first computer (gaming rig) wont post. first boot keeps restarting

Hello I'm new to this system building but i have tried to learn as much as i could and make the right choices as far as parts and everything. i have no reason to suspect my hardware isnt compatible but maybe im wrong here is what i have.

ASUS MAXIMUS EXTREME LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard,
EVGA 512-P3-N873-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB,
ePOWER ZU-850W 850W ATX12V v2.2/ EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply,
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9550 ,
2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive ( to be in raid 0 ),
ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T,
ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler,
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBPI,
Antec 900 case

Everything is hooked up correctly i know that and when i turn the power on and turn the motherboard on all the fans light up and spin from the case to the GPU fan all the lights go on accrosse the mobo as well no indication that somethings wrong however after a short moment or two the motherboard shuts off and restarts without so much as a splash on the screen. i've tried everything i could think of with my limited knowledge. I tried using only one stick of ram and i've tried it in every slot i've checked and reseated the cpu/HSF checked the video card and sound card to make sure there seated properly i completly took it apart and put it back together with now change and i've even taken it out of my case and tried it on a piece of cardbaord on a wooden table with only the essentials ( cpu/hsf,mobo,1stickram,videocard,soundcard). nothing changes the lcd display that hooks into the mobo shows cpu init and nothing else wich i've looked up and found that its always like that befor you start the comp and is only supposed to last a moment. i get nothing on the screen at all excpet that the power button goes from orange to blue when i turn the mobo on. i've come to the conclusion that it is either the mobo cpu or ram i think the video card is fine since the moniter seems to get some sort of signal and the gpu fan runs. I'm stumped and i need help the only other computer i have is older and none of it is compatable to use for testing my new parts plus im not about to take apart a working computer. Any and all help would be much appreciated you can reply here or email me at Kyoshiro_mann@yahoo.com. thanks in advance for you time and effort also i should say that i saved up for 5 months for this stuff so i can try to rma parts if i find out whats actualy wrong but i cant purchase anything new

:edit: when i say all the lights light up i mean all of them the frequancy lights are all lit and the lights that show whether a part is o.c are lit as well for all the parts all the way up to red wich means there way o.c according to the manual dont know how significant that is but i want to share as much info as i can so we can figure the problem out