i finally found the section in the book that describes the LEDs, and it indicates that when all the red leds are on, it means everything is working fine. no LEDs means boot-up, one led means VGA detected, three leds means CPU detected, and the fourth led means system start-up. or i could have it backwards because there is also no beep when i turn it on.
also, i think i have all the power things connected. theres two on the motherboard right? i think i have everything plugged in correctly. some where i thought i saw it say that i had to do a CMOS clear for 8 hours. is this true?