Anubis, post: 72861, member: 626 Wrote:

• The power supply may have failed. It may have worked initially, but when under a heavier load, or under a load for a longer time, something may have gone wrong. There is no way to verify this other than to put a load on it and test its outputs with a meter.
  

Ruled this out, I used a different PSU and got the same results. I also performed the paper-clip test (connecting the green wire to the black wire) and the PSU fan came on so I was able to confirm it wasn't dead.

Anubis, post: 72861, member: 626 Wrote:Did the motherboard's on-board power LED light up when you were testing it? If so, did the fans spin-up as well, or did they move at all?

I did an external test - heatsink/cpu, RAM, video card were all connected. The external test worked, fan was running for at least a minute before I shut it off to continue building, which is why I was so crestfallen and surprised when my internal build failed. It had to be an assembly error on my part, but I can'tfigure out what - at first, I thought touching the metal case might have shorted it (it might have come into contact while I was placing the mobo since I was having difficulty placing it) - but since you said it would only short it if the motherboard was powered, that can't be the case. I'm trying to avoid duplicating that error at all costs (time/money since school is starting for me in 12 days).

The motherboard's LED light actually still turns on when powered, but when I start it up the fan spins once and dies immediately after. Strange..

}{@K@P, post: 72863, member: 854 Wrote:hmmm I recommend watching these videos before you build your own pc

Thanks for the suggestion, I watched all of those videos, they were helpful. I also followed along to part II while I was building, but had to watch some other NZXT build videos because labels / instructions were very vague on the phantom user manual.

Additional questions regarding connections to the mobo:

• When connecting my USB 3.0, 2.0 connections, and hi-def audio how firm should I be pushing these connections in? I was scared I'd break the pins off - they were connected but took little effort to take off (compared to the 24 pin connector which requires a lot of force)
  
• When connecting to my fan ports (SYS_FAN) which have four pins, I have connections that are two pins (with a hole as a third) - are these connections usually very, very loose? I found that simply flicking the wire with a little strength would disconnect it from the mobo.