin motherboard power connections connected? Even if they seem like it I'd try to reset them.

Does your case use the standoff screws to attach the motherboard? Do you have only the ones required for your board and is there one possibly touching the board? Reason I ask is if you have an extra standoff it could be causing grounding issues.

Define too much thermal paste. If it's oozing out of the heatsink then yes you put on too much.

[Nefeilyn]

I will check again the powersupply but from the (very small) manual that came with it, there is no mention of switch and i checked twice yesterday to find it but there is none, but i will check again in case it is something tiny i have missed; i admit i was getting very impatient at some point, might have overlooked it, as silly as it sounds.

The 24 and 8 pins are connected, and i tried to reconnect them a few times, i'll do it again this morning, who knows. Maybe i was too gentle with them.

Yes i only have the right standoff screws attached, i removed every one that werent necessary.

As for the thermal paste.. I did as explained on Arctic Silver5 website, only a thin line in the middle but the first dab was bigger than the rest, i tried to take off a little bit without touching anything else but i fear it still may have been too much, i will check it out.

Thanks for the quick reply, i will report back soon!

[Major_A]

is the i7 875K supported by your motherboard out of the box? If they recently added support for that CPU then that could be causing problems too.

If you followed the instructions on AS's website then you didn't use too much.

*EDIT*
Did a quick check on ASUS' site and ran across this.
Core i7 875K(2.93G,L3:8M, rev.B1,) BIOS Revision Required: 1607

BIOS 1607 Info:
Version 1607

Description Maximus III Formula 1607 BIOS
1. Improve memory compatibility
2. Improve system stability
3. Fix 2.2T HDD size is wrong if Quick Boot option is disabled
4. Improve compatibility with some USB3.0 devices
5. Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpus ... uage=en-us
File Size 1.06 (MBytes) 2010/04/08 update

*EDIT 2*
Have you tried booting with the bare essentials? Meaning CPU, one stick of RAM, video card, keyboard, mouse and nothing else? If you've tried everything else pull the motherboard out of the case and set it on the box it came in. Try to start it then. If nothing is happening then there's a good chance you didn't do anything wrong and the board is DOA. I've had 2 DOA boards in my computer building endeavors and they were both ASUS. I know that doesn't make you feel any better but this was also several years ago.

[Nefeilyn]

It booted out of the case with the bare essentials and every little led on the MB showed up as 'normal'. What a relief! :] Then it's something else i didn't do right in the connecting probably. Gonna recheck the case and then remount everything in. Hopefully this time will be the right one.

I'll update you on how it goes once i am done.

Thanks a lot for the input too. Gave me a good spark of hope that maybe by tonight, it will be up and running.

Updating the bios is what i intend to do first, once i can get to it. (everything's new down to the HD and even win7 copy, couldn't salvage anything from my old computer, well i could, but not worth it for my new one, i just bought everything new except the monitor)

Yes all my parts are compatible, i made extra sure when i ordered everything.

[Nefeilyn]

It wont boot inside the case, i get the same thing as last night.
I'm starting to think it is either something else that's optional i plugged wrong or the case itself causing trouble? What could it be?
Would my PSU not be enough for everything? I picked a 1200W one to make sure i'd have more than enough.
Now i am totally confused but at least i know nothing is fried, just something somewhere.. Just need to find what..

[Darkstar]

are you using any of the modular cables? Make sure the 8 pin CPU connector is using the correct cable ( not the 6+2 pin PCIE or anything else)

[Guru]

A noobie thing but did you connect the power cables proper in your motherboard for the case?? From the looks of it..that's what it looks like...

[Nefeilyn]

Darkstar: Yes, i'm using the only 8 pin cable i have on the psu. I don't think it is the problem since out of the case everything boots just fine and i plugged in the same cables the same way.

Guru: I thought i did, i tried a few times. But even when in the case, the power switch connector connected to the mb or not, even the 'start' button on the MB itself doesn't make it boot up and it did when it was out of the case.

I tried to see if any of the wires were touching the mb inappropriately, made sure everything was connected right and that i got the 'click' sound for each wire. The only thing i am thinking of is that maybe i'm getting a short to the mb from the case when it is mounted? is that possible even with all standoffs properly installed? At least it seems something is causing a short somewhere and it's not one of the main components...

[Major_A]

Does your case use the brass standoff screws or does it have the integrated humps?

[Darkstar]

If everything is plugged in correctly then it sounds like it is grounded as Major A indicated.

[Sporg]

I think you're on the right track looking for something ground related. Look at the bottom of the motherboard and see if there are any long solder points. Something may not have been trimmed off enough and that could be touching the case.

Silly question, but what about a short on the PCI express slot? Or another peripheral slot? The reason I mention this is because I have had cases and motherboards and cards that haven't played well together. I'm thinking of a specific situation of a case/card/MB that I had a few years ago. If you tightened the screw down on the vid card it caused the card to move enough in the slot to cause a short which prevented the system from booting. Just something to think about while you look for the answer. I'd get a flashlight and if you can see where the cards fit into the sockets make sure the exposed rows are even across the slot.

Can you get us any pictures? Maybe someone can spot something that you are missing.