[Knight Templar]

Plug in the "auxillary power" cable from the power supply to your motherboard.  The plug is square with four holes.

I had the same exact problem as you until i noticed that i hadn't plugged the auxillary in.

Aux. is and has been plugged in.

Is the monitor plugged in and turned on?

But seriously, do you know that the monitor works? If it does, I'd say that pretty much points the smoking gun at the vid card. You could also try taking the card out and booting up with the onboard BIOS + VGA port, if the mobo has one.

OMFG I JUST CRASHED MY ROFLCOPTOR!!!

And yes, I know the monitor works. And I'd love to start with the onboard BIOS, except that the mobo is sans VGA slots, making it a bit difficult to configure anything.

Plug in the "auxillary power" cable from the power supply to your motherboard.  The plug is square with four holes.

I had the same exact problem as you until i noticed that i hadn't plugged the auxillary in.

If he hadn't plugged that ATX12V connector in, it wouldn't even POST.

hmm, on second thought, it looks like he never did actually say it POSTs. If it's not even getting that far, the problem could be this or any of several other things.

Yeah, it POSTs.

[Turnsky]

since i already know you'd have been intelligent enough to try(or not to, whichever) to navigate the quagmire or tech support pages or endure tech support over the phone.
i could just straight out just ask if you have another DVI-capable card to test, or you have a friend's you can try it on.

and if you've got an old monitor lurking about, you can use a DVI-> VGA adaptor on it to at least dig through the bios options.

[IceFire]

RMA?

Sorry...worked in a store for a while with these things...RMA is a return to manufacturer or supplier.  Usually there is a return policy to cover things like DOA boards (dead on arrival) and whatnot.  If you can't get it to work and you've covered all the other possibilities it may be a dead board. It happens.

Still...that it posts is interesting but it may still be a dead board.

[Knight Templar]

:Update:

I plugged the card in my buddy's Dell XPS 400. Worked wonderfully. So now it's not the card, I think. Which is good, because the card costs $500. It's bad, because I think that pretty much leaves the Mobo. I've run out of ideas though as to what the hell is wrong now though.

So I'm pretty much completely lost.

[CP5670]

Try using the hard drive from your other computer. If it sounds like Windows is loading up (just from the HD activity), it has to be a motherboard or power supply problem. Otherwise it could just as well be related to the processor or the memory, in which case you should try running it with only one memory stick. Also, make sure you've connected the extra molex plug on the motherboard, although I would expect it to at least boot up without that.

What memory and power supply are you using?

If the motherboard turns out to be defective, try to get a replacement from the retailer, as Asus can take over a month to do RMAs. (it would have actually been better if the video card was bad, since BFG does them relatively quickly)

[Knight Templar]

Power Supply: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1273350&sku=ULT31851

Thought I got it for a lot cheaper.

Memory: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1717669&Sku=C13-5104%20PT

Thought what I actually have is not this, but it's comparable. The actually Memory is "DDRM Master." Same speed and size though. Picked it up from a computer shop when I discovered that my mobo couldn't run DDR2.

[CP5670]

That power supply is somewhat weak but it should still work. As for the memory, if it's something generic (unbranded), that's a potential source of the problem. I've never had a good experience with generic memory. Try a single stick as I suggested, or see the memory from your other computer works (if it's DDR).

[Descenterace]

As I never tire of telling my clients: Never, never, never, never, NEVER skimp on the core components of your computer. 'Unbranded' is usually synonymous with 'crap'. Memory in particular. Power supplies... basically, the wattage rating is a load of BS. Look at the maximum current ratings for the 12V rails. A total of less than 20A these days is not enough. A 550W supply should have at least 35A to play with, which yours does, so there's no problem there.

The weaker PSUs tend to pile on the 5V and 3.3V rails; don't worry about their maximum current since they're rarely weak for the wattage rating.

[CP5670]

The actual brand is the most important factor with power supplies. The current ratings are often measured at peak, non-sustainable loads or simply made up on crappy PSUs, and with dual rails it's hard to tell what the combined amperage is (you can't just add them up). It's best to just stick with PSUs that are known to work well. The X-connects are known to exhibit voltage fluctuations and shutdowns near their max rated loads, although I doubt that has anything to do with KT's problem here.

[Knight Templar]

The Memory: Well, I'd ordered Corsair originally, but it was DDR2. This was before I found out DDR2 is not compatible with DDR. The current sticks I got form a computer shop my friend works at, so while they are generic, I trust them for the most part. If they turn out to be the problem (he's going to look at the whole rig tomorrow night) then I'm sure he'll help me out.

I'll try some alternate DDR when I can find some.

The Power Supply: Well, this whole time I've counted the power supply out for the list of blame. However, I have had a seperate problem where the PC, after POSTing, when I try to turn it on using the button, decides to turn itself on and off at random. Well, not so much random. I'm pretty sure the wiring from the power button to the Mobo is twitchy because it'll turn on in when I nudge the cord plug on the mobo, but I suppose the Power Supply could be responsible for that some how, though I'm sort of reluctant on that.

[Colonol Dekker]

This sounds like something Fury would be pretty good at sorting out...........

[Knight Templar]

Well, if he has any other ideas, I'd be glad to hear them.

[Turnsky]

well, since it's not the vidcard, and if it's not the Display, then it must be the mobo

[Knight Templar]

Yup.

Pretty sure it is now. For several reasons. For one though, it's never beeped the entire time.

[Shade]

Yeah, it POSTs.

For one though, it's never beeped the entire time.

I can't quite reconcile those two statements... which is it? If it doesn't POST it could be any number of things, and you'd do best to try removing components one by one and see if you can eventually get it to POST - Then whatever you removed last was likel the cuprit.

[Knight Templar]

It powers up when the power is turned on... the fans spin, it lights up... then shuts down.

No beeping.

[Descenterace]

Then it isn't POSTing. That's definitely some kind of critical failure, and I doubt it has anything to do with memory or off-board peripherals. Power supply problems usually cause some kind of beep, as does any problem on the PCI bus. CPU problems are often indicated on modern boards by a sound played on the audio output (assuming the board has onboard audio). Memory errors are detected during POST and are indicated by a beep code (3 beeps on AMIBIOS, if I recall).

Therefore, it's a mainboard problem.

[Wobble73]

God forbid, but did you screw the mobo directly to the case?

A long time ago I was building my own PC and did that, I had similar problems to the one you are having now i.e. everything appeared to power up but it wouldn't POST.

I know it was a stupid thing to do but I was new to it at that time. If you didn't know, the mobo should be attached to the case but the are insulating washers between the case and the mobo.

[Turnsky]

just a thought, but try unplugging all IDE devices, then try and start it up, if you get nothing, then it's the mobo, if it beeps a ***** about there being no devices hooked in, then you may have accidentally put the IDE cable in the wrong way, a simple mistake, but one so easy to make.

[Knight Templar]

God forbid, but did you screw the mobo directly to the case?

 

When you did that, did it screw any of your other hardware?