G.Skill Trident X Dual Channel Won't Work

[SpetsnazBeaver]

I recently built a new PC after my old HP died. These are the parts:

Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 5
Intel Core i7 4790K
G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 CL10 1.65V
ASUS GTX660-DC2O-2GD5
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 B2
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
StarTech PCIe Wireless Adapter
5x120mm case fan, 1x230mm case fan

So I put the whole thing together, and went to boot up for the first time and it didn't POST. My monitor stayed blank and my mobo speaker gave continuous short beeps with a power cycle. I found this meant a power error. However this seems to be false. I managed to isolate (at least I hope/think so) the issue to the RAM.

Something about the RAM is causing the problem. I'm fairly certain the RAM sticks themselves are fine. My RAM slots are labelled as follows:

CPU

DIMM 4 (Black)
DIMM 2 (Grey)
DIMM 3 (Black)
DIMM 1 (Grey)

I have tested both sticks one at a time in slots 1 and 3 and that POSTs fine but 2 and 4 individually (i guess that makes sense since 1 or 3 should be filled first) and the 1,2 and 3,4 pairs don't POST, giving me the blank screen and short continuous beeps with power cycle.

I tried turning on XMP and it seems to have autodetected the stick specs.
I have changed DRAM voltage to 1.66V (it goes up by increments of 0.02V).
I have also tried loosening the cpu cooler and tightening it again screw tight.
I have now installed Windows with just the one stick and wondering if i should update the BIOS?

How do I get the 2 sticks to work together? Doesn't make sense why the dual channel setup doesn't work.

 

[SpetsnazBeaver]

Could you see the circuit traces ? In the one that was baffling me, there was no scratching of the surface, tho I have seen that happen.... in that case it was a burr on the bottom of the washer tho.

I have 2 , maybe 1 ... think my son gave one away, Hyper 212's sitting around here from users who upgraded for that reason. TIM vendors say the ideal mounting pressure is 60-70 pounds; hard for those w/o a few builds under their belt to judge that correctly ... and when there's no stop mechanism, very easy to over tighten.

Basically the black non conductive coating is stripped off and I can see the bronze-ish color of the circuits. I installed the standoffs incorrectly on the first go. I used the provided tightening tool on the standoff side (front of mobo) instead of the nut side (rear of mobo) and this made it too tight. The way I made it work now was tightening from the nut side until further tightening would require force. If I wanted to I could move the standoffs slightly but it's tight enough to hold.