New Homebuilt won't POST

CPU Intel Q8300
Motherboard (model number) Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
RAM (Model number, speed, timings, voltage) Mushkin Blackline PC8500 2-2.1v
CPU cooler (stock or not, model if applicable) Intel stock
Video Card (model number) Asus EN210
Power Supply (model number, or company and wattage at least) Asus 500W
Hard drive(s) None installed yet
Operating System N/A
Case (for cooling issues) Cooler Master Centurion


Second homebuilt so have some experience.

Attempted to breadboard the MB due to failure to POST regardless of what was done.

Current state:

MB connected to 24 pin pwr and 12v 2x4 pwr
Pwr switch from chassis (seems to work fine--alternate method was to short the two pins to start with same effect)
Chassis speaker connected
No Ram or video card installed yet

On power up computer beeps (long) continously and then attempts to repeatedly reboot

When replacing the 2x4 CPU pwr connecter with the 2x2, the effect is the same. (Believe the 2x4 is only needed for the Intel Extreme Edition CPU)

Manual states that long continuous beeping is due to graphics card not seated properly, yet no card is installed. Installing the card has no impact.

Have also reset the CMOS.

Have run out of ideas so any help would be greatly appreciated



Added post: I have added in the Mushkin Ram 1 stick at a time and now get a continoous short beep with rebooting being attempted after about 8 short beeps. Adding in the Asus EN210 video card to the PCI Express 2.0 16 slot has no effect and I don't get a video output.

I have also accpmplished the mentioned checklist several times with no luck.

Again, I am at an impasse and need someone's expert help to diagnose and get me through this problem. Would very much appreciate your time and effort to help.