Is the wallplug OK ? Check by using a lamp etc.

Is the Power Supply connected to the wallplug ?

Is the Power Supply switched ON ? There may be a small switch on i'ts back side.

Is the Power Supply set correctly ? Most can be set to 110V/220V. If set to 110V and used with 220V, you will have noticed that by now ;-) It made a strange noise, and (hopefully) the fuse is blown ...

Is the ATX Power Switch correctly attached to the Motherboard ? You MUST attach the switch ! Unlike AT Motherboards, ATX ones don't power up as soon as they get energy, they need to be told to power up by this switch.
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If only the LED is lit but nothing happens when you press the ATX power switch, it could be that your Power Supply Unit (PSU) is too weak to power up the Board. You should have at least a 300W PSU. With smaller processors (for example < 1Ghz ) a 250W might work OK, depending on your PSU's quality. Cross-check with another, powerful and known working PSU (perhaps a borrowed one).

Is the Power Supply Fan turning?
No? Either the Power Supply is defect, the ATX power cable is not seated correctly, or there is a short circuit / grounding.
ATX Power Supplys won't start if there is no motherboard connected or if there's a short circuit / grounding.

Is the CPU Fan turning and the LED between the AGP slot and the first PCI slot shining brightly green?
Yes ? - Good ... your A7V is basically getting power. Go to "Power seems to be OK"

No ? - Maybe the Power supply Unit (PSU) or the Motherboard is defect. More probably you have a short circuit /grounding. To test the Power supply, see this page for info. Do this test while the mainboard is connected to the PSU. If the fan on the PSU doesn't come on, try again with the mainboard disconnected (only the PSU with nothing on it). If it still does not start, then it's faulty. If it does, then there's something wrong with the mainboard or the way it's installed (short cut, grounding!)

Take the Motherboard out of the case.
Place it on something non-conductive. The cardboard box in which your A7V came is perfect. Don't place it on the antistatic bag in which it came shipped ! Try turning it on now.

Is the CPU Fan turning and the LED between the AGP slot and the first PCI slot is shining brightly green?
Yes? - You had a Short Circuit / grounding with the case. Solve it, check the motherboard for visible damages near the grounding, remount it.
No? - Maybe the Power supply or the Motherboard is defect. More probably you have a short circuit /grounding.

Solution :

Spacers are used to mount the motherboard in the case

Spacers are screwed into the case. The Motherboard is then placed onto them and fixed using screws.

The placing of the mounting holes / spacers is not normed !

Every case or motherboard can have a different number of spacers / mounting holes and these can be at a wide variety of positions.

Make sure that spacers are only mounted where the Motherboard has mounting holes.
Are the spacers exactly centered under the hole and don't touch any components on the board ?
Are any screws touching parts of the board which are under power ?

Solution :

This card is not fully inserted and shorts some of the PCI contacts

Look for any expansion card that is not seated correctly and fully !

Push it into the slot firmly. The golden contacts should be barely visible, if at all.

Soundblaster Live! Soundcards are known not to fit in all cases, they might not be fully inserted into the PCI slot. See this thread on usenet for details

If the card is hindered by the slot cover : Bend the slot cover to make it fit

Yes ? - Good ... your A7V is basically getting power. Go to "Power seems to be OK"

No ? - Maybe the Power supply or the Motherboard is defect. Try borrowing another power supply and try again. Make sure you have at least a 300W power supply ! Weaker ones might work, too, but 300W+ is recommended

No - go to "Next Steps"

Yes - something's wrong. What ? The Beep Code tells it.

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Some common beep codes are not documented there, unfortunately :

high - low - high - low - ... endless, changing about once per second (like a european police siren)

This seems to be CPU related. I got this when I accidently jumpered my Duron 700 to 1100 Mhz ;-)

Double check jumpers and switches. Try Jumper mode. Reseat CPU and RAM. Clear CMOS Ram. (see below for details) If it doesn't go away, try replacing CPU, RAM, Motherboard one after one.

long-short-short means it's Graphics Card related. Check seating of this card, try another one.

Other beeping can be CPU fan related.
If your mainboard beeps once and then shuts down:
Some BIOSes (depending on Version and setting) check wether a CPU fan is attached. If the fan is not attached to the mainboard header labeled "CPU FAN" or the rotational signal is not OK, it will not boot but only beep once and shut down. Check these two things, many people use the other fan header and wonder why it dosn't work.

Double Check all Jumpers and DIP Switches !

Try going to Jumper mode if you are running jumperless or vice versa.

Set the jumpers/switches to the Front Side Bus / Multiplier / Voltage required by the CPU
Pages 18 - 24

A more up-to date (corrected and easier to read) version of the CPU jumper settings is here !

Remove and reinstall RAM and CPU

Look for any PCI card that is not seated correctly and fully ! SB Live! Soundcards are known not to fit in all cases, they might not be fully inserted into the PCI slot. Bend the Slot-Cover to make it fit.

Clear the CMOS RAM
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Or see this page

Still doesn't work ?

Strip the Board.
Remember or better write down the location of all components (cards, cables etc.) Remove all components but CPU, Fan&Heatsink, 1 RAM DIMM and Graphics card.

Unplug ALL power and data cables , plug in only :
- ATX Power cable from the Power Supply to the Motherboard
- ATX Power switch cable from the switch in the case front to the motherboard
- CPU FAN Power cable
- speaker (for error beep-codes)

Yes - An expansion card or something else you removed caused the trouble. Reinsert one of the expansion cards into exactly the slot where you removed it from . Try to boot. If it still works, insert the next card. Repeat until you either find the card causing trouble or run out of cards. :-) Do the same with the cables and other components you removed.

No - Houston, we've got a problem.

Depending on what you have available :

1 Seek professional help or return the Board, CPU, RAM and Power Supply ( With a detailed and exact description of the Error! I know how much trouble it is when someone returns things just stating "it doesn't work")

2 Try another CPU, RAM, Motherboard and Power Supply . Replace one by one to find the component causing trouble.

3 Buy or borrow a POST Code card. You'll need a PCI one for the A7V. Inserting it and booting will tell you exactly where (at which point in the POST) the boot process halts. This will give you a hint on where to look for an error.