I just went out and got an i7-7700k, Corsair CX750, 16gb (8x2) Mushkin Blackline, new 1tb HDD, 480gb SSD, and an Asrock z270 Pro4.

I've built a few computers before and have went through a bunch of problems and stuff, but I can't figure this one out. It also doesn't help that the motherboard doesn't have a speaker or little display to give error codes (like my last mobo).

Basically, when I turn the PC on everything spins up, but nothing goes to the display. I thought maybe it was the GPU, so I disconnected it and plugged straight into the mobo (figured CPU graphics would work). That didn't solve it.

Next, I tried one stick of RAM at a time. That didn't work.

I then removed my heatsink (water cooler) off from the CPU and cleaned it and reapplied thermal paste. I'm dumb and apparently applied a bit too much, so I figured maybe it wasn't making contact (also checked the pins underneath and to make sure no thermal paste got on the bottom of the CPU or onto the pins). Still didn't fix it.

That's when I went back to the RAM and started taking it out and putting it into different slots. At one point, I noticed I could actually slide the RAM out without unclipping it, which signalled to me that it didn't fit properly. When I looked up the compatible RAM for the board, it wasn't on the list. Would it be wrong to assume RAM is the reason I'm not getting a signal onto the display (I tried 2 diff monitors, as well as a TV. I can confirm the cords/tv work because my other PC was getting a signal). I would try parts from the other PC, but it's an i5-4570k and has DDR3, not 4, so it's not even coming close to fitting into the mobo.

Something interesting I noticed is that the mobo only has clips one one side for the RAM, but I'm used to having double sided clips. I'm not sure if that makes a difference, though.

I also did NOT try clearing the BIOS by removing the battery, though I'll try that after work when I get new ram.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

TL;DR - PC turns on, fans spins up normally, no signal goes to monitors or TV. RAM can slide out without unclipping, could the RAM be incompatible and causing this?

One clip for each RAM slot is normal these days.
On a new build it's always a good idea to remove the CMOS battery, to reset the BIOS to defaults. Who knows what the quality assurance folks tweaked in the BIOS.

The RAM is supposed to be in these slots...marked with the RED dots.








You need to make sure the Vid card has its power leads hooked up, and that the monitor is set to the proper input (cable type) via the OSD.

I have no idea if the RAM is compatible and I can't check that cause you didn't provide a link. It probably is compatible.

I guess you should also make sure the 8 pin CPU power is connected to the motherboard as well.

The RAM sliding out, w/o opening the clip...doesn't sound good. I hope it's just weird RAM and you haven't broken something. If it does turn out to be the RASM, here is some that is definitely compatible....

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/McH48d/gskill-trident-z-16gb-2-x-8gb-ddr3-3200-memory-f4-3200c14d-16gtzkw

Thanks for the response.

I'm pretty sure I tried those slots as well, but does it matter as long as they're staggered (A1 + B1 instead of A2 + B2) ?

Everything is plugged in (8pin cpu and the mobo one as well). The GPU has both PCI-E 6 pins plugged in, but I also tried it without the GPU and using onboard graphics. I made sure to check that over a few times because I thought that I might have missed something.

I'll definitely try the battery, but I might also go grab new RAM before I do that. I've honestly never removed the CMOS battery in any build I've ever done, though.

I'm not sure if the RAM is supposed to clip in on the bottom side (there's no actual clip there), but it doesn't seem to be. I guess I could just be seating it wrong, which would be really embarrassing.

Generally the slots to use are the A2 and B2, since about 6 years ago. Even you obo manual has that option listed first.

The single RAM clips are fairly normal these days. Just open the clip put the RAM in the slot fully and close the clip. I guess it would be possible to remove a stick from a single clip slot w/o opening the clip...just don't do it.

As for the CMOS battery...always a good idea on a new build. Of the last 4 motherboards I've bought 2 needed the BIOS reset.

On the monitor...make sure you have the OSD set to the correct input. If it's set to HDMI and you plug in a DVI cable...it's not gonna work.



Oh, and hopefully you never try it...but don't try DDR3 in a DDR4 board and don't try DDR4 in a DDR3 board...ever.

I actually grabbed DDR3 to try in the DDR4, but it wouldn't it come close to lining up, so I just put it back in the other PC. Also, I kind of slid one of the pieces of RAM while it was clipped in, soooo... Yeah...

I was able to clip the RAM in every time, but it just needed to be jiggled a bit. I might just wait to grab new RAM after I do a bit more testing later tonight.

As for the input, I did make sure it was correct. Even on the TV, I switched through all of the available HDMI options, just to make sure I wasn't on the wrong one (I literally took the cable out of the back of my other PC and put it into the newer one, though, so it should've been the right input).

Thanks again for the help, it's greatly appreciated!

Skimmed through, did you try all of the inputs on the back of pc?

Also, my psu had two gpu power connectors on it, when I put my new gpu in it powered up but didn't bring up a display, I switched to the other connection on the psu and it worked

I don't think it's GPU related. That same GPU worked just prior to putting it onto the new mobo, but I also tried onboard graphics and even removing the GPU entirely.

I'm pretty convinced I'm dumb and don't know how to seat DDR4, for some reason. Thinking back on it, there's no way it was clipping in properly, so I'm going to try reseating it and using it in slots 2/4 as suggested above.

So I got home and reseated the RAM, sure enough, that's what the issue was. I had to apply a lot more pressure than I've ever applied for RAM, but it clicked in and booted up perfectly. Thanks a bunch, guys.

Yup you gotta give brute force to dat ram sometimes