New to PC Building, help! Comp won't boot

[megatf]

So here is a rundown of my issue.

After I finish building my rig, I turn on my computer, the power supply turns on, then the fan on my custom cooler and case fans turn on.  Lights on the motherboard flash, by the power button it's yellow and red and then the case fans and CPU cooler fans turn off and the power supply just continues to run.  Have not overclocked it, or done anything to it yet.

Here are my system specs:

I7-930 CPU
6GB OCZ DDR 1600 MHZ
XFX Radeon 5870 1GB
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD
WD SATA 3 1TB HD
Sony DVD 24X Burner

I believe I followed the instructions in the motherboard manual, but obviously I missed something, in a situation like this where can I narrow down the problem?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018  - This is my cooler, thing is massive. 

Any help would be appreciated, thanks, I would just be happy to get to the BIOS so I can see if everything else on my system was setup correctly.  Shouldn't I be able to get to the BIOS by simply having the power plugged in correctly?

Looking back through the manual, I did not install the Hybrid Silent Pipe module as I didn't think I needed it and it covered my PCI 1 slots so I couldn't install my visiontek killer 2100 NIC...

[megatf]

The error I'm getting is C1

[absic]

Hi,

What motherboard are you using?
What make/model is your PSU?

C1 Error indicates problem with memory. Have you tried booting with just 1 stick of RAM?
When you installed the Noctua Heatsink, did you accidentally damage the CPU pins? (Nice cooler by the way, I've got one of those beasts!)

[Dark Mantis]

As absic referred to it definitely sounds like a power problem even with the C1 code. Have you remembered to insert the 12v power cable into the connector beside the CPU?