Boot Loop While Breadboarding... First Build, Need Help

Please help, Tom's Hardware. I turn to you because of all of the threads and articles I've read from here while on this strange journey and I'm at my wit's end. (And apologies for stepping on any toes because of board etiquette and such, but I'm doing my best.)

I'm trying to put together a new build but I have a power cycling problem -- where the fans will spin up for a few seconds, stop, then spin up again a second later. I have it down to the bare minimum of PSU, Mobo, CPU, and RAM laid out on my table and it's still doing it. My monitor's not showing any activity (but it knows the computer is there, is it gives me a "no source" message when I unplug it). I've tried both one RAM stick and two at a time, in every slot. I even tried resetting the CMOS by removing the battery.

I've been wrestling with this all week now. This was supposed to be a Christmas present for my wife. I went through the checklist in the stickied "no post" thread, but nothing's helped. I thought I knew what I was doing, but you don't know what you're getting into until your first build.


Components:

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 (I've heard that these have a perennial boot-loop problem? Is that true?)

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge Quad-Core

Power Supply: XFX Pro Core 650W (Only connected to the motherboard, on the 24-pin and the 4-pin CPU socket)

RAM: Crucial 2x8GB DDR3-1333 SDRAM (Recommended by Crucial)


Everything else from the rig (DVD, HDD, and video card) I've unplugged until I can get this taken care of. Could anyone walk a newb through his first rodeo? I haven't even gotten to the software/BIOS setup yet, and after all the money I've put into what was supposed to be a thoughtful gift, I can't turn back now.

Much thanks.