Any reason I'm not getting a POST?

[maxr]

I'm currently half way through building a PC (It's getting done between paychecks a bit at a time and is the first one I have built in about 6 years). So far I have the motherboard, CPU, PSU, RAM and of course a case and a few fans plugged into this thing. So I figured, 'hey, what the heck, I have everything I need to get a POST! Let's turn her on and see if everything is going ok so far.'

I figure I'd get the 8 short for a video failure since there is no onboard VGA and no video card plugged in yet, but I get nothing. LEDs light up on the motherboard and front case, fans all spinning fine, I can get power to peripherals, but no POST. I check the 8 pin is definitely connected - yep, no worries there. It also has no problems shutting off when power is held down.

Now since it's been a very long time since I've built a PC, I have to wonder if my concern is justified. I'd like to return any faulty parts as soon as possible so I want to ask, is there any reason I shouldn't be getting a POST at this point? Should I get my parts supplier to check it out (my current video card is AGP so I can't check myself), or can I sleep sound at night? Thing is with christmas it'll be about another three weeks before I can afford the video card(s) to test it myself.

Specs so far:

Corsair 750W PSU
Asus M3A79-T Deluxe
AMD Phenom 9950
Corsair 2x2GB 1066MHz RAM

[minsonngo]

I would wait until the video card is in before assuming that one of the current components is shot.

Looking at the photos of the motherboard... I can not visually locate the mobo speaker, so that may very well be the reason you don't hear any BIOS beep codes.

[EzyStvy]

Do you have a case speaker hooked up?

[maxr]

You're right Thanks fort that! I've never personally used a motherboard with no speaker so that caught me off guard. Hooked up headphones, now I'm getting 1 long 3 short, followed by 1 short about 10 seconds after that.

In AMI BIOS (The BIOS that M3A79-T uses) I've read that's a memory failure. I reseated the memory, tried each DIMM one at a time, tried different banks - no results. Hmm, can't see both DIMMS failing simultaneously, and I've also read that a straight 3 short is the correct sequence for a memory failure on AMI BIOS - not 1 long 3 short, so I'm a little confused with the conflicting explanations around the web (some sources say AMI does not even do long beeps, plus there is at least one report of someone with a damaged video card who is getting this same POST beep sequence on AMI ).

The odd thing is 1 long 3 short is the Award BIOS error for a video failure which would make a hell of a lot more sense! I guess I will just have to bite the bullet and wait three weeks to find out if I have some dud components.