X99 deluxe rig has stopped going to post

[ChengaizAK]

So, I just bought and assembled a new rig with watercooling. I assembled it dry and tested it going to post - worked fine. BIOS screen and everything (didn't boot, because I have two clean hard drives). However, after I gave it the full water cooled treatment (CPU, GPU, rads, res and pump), the system won't post at all. My motherboard is giving me the "b2" error code, and there's a red light just above where my graphics card sits (labelled "VGA led").

Full specs:

Asus X99 deluxe
i7-5820K (WC'd)
16GB G.skill DDR4 2400MHz
GTX 980 Strix (WC'd)
Corsair RM1000
2x Intel 730 series SSD
1x 1TB HDD (media drive #1 from my old W7 PC)
1x 2TB HDD (media drive #2)

Now logic would dictate that I try the 980 in my other case.... buuut it's already been stripped of the stock cooler and thermal pads+paste and is fully WC'd with a front and backplate. And it went to post just fine when it was dry. What gives?

 

[InvalidError]

You could pull everything out of your case and see if you get any better luck getting it to boot "breadboarded" on a table. If that works, then there likely was a short to something inside the case.