Maximum PC

I just finished putting toeghter an system for someone using parts I had around the house, and a new power supply, hard drive, and case. I booted the system and was getting no video at all, I suspected that the video card was the culpurt and swapped video cards, no effect, still no video. Im not getting any post errors from the motherboard, and the cards are getting power. Could the PCI-E port on the motherboard be damaged? Or is there something else I am missing? I am going to reset the motherboards bios jumper, see what happens there as well. The two video cards I have tried are an XFX 5670 and a Sapphire 4670

Here's the specs
Intel Q8400
Asus P5QL PRO
Corasir 4GB DDR2 Ram
LG DVD Burner
Corasir 650W TX PS
Seagate 1TB HD
Bitfenix Outlaw Case

Question: does the computer beep at you? Or do you even have a motherboard speaker?

If it doesn't beep at you, the computer's not even booting.

That motherboard does not come with an onboard speaker, or the 4-pin speaker adapter. However, I know its booting ude it attempts to find the monitor, the goes dark. It does have the pins on the board for an external speaker, but alas, that case does not have that adapter, and i don't have one here. I also tried clearing the bios jumpers, no effect. At this point, I think I have a bad motherboard.

Make damn sure the ram is all the way in....no see ram no boot.

Is the 12 volt plug in the motherboard for the cpu...won't boot without it.

Nasty

I trust if you reach over with the system on and pull the video cable off of the case the monitor puts up a "no signal" box?

To start out, GmsCool on Eggxpert has a concise checklist that I really like (and I have arrogantly made less concise) for a new build troubleshoot:

Make sure the 4 or 8 pin power connector located near the CPU is plugged into the motherboard (MB) and it is fully seated.

Make sure the 20+4 pin main power connector is fully seated into the MB.

(not applicable) Make sure the PCI-E 6 or 8 pin power connector is plugged into the GPU video card; if the card has such a connector(s), and that it (they) are fully seated. [images of various power connectors]

Make sure you used the standoffs that came with the case to mount the MB and not have mounted it directly to the case. [note: Some inexpensive cases use raised nipples in the sheet metal for direct mounts instead which is OK as long as all nipples correspond to mounting holes under the board.]

Make sure you used the rear I/O port panel that came with the MB, and not the one that came with the case. Make sure none of the little tabs have shorted out the ports.

Try one stick of RAM, and then another.

Make sure the CPU fan is plugged into the CPU_FAN header.

Try an External build, tear it down to a minimal functioning system, lay the main board (helps if speaker connected to front header or embedded on MB for beep codes; or if any diagnostic LEDs, LCD are present) on a piece of plain brown cardboard or other non-conducting surface with only a Keyboard, one stick of RAM, CPU, HSF, PSU and monitor to rule out shorts as well as bad components. [(not applicable) Temporarily use onboard graphics if available otherwise use your video card.] Switch RAM stick and slot location. Add one component back at a time. This will rule out components and maybe rule in the defective part. If you have any known working parts that can temporarily substitute this is a good time to try them one at a time.

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If that fails, this link provides a comprehensive list of what to do when the new PC won't post:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/26114 ... o-problems

Thanks for the assist, gang, checks all my cables, 24 pin and 4 pin for motherboard and CPU were god, neither video card used pci-e connectors,, so no problems there, ram was full seated, hell, took it out and re-seated it, also re-seated video card, and tested it in my amd box, worked fine. All signs pointing to bad pci-e slot on the motherboard. I am going to return the bitfenix case and the seagate hd tomorrow, and pick up a couple of the 4-pin motherboard speaker adapters, and see how that goes, i have a spare case here to test it all out in.

Before you go RMA'ing everything, I think it might be a video issue. I had a problem with a 4670 on a previous build:

Post to someone with similar issues:
http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1125644#p1125644

My original post on my video issue and how I resolved it:
http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=101120

Hope this helps.