Z270E build: First (official) custom build won't POST; defective mobo or RAM?

[JaneOfMostTrades]

*Just to clarify, I've already gone over each step in the sticky here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems)*

This is my first official build (I've tinkered with somewhat older PCs before, but never built one completely by scratch), so please forgive me for my new-ish-ness.

I bought all parts for a new build at the same time. Got everything set up, everything's in the right place, no thermal paste on any components besides where it should be (actually, I did the pea method and I personally think it turned out pretty nice) all power cables are connected (yes, even the 8 pin one for the CPU), but I can't, for the life of me, get the dang thing to work. No display, no POST, no beeps, no BIOS, no fans turning on (not even the PSU's fan --with ECO mode off--), nothing. When I turn the PSU's switch to on, the mobo is lighting up on the color strip and going through its rainbow color cycle, and the GPU's power indicator light is lighting up (white). The boot light (or whatever it's called) on the motherboard is orange, so i know it's not detecting the RAM, and no matter what I try, it won't. I've tried rearranging the RAM sticks in all configs: dual and single, and swapped each one to see if maybe one was bad. I make sure to push the little tab up, and push it down until it clicks securely into place. Everything is securely installed, the standoffs are only in the places needed, and there are no pieces of hardware that could've fallen behind the board.

At this point, I'm thinking either both sticks are bad, I got a bad board, or all of the above. I know my PSU isn't a dud, and static shock was never involved in any of this (I kept myself grounded).

All my parts are:
Cooler Master HAF X
Asus ROG Z270E LGA1151
i7 Kaby Lake 7700K
Noctua NT-H1
Cooler Master Hyper Evo LED (didn't really want LEDs on the cooler but it was at the time $5 less than the one without lights)
G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4 2400 16GB (2x 8GB) (F4-2400C15D-16GVS)
EVGA G3 SuperNOVA 750W fully modular
Samsung Evo 960 M.2 500GB NVMe
Asus ROG Strix GTX1050Ti 4G
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit (if I can get it to WORK!)

I'm really starting to get disappointed. I was going to use this as a budget upgrade from an all-in-one toaster, for 3D art and rendering (and let my brother borrow it for SRIV so he can run over NPCs in 60fps >).

Like I said, I've tried all combinations in each slot, I've tried single configs, I've tried single configs with the other one... Nothing. Maybe the RAM is just a bad batch? I don't have any spare boards to test the RAM on, and don't have any spare RAM to test the board's slots, so I'm starting to think I should I just RMA both at this point. I read around here that a few others have had trouble with defective DIMM slots on the Z270E, also.

Any ideas or input? Help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[FullmetalJacket]

This might sound really dumb and it is, but its happened to the best of us in hast and excitement of getting a build done.But have you wired the front panel connectors properly ,push the reset button and the power button and check the wiring,Also at this point it could be anything,your going to have to test each part of the chain or send them back ,I would go with the latter .

 

[JaneOfMostTrades]

(Sorry for the late reply.)

Thanks for the feedback, FullmetalJacket. I did connect all the front panel connectors, and wound up having to RMA a couple parts.

What took so long was, I thought the RAM units were the problem, so I sent those out first. Then after receiving the replacement RAM, it didn't do any good.

Turns out I got two duds: the motherboard's DIMM slots were defective and the CPU was dead on arrival. I RMA'd both and recently received and reinstalled; now everything's working perfectly. Thanks for your help.

 

[FullmetalJacket]

(Sorry for the late reply.)

Thanks for the feedback, FullmetalJacket. I did connect all the front panel connectors, and wound up having to RMA a couple parts.

;
Geez thats bad luck 2!!! duds ,your unlucky to get one. I have had to RMA a lot of single items . HDs and graphics cards that wobble .I recently had a scare on 3000 dollar build .It didn't post and ,I almost kicked the monitor of the desk and dropped to my knees because it was so custom and hard to build and I busted my guts ,I should have charged 4000 for parts and it was a 2 day delivery time and I had to do a decent burn in.Me dumbo had not read the specs of the motherboard and although capable of booting wouldn't exceed it voltage parameters so It just went NO!! ,After leaving the room and cooling off came back looked up properly and went straight to the store and got a correct motherboard with the same look, Money Nightmare averted.