Computer won't boot! First build, please help!

[spaciousfjord]

Hello,

Last night, I booted up my computer for the first time after carefully following Newegg's tutorial on Youtube. Everything seemed to work fine. The computer booted up, I heard a single beep, the BIOS flashed across my monitor. I went to bed confident that I would be able to install Windows in the morning.

However, the next morning I realized that I had forgotten to plug the pci-e cables into the GPU, so I did that before booting it up again. When I turned it on, everything seemed fine, except that the monitor wouldn't recognize the HDMI signal. I unplugged the HDMI cable from my mobo and plugged it into the newly-connected graphics card, assuming that was the problem. However, I still couldn't get my monitor to recognize the signal.

Because the monitor worked fine the night before, I decided to revert back to that state so I could at least get Windows installed and fiddle with the graphics card in the BIOS at a later date. However, when I unplugged the pci-e cables, the computer wouldn't turn on at all. The motherboard light turned on when I turned on the power supply, but pressing the power button had no effect whatsoever. The led lights on my mouse lit up when I turned on the power supply, but nothing changed at all when I pressed the on button. Any ideas?

Here is a relatively thorough list of all the changes I made:

1. booted up computer successfully with no pci-e cables in the gpu and an hdmi cable in the motherboard.

2. turned off computer, power supply, and unplugged the computer.

3. inserted pci-e cables in the graphics card.

4. booted the computer and everything seemed to work, except the monitor had no hdmi input.

5. Turned off/unplugged/etc.

6. Removed hdmi cable from mobo and inserted it in graphics card

7. Booted computer but the monitor still had no hdmi signal.

8. Turned off/unplugged/etc.

9. unplugged pci-e cables from gpu

10. re-inserted hdmi cable in mother board

11. Plugged in computer, turned on power supply, and hit the power switch. Mobo light turned on and mouse led turned on when I turned on the power supply, but the on switch had no effect.

Additionally, I removed and attached the side panels on my case several times during this process. I'm not sure how that could matter, but I want to include as much info as possible. I also unplugged two of the fans on the side panel in order to remove it from my case.

Also, this morning I unplugged my hard drive but left my ssd plugged in, per the instructions in the Newegg tutorial I had been using.

Here are my components:
Case: NZXT Phantom
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1tb
SSD: Crucial 128gb
Optical Drive: ASUS DRW 24B1ST
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth z77
CPU: Intel i5 3570k
GPU: EVGA gtx 570 2.5 gb
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Blue 16 gb (4x 4gb sticks)
CPU heatsink/fan: stock intel heatsink/fan

Thank you SO MUCH for your time! I really hope I haven't ruined this build, I saved up for it forever.

 

[willard]

Try reseating your video card, it's possible you dislodged it slightly when plugging the PCIe power cables in.

 

[Niklas_13]

Try to use the monitor with a DVI cable untill you get your MOBO driver in

A read me about noot problems http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems

 

[spaciousfjord]

That worked! I can't thank you enough, I was really freaking out haha.

 

[willard]

Glad to be of help. It's nice when the solution is easy, isn't it?

 

[spaciousfjord]

Thanks for the reply, Niklas! I will certainly try with the DVI cable that came with my monitor. Just to be clear, are you recommending that I use the DVI cable in my mobo?

 

[willard]

I think he misunderstood your problem and thought it was Windows not recognizing the GPU. You're fine to use the HDMI cable.

 

[spaciousfjord]

It's so nice when the solution is easy! Of course, there is some irrational part of me that would feel better if the solution was more complicated haha. Still, I am very new to this and it's probably not best for me to try fixes unless I'm carefully following someone's instructions.

 

[spaciousfjord]

Ah, ok. Thanks again! This site is the best, I've gotta come back here once I've learned some more to repay the favor.

 

[spaciousfjord]

*I meant best for me NOT to try fixes haha

 

[vzladybug]

I just put this mother board together and it wont power up at all. I not sure if I have all the plugs plug in correctly or if its another problem. Please help!