new system build will not post

I'm working on a new system build and have run into a bit of a brick wall. I took a gamble and bought a motherboard and videa card open box from New Egg and it ended up taking eight days (UPS ground) over the holiday weekend to get them. I did not count on this delay and am going out of town tomorrow, so I have basically a few hours to resolve this problem before sending everything back before the ten day return policy expires. I have little hope but thought I might throw this out there just in case any hardware veterans happen to be bored.

Components:

AMD A64 X2 5000+
MSI K9A2 CF motherboard (open box)
OCZ DII800 2x2GB DDR2 ram
Asus EN 9600 GSO with 384mb of DDR3 (open box)

All the rest of the components used are from my previous system and are known to run. I've got a 600watt power supply backing everything up.

First off, with the above hardware configuration, the system lets out a continuous beep and does not post. I double checked the ram to make sure it was seated properly, tried each stick individually, and still got the beep. They are in the right slots.
When I disconnect all of the hard drives and optical drives the problem still continues.
I removed the video card and replaced it with my old PCI Express Nvidia 6600 GT and the beep stopped, but the system still will not post. Everything just hums up and I get not even a flicker of activity on the screen.
The processor fan and the system fans are running. I reset the CMOS just for the hell of it and still nothing changed.

Considering the beep was continuous, my first inclination is that it is memory related. I read the specs on my motherboard and realized that it supports 1.8 volt DDRII while the OCZ I purchased is 2.1 volts. MSI page on the MB says that it may or may not run smoothly with high performance memory with the default bios configuration.
But...
If it is indeed a ram issue, then why doesn't the continuous beep occur when I change video cards?

I'd be very grateful for any ideas any of you might have before I throw all this stuff back in the box and ship it back.
Thanks!

i had a build where i turned it on all the fans would spin the lights would come on but nothing seemed to turn on. and the screen was just black no output.

your problem sounds very similiar and if it is then here is what happened to mine.

the Bios on my motherboard got fried (i think a bad PSU). i replaced the board it worked fine for 3 months and did the same thing which is why i know it was the PSU.

my suggestion is get a new PSU and a new motherboard. the beeping is also a PSU problem would be my guess.

hope this helps

+1

My thoughts exactly.