Question Z790 DRAM POST light stays on

[migman747]

Installed the CPU, DRAM sticks and M2. No cooler yet, just wanted to briefly power and see if POST was ok before installing the rest. DRAM light stays on. I have the sticks in the recommended A2 and B2 slots. I tried just one stick in the recommended B2 slot, still on. I tried the other stick in the B2 slot, still on. So either BOTH sticks are bad, or the motherboard is bad. But how can I tell which? I also tried various other slots but with no success.

CPU: Intel I7-13700K
Motherboard: ASRock Z790 Pro RS
Ram: G.Skill Trident Z5 (F5-6000J3636F16GX2-TZ5S)
SSD/HDD: Samsung 980 Pro M2 2TB
GPU: Integrated (for now)
PSU: Corsair RM1000e
Chassis: Corsair 4000D
OS: None
Monitor: HMDI Dell U2410

Thank you.

 

[migman747]

One thing I did notice, the packaging for the DRAM on one side is cracked, to the point where the plasic fell off. I thought the other stick was surely fine, but I just noticed that the plastic there is also cracked, but didn't fall off. So maybe both sticks are bad.