How can I tell if I bought a bad mobo (MSI z77a gd65 gamer)?

Forantestart

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Feb 20, 2014
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So I am doing a high performance build and bought an msi z77a-gd65 gaming motherboard. After a lot of searching I got an i5 3750k processor, 2x4 kingston hyper RAM, an ASUS R9 290 GPU, and a Seasonic 1000xp power source. Mind you I am a beginner, but after assembling the components to the motherboard and turning it on for the first time, nothing happened on my screen. It has stayed completely dark with no signal, before turning to sleep mode.

After attempting to troubleshoot with no results, I am not sure if I should claim my Motherboard DOA or maybe my used CPU is bad? I also have tried moving the RAM sticks around and only using one. I have also reinstalled the CPU to ensure I have placed it correctly. I should also say that I gently took a sharp blade to straighten two bend pins under the CPU. The motherboard has the VGA cable on the side, so I assume it has an on-board GPU. So I have disconnected my GPU and plugged straight into the Motherboard. I have not yet tried plugging my monitor into the 290 GPU because I need to grab an adapter to convert my VGA to a DVI. Is that what I am missing? or because my screen has stayed dark is this a red flag? Is my bought motherboard bad?

Please help!