Question What is wrong with this build?

[LeChatQuiRit]

Brand new components. Everything is connected correctly and double checked, but the PC doesn't power up! The logo on the motherboard lights up when the PSU switch is flipped, but when I push the power on button nothing happens!
I removed the MB from the case and put it on the cardboard box it came in, and then connected only the necessary things. Still, nothing works. I tried with only one memory stick, tried different slots -- no change. I did the paperclip test on the PSU -- it works. And since the MB logo lights up, the power must be coming into the MB. So, what am I doing wrong?

Specs:

• Motherboard: ASUS Prime X670E-Pro WiFi
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• CPU Cooler: Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280
• Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 C30 DC - 32GB (2x16GB) (F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5N)
• Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX 6700 XT Pulse - 12GB GDDR6 RAM
• PSU: Corsair RM850x 850W PSU RF
• Storage: Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe M.2 NVME SSD 2TB
• Case: Fractal Design Define 7 Mid Tower

Here are some photos with the breadboarding.

 

[COLGeek]

Try without the GPU installed. 7000-series CPUs have integrated video now.

 

[LeChatQuiRit]

Try without the GPU installed. 7000-series CPUs have integrated video now.

I did that -- no change.

 

[geofelt]

The last photo seems to show the front panel headers are not connected.
Are you trying to start the motherboard by shorting the front panel pwr and ground pins on the motherboard?

 

[LeChatQuiRit]

The last photo seems to show the front panel headers are not connected.
Are you trying to start the motherboard by shorting the front panel pwr and ground pins on the motherboard?

They were connected before, when I tried to power it up the first time. I've mounted it inside the case and tried to power up, but nothing happened, so I took it out.
There is a power button on the MB itself. I also tried shirting the correct pins to power it up.

 

[Gururu]

Do you have the right pins on the pwr cable connected. On mine, the last two were not supposed to be included and this happened to me. The manual did make this clear. Also, the motherboard may have a sequence for looking at proper installation of cpu and memory such as a series of lights. When I first kicked it up, each of three lights lit up red and then off suggesting all was good. Does your mobo have anything like that?

 

[Flayed]

Is it possible the motherboard needs a bios update to support the CPU? I know this can be an issue with the older Ryzen chips but I don't know about the new ones.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Its always a good idea to update the BIOS first.

Can you tell us more about the debug lights? its not visible from the photos.

 

[LeChatQuiRit]

Do you have the right pins on the pwr cable connected. On mine, the last two were not supposed to be included and this happened to me.

If by "pwr cable" you mean the front panel connections, then yes. I did have it connected correctly, and the last two pins are not connected to anything on front panel, but can be used for intrusion detection (if one gets appropriate equipment). Anyway, this shouldn't matter now, since I'm not connecting any front pane connectors while breadboarding. Instead, I can bridge the relevant pins with a screwdriver. There is also a dedicated Power On button on the MB for just this purpose.

Also, the motherboard may have a sequence for looking at proper installation of cpu and memory such as a series of lights. When I first kicked it up, each of three lights lit up red and then off suggesting all was good. Does your mobo have anything like that?

The MB indeed has a series of LED lights that can be used for diagnosing eventual problems. But none of these lights up.

 

[LeChatQuiRit]

Is it possible the motherboard needs a bios update to support the CPU? I know this can be an issue with the older Ryzen chips but I don't know about the new ones.

It shouldn't. The components are new, and the MB is the latest revision (or, at least, it was the latest in November), and it says on the Asus page that this MB should be able to handle this particular CPU without any need for update.

 

[LeChatQuiRit]

Its always a good idea to update the BIOS first.

Can you tell us more about the debug lights? its not visible from the photos.

I can clear the CMOS, but I'm not sure whether it's possible to update the BIOS when the MB doesn't light up in the first place.
As to the debug lights, they just don't show anything -- not a blink, not a stir, not even a click -- just pure nothing! The only thing that I can see is that the logo on the MB lights up and starts changing colours when I flip the switch on the PSU. That is all!

 

[Gururu]

I’ve poured over the photos, don’t see anything. Did you try booting without the Renegade? Anything you can remove from MB to get to BIOS for update. . if you can’t do it with CPU/ memory alone, then maybe a power supply cable is not attached well or to right supply port.

 

[LeChatQuiRit]

I’ve poured over the photos, don’t see anything. Did you try booting without the Renegade? Anything you can remove from MB to get to BIOS for update. . if you can’t do it with CPU/ memory alone, then maybe a power supply cable is not attached well or to right supply port.

Thank you for trying!
I haven't tried booting without the Renegade yet. I'll do so next (tomorrow, if I have the time).
I've detached and reattached the power cables multiple times. I've made sure they're attached firmly. And it's difficult to attach the cables to the wrong PSU port -- not only because those ports are labeled, but also the pin configuration would make it difficult to put a cable in the wrong port. Nevertheless, I've examined the forms of the pins on the cables -- which one are square, and which are rounded -- and made sure they go into the correct PSU port.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

You should be able to update the bios with just the 24 pin power connector and the USB stick with bios file. have to rename the bios file to ASUS.rom i think.

Like ColGeek said, try once more with just the CPU and single stick of ram in the A2 slot.

if that does not work, i guess its the sad option of mobo RMA.

 

[LeChatQuiRit]

In the end, there were two issues with the build: the BIOS and the ATX cable.
The BIOS that came with the MB didn't see 3 out of 4 memory slots, and couldn't handle the memory on the fourth slot. So the BIOS needed flashing. Now it's running the latest version found on ASUS web site.
The ATX cable that came with the Corsair PSU was very difficult to disconnect from the MB. So, probably, during all my attempts to get it to work, it was was damaged. One of the contacts wasn't feeding any current to the MB unless I pressed it from the side towards the edge of the MB. As soon as I stopped pressing the MB would turn off. So I had to by a new Corsair ATX cable (they're not cheap).
Now it works fine.