System won't boot, signs point to memory

[Farangu]

Hello all.

Trying to put together a rig for a friend. Originally I went with an MSI B150M Pro-VD mobo, I7-7700 processor, Geforce GTX 1070 for video card, & G Skill DDR4 2133 memory, two 16 GB sticks. When I first constructed it, it took power because the fans spun up and LEDs came on. CPU tested fine, but the debug LED for the memory stayed on, and the system didn't boot. The manual for the board doesn't make a distinction for the light between not detected or failure, just means it isn't working. I tried every configuration of stick in each slot, and no dice. So I RMA'd the sticks for a new pair. Same issue.

I tested out a second set of memory, Kingston DDR4 3000, two 4 GB sticks that a friend had on hand. Same memory debug LED, same failure to boot. So I grabbed a new motherboard, as by this time I'm out of the RMA window from Newegg, and my friend is starting to get a bit antsy for his computer. MSI Z170A Kratt Gaming mobo. And I get the same memory debug LED, and the same failure to boot.

I'm just about at my wits end with this rig. I'm trying to figure out if there's something painfully obvious that I've missed doing, or if my luck is so bad that I got two sets of bad memory and a bad motherboard. Any direction or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[daveybrat]

There is something extremely painful that you've missed. You should have bought a B250 or Z270 chipset motherboard that would natively support your i7 7700 processor. The two motherboards that you've tried so far most likely don't support KabyLake processor's without a bios update first.

 

[Farangu]

Would the CPU debug light not come on in that case, since it essentially isn't being detected?

 

[Farangu]

Also if that's the case, can I put in a different CPU with the same socket and boot it long enough to update the BIOS?

 

[daveybrat]

Also if that's the case, can I put in a different CPU with the same socket and boot it long enough to update the BIOS?

Yes, you just need to borrow a SkyLake cpu and use that to update the bios first. It can be just a cheap Celeron or Pentium SkyLake cpu, nothing fancy.