First time build - Won't Boot!

Hi Guys,

Just built a new system and I was really excited. I booted it up, and everything started very smoothly. Fans kicked on, lights were bright, but no picture. Monitor light went from green to orange. I shut everything down, removed and reinserted the Video Card. Hooked everything back up, and now I get NOTHING. The little green light on the mobo lights up, but that is it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

ASUS P5B LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SSC 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
2 sticks WINTEC AMPO 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory

[willcomp]

First order of business for a failure to boot is to strip down to bare essentials. That makes troubleshooting easier. Remove/disconnect everything but mobo, CPU, PSU, memory, video card and keyboard.

Remove and reseat memory. Then try to boot. If still no luck, try with one stick of memory at a time.

Check position of Clear CMOS jumper.

Verify that CPU and CPU HSF are seated properly.

Replace any components you can with spares or parts from another PC.

Thanks Willcomp! Bare essentials boot did nothing. Had a friend bring his pc with near identical parts. Found out my PSU is blown by putting it on his Mobo. No biggie, but when he put his PSU on my Mobo, it booted up for a moment then shut down. We figured it was the aftermarket heatsink and fan, so i replaced it with stock cooling. Still nothing. Adjusted the CMOS jumper, but I still got nothing. His PSU is back in his unit and it's working fine. Think I'm going to RMA the PSU and CPU. Board seems to be fine as I still get the light showing it is getting power.

[willcomp]

All that LED on board means is that 5VDC standby power is present --> in other words, it does not signify that power circuits and/or PSU are good.

The LED is to warn you that standby power is present and to unplug before adding/removing memory or CPU.

Thanks for the advice Willcomp! I sent the PSU and Chip back for replacement. Got everything back and reinstalled. This time, boots for 1 second then dies every time. When the CPU is out, it boots and stays on just fine. I'm thinking I got ANOTHER defective CPU, but I'm starting to wonder if it's a problem with the board.

[willcomp]

As I said before, motherboard LED lit only means 5VDC standby power is present. It does not indicate that motherboard is functional.

Odds of a single faulty CPU are very small. In 90+ percent of cases when problem is narrowed down to either CPU or motherboard, it's the motherboard.

Disconnect power switch and use a jumper (borrow one from an optical drive if necessary) to power on system. I really don't think you have a stuck power switch, but won't hurt to try.

Ok man, I'm going to send the Mobo back, along with some other key parts. I figure it's better to just start fresh. Very tedious and frustrating chain of events, but I'm not gonna give up on this thing yet. I've invested too much up to this point. Thanks for all your help. I'll be back with an update in due time.