New Build - Bum CPU? Need Help

[samtetto]

Hey all,

Building a new system with these specs:

Asus M5A99X EVO Socket AM3+ AMD 990X/SB950

AMD HDZ965FBK4DGM Phenom II X4 965 Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 2MB L2 Cache, 3.40GHz, Socket AM3, 125W

Kingston HyperX 12GB Kit 3X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9 240PIN DIMM XMP 1.65V Triple Channel Memory Kit

Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB 2.5IN SATA3 SandForce SF-2281 SSD Drive READ:555MB/S WRITE:510MB/S

EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 01G-P3-1556-KR Video Card - 1GB

I installed everything and the motherboard's CPU LED showed up solid red; so no BIOS boot obviously. So I stripped down and now I only have the video card, CPU, hard drive and one RAM chip installed and the CPU LED is still going solid red and it ain't booting up, while the RAM LED is blinking red. Getting the feeling I have a bum CPU but could I be doing something else wrong? The pins on it look fine.

Thanks for any help,
Sam.

 

[TheBigTroll]

why the hell are you running triple channel ram in a dual channel system?

on the motherboard, there should be a memok button near the ram or the ram led. press that and see what happens

 

[samtetto]

This is my second build; the first in like 7 years.. so, yeah, noob. I verified the RAM on the vendor list so I thought it was okay.

I tried pressing the MEM OK switch and nothing changed.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

We have a troubleshooting checklist that was created to diagnose this exact type of problem. Step #2 in the checklist is by far the most common mistake. Your solid red CPU light is likely telling you the CPU isn't receiving power because you didn't plug in the CPU power connector. Perform every step in the checklist and let us know how it goes. There's a link to the checklist in my signature.

 

[samtetto]

Thanks so much, shortstuff, I appreciate your reply very much and will get on that. Apologies for not seeing that beforehand and crowding the forum.

 

[samtetto]

Best answer selected by samtetto.