Brand new awesome build refuses to POST...

So I have been assembling parts for the last month and a half and today I finally got the final piece to give me a bootable PC (the CPU). Here are all the parts I have: http://de.pcpartpicker.com/p/KGPmzy
(I don't have the GPU yet, it's still being posted)

I made one really big mistake when building the PC...

I was watching a video on how to build a computer from scratch with all the parts etc. and I accidentally installed the motherboard without the hex screws:


So basically I just popped the motherboard on, screwed it in with some screws and didn't realise that it was supposed to be mounted (behind the board) with those hex screws. The reason why I didn't remember to put the screws in is because the guy in the video had already done that before anything else and didn't mention so. I know I should have read the guide that came with my case but I couldn't find it (as I got the case almost 2 months ago) and well it's too late to worry about that now.

So I got it all in, and I booted it up and everything seemed fine. I got to the awesome looking ASUS Bios screen and the BIOS reported that it had correctly identified all of my components. (CPU, RAM, HDD etc). Everything looked nicely set up.

I went ahead and applied the "Asus Optimal" settings, and then I turned on XMP for my memory and set it to profile 1. I took some pictures of the BIOS to send to my girlfriend and as I was doing this, the PC rebooted and I was met with the "American Megatrends" BIOS screen that said

Before the computer encountered its first surge it was on for probably JUST under 2 minutes.

Before I could press anything it rebooted again, and then again. So I disconnected it, double checked everything and then well I realised from another video that I had forgotten those hex screws so I took the whole thing apart and I put them on and then screwed it in properly. Now I was crossing my fingers that the problem would be resolved...

After trying everything again, I got the same issue, except now I couldn't even get past the ASUS logo and into the BIOS setup. However after removing some components (RAM, HDD etc). Now the system just flashes the CPU light for a split second, and the fans spin for just a moment and a small click is heard from the PSU. Sometimes the CPU light doesn't light up for the split second and sometimes you can't hear the click from the PSU but it's relatively the same thing.

So here I set amidst my computer in pieces and I am wondering what part of my PC that I broke due to record breaking stupidity. Was it my PSU, was it my Motherboard. Did I manage to break my RAM too? Or... maybe.. just maybe the PSU I got was faulty... (I doubt it, I probably messed something up).

I've tried taking out the CMOS battery.
I've tried clearing the CMOS jumper.
Removing all the parts except for the CPU and Mobo.
Tried with and without the RAM and CPU heatsink.

Things just got progressively worse from being able to be in the BIOS for almost 2 minutes, to not being able to get into the BIOS setup again but being able to see the ASUS logo. To not even being able to have the system POST.

Does anyone please have any ideas? I am unsure whether or not to replace the PSU or the Motherboard (or both -___-). Could I have damaged the CPU or RAM at all?

Thanks so much for any help..

P.S. Unfortunately I don't have a CMOS speaker on this case so I am unaware as to what beeping sequence I am getting if any.

 

You fried your motherboard due to not connecting those he screws (static electricity)

 

I fried the PSU or it came to me faulty already. I did the paperclip test on it and I tried it in a friend's machine and it won't boot theirs either and it failed the paperclip test. I already sent it out for an RMA. I think the motherboard is (hopefully) fine.

 

Let's hope for the best

 

I thought that kind of PSU (good brand and good rating) had a fail safe for surges, so indeed, let's hope for the best.

 

That is 50/50. You won't know for sure until a New PS is connected and powered on. And if your board got fried well the warranty might not be honored since this wasn't a manufacture fault but user fault and it will be up to their discretion to replace or not.

 

Did you notice any burn spots on the bottom of the motherboard, most likely near where the psu connectors are? It's entirely possible you didn't fry anything else except the psu however the real problem is that you won't know for sure until you're able to get it to boot and put it through some stress testing.

When you do get you're psu back, install the absolute minimum to get it to post then slowly add other hardware. If it was me, I'd try to get it to post then run memtest86 overnight just to be sure my ram was still ok. It's possible cpu issues would show up here as well.

Over the years, I've "let the smoke out" of a couple different components, mostly due to constantly upgrading and moving parts around and forgetting something. It happens to the best of us. Then again, up until about a year ago when my wife cleaned my "computer closet" out while I was away on business, I had enough spare pieces and parts to build about a dozen working systems sans cases/monitors so I was always able to swap things out to identify anything that was damaged.