First PC Build - need help

PrinceEdwardIsland · February 24, 2020

I'm currently working on my first PC build and am having some issues with booting it up; this might be a rookie mistake, so let me know if there are any common errors I might have made.

Specs:

Ryzen 5 3600

16GB Corsair RAM 3200MHz

Gigabyte B450 I Aorus Pro (seller specified that it was Ryzen 3000 Ready)

550W Corsair PSU (80+ bronze)

512GB Sabrent Rocket M.2 SSD

Thermaltake Core V1 Mini-ITX Case

When plugging the HDMI cable into my TV, the BIOS did not come up. I have tried several different HDMI cables and several different TVs/monitors. The RAM's LED worked, the CPU cooler was spinning (but the case fan was not), and the case's front panel lights turned on upon pressing the power button (there was a blue light and also a red light that flashed for a few seconds, then stopped). I have tried detaching and reattaching several parts, including the CPU, SSD, and RAM, but none of these fixed the issue.

Some possible causes that crossed my mind include:

- At one point, I accidentally touched the thermal paste; I'm not sure how much of a difference this makes, so do you think that this would affect the issue at all?

- The power supply was non-modular and I had a ton of unused cables, including what I think are several PCIe cables, several SATA cables, and an LED cable; I wasn't sure if I would need to use these cables or not

- For the front panel cables, I wasn't sure how to tell which cable was +charge and which was -charge; I ended up trying both ways

- The heatsink for the M.2 SSD was a bit confusing; the underside had a blue plastic cover over a darker-colored substance that might have been rubber; I removed the blue plastic but not the rubber

Also, other miscellaneous things I was having trouble with:

- The CPU cooler was particularly difficult to screw in; any tips on this?

- Cable management tips?

- I'm also planning on adding a GPU after I get the PC booted (an RTX 2060), but I noticed that one side doesn't seem to quite fit in the case. However, I checked the Thermaltake website and the GPU's size is within the accommodated clearance for GPUs; am I missing anything here?

Any responses at all would be greatly appreciated! Let me know if you have any ideas about how to troubleshoot this