Trying to get a new Z97I-Plus to POST

[Tobit]

Been trying all day to get a new ASUS Z97I-Plus motherboard to POST. It's been a long time since I had a motherboard not POST out of the box so I'm wondering if this sounds like a motherboard or memory issue. I haven't tried re-seating the CPU yet, but I can't think of anything else to try. Thoughts? Thanks.

Specs:

ASUS Z97I-Plus
i5-4590s 3.0 GHz 65W TDP Quad Core
16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 CL9
Gigabyte GTX970 (Mini-ITX Version)

I've already filed a ticket with ASUS but have not contacted Crucial yet other than to ask them if the memory would be compatible and they said yes.

Details included on my ticket to ASUS:

Motherboard will not POST. No screen output, monitor never gets a signal. No motherboard beep codes.

Power LED = Green
DRAM LED = Red

Fans start at full speed then ramp down to lower RPM. Pressing MemOK! button begins the memory compatibility tuning process but doesn't result in a successful POST.

I have also tried a pair of 4GB G.Skill 4GB Ripjaws from a working system and the problem is the same. I have no other memory to try at the moment.

I have also tried clearing the CMOS twice, first with just a jumper and second by removing the battery and jump with no success.

Lastly, I removed the GTX970 so I was only working with the onboard video and the problem persists.

 

[Tobit]

I've identified the problem. DIMM slot A1 is bad. Either stick works fine in DIMM slot B1, neither work in DIMM slot A1 nor when used together. Time to get an RMA number from ASUS.