Arch_Nuke

Sweet, thank you for the advice and the suggestion. The eBay seller has offered to help me with the spool I still have, but I'm expecting to return it anyway.

Which one? There is an addressable variety of the one I need, right? I really don't want to be limited to just dumb RGB.

That's what I feared, but I've already initiated the return. In lieu of these and since I'm new to the DIY RGB game, what version strip would I need? Am I really unable to use addressable lights?

There are two of these headers on my board, an image of which I should have included for ease of troubleshooting.

That's what I have. The picture I posted shows the 12v rail on the right side of the strip.

What are they? If not 2812b's, how will knowing what they are help my situation?

It does, and I have, many times. Have tried for two days, jiggling this, using Aura sync to configure that, no lights.

I'm having a bitch of a time getting a new spool of WS2812b 12v RGB LEDs to work with my Asus ROG Strix B450 mobo. My steps thus far, which have yet to result in the strip lighting up at all: 1. Connected entire reel to Asus RGB cable, curious if it would light up. Ensured the orientation was (hopefully) correct, aligning arrow on Asus cable with red/12v wire on strip; connected Asus cable to mobo RGB header--no light. 2. Assuming the strip was too long to be powered by the header, I cut off a section approx. 48 cm.in length. Connected the string to both headers, and tried a calibration with the Aura sync software. Selected both combinations of headers in the program and mobo headers--no light. 3. I'd like to use a multimeter to test the strip in case it shipped faulty or I accidentally fried it, but aside from checking continuity of the 12v and ground rails, along with some probing of the LED pins themselves, I don't really know how to see if the strip is still functional. 4. For the hell of it, connected the short LED strip to a 12v Makita battery via the 12v and ground pins--no light. I recently updated the BIOS to the most recent version (3003), have the newest version of Aura Sync, and can control the native lights on the board without issue. LED strip: https://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-BTF2815-RGB-LED-Strip-WS2812B-WS2813-1809-IC-Double-Signal-12V-Addressable/223699638617?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=522417293111&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 Why are the wires switched around on the strip? Do I need to match them to the color orientation on the mobo header? I tried doing that with some wire extentions, but still nothing. Please help!