I just bought a brand now asus p8z77 motherboard with a intel 3770. Its currently not booting - the system powers up for half a second and then powers down, and the CPU error light shines. I've tried switching ram between slots, switching PSUs, updating the bios (which can be done sans processor or ram on this model).

Power:

The 8 pin power connector is definitely in place correctly, and I've tried swapping PSUs between a new seasonic m12, and a known good cheapie PSU

Ram:

Ram is in the recommended slot for single stick operation, and tried swapping between the two sticks of DDR3 I have.

Processor: Its installed correctly as far as I can tell, no obvious bent pins on the motherboard.

At this point I'm guessing I'll need to RMA something. Are there any 'definitive' tests I can try, short of swapping CPU and motherboard that would let me know it is the CPU? Can I actually trust the error light on the motherboard?